The Incinerator Cafe

The distinctive Walter Burley Griffin-designed incinerator in Willoughby is home to the Incinerator Cafe, a re-fitted heritage building kitted-out with a wood-fired oven in a nod to the buildings original use. The cafe serves up coffee by The Grounds of Alexandria and boasts chef Graeme Nutt (previously of Melbourne’s The Duchess of Spotswood and Albert Park Hotel) in the kitchen.

Owner and the man responsible for the transformation, Jonathan Slingo engaged the services of Acme Design to create an interior that is sympathetic to the deco aesthetic of the incinerator, one of 12 designed by Burley Griffin in the 1930s.

The menu is based on seasonality and will change regularly. For breakfast there is pork sausage and fried-egg breakfast brioche burgers, house-smoked salmon with horseradish yoghurt and eggs, or tapioca with coconut yoghurt, seeds and mango from 7am–11.30am. The lunch menu includes wood-roasted lamb ribs with pomegranate and carrot salad, pulled pork shoulder with crackling, or roasted market fish with peas and mint. The wood-fired oven really is a signature feature of the venue. The cafe overlooks Hallstrom Park and is adjacent to the Willoughby Leisure Centre and courts.