We visited Turning Point, in Ripponlea, yesterday for a late lunch. The venue is located right next to Ripponlea station and there is 2hr parking available across the road. The shop front is absolutely massive and is very spacious inside, sporting the Scandinavian wood feel with an awesome neon sign as a feature wall. Turning Point are a re-brand of Hawk & Hunter and had their grand opening in Feb, so they're still quite new.
We ordered a coffee & a strawberry milkshake to start, both of which were delicious. The milkshake wasn't as "pretty" as other milkshakes in Melbourne, but the flavour was strong & tasty. The coffee tasted great.
Their Instagram page is full of their smashed avo, peaches & cream and eggs benny menu items, so we decided to try something less insta-famous. We ordered 3 dishes to share - the Flank Steak ($23), the Southern Fried Chicken Burger ($20) & the promising Nice Cream with Watermelon ($17.50).
The Flank Steak has a really nice marinade and the onion rings were cooked really well, with a subtle oniony flavour. The chunky fries were a nice touch, as was the fried egg on top. This dish was refreshing because it is not a modern lunch menu item, but a modern twist of a classic meal. The choice of flank steak meant that it was a nice cut of meat, charged at a reasonable price.
The Southern Fried Chicken Burger came served with melted cheese and coleslaw on a brioche bun and came with a side of chunky fries and aoili. Delicious flavours in the chicken coating, but I prefer my burger buns slightly toasted. The aioli was a nice addition too.
The Nice Cream with Watermelon was definitely the prettiest dish! It came with cubes of traditional and yellow watermelon on the base, with a huge scoop of banana/berry nice cream on top and decorated with dehydrated pineapple and orange. This was a beautiful dish to finish with as the flavours were nice and subtle and the nice cream made everything nice and cold.
Turning Point in Ripponlea is definitely doing a great job at re-branding themselves. The customer service, while we were there, was attentive and positive. They welcomed any feedback we had and made sure that we were well looked after. I hope that they continue to grow and develop as people continue to give this new cafe a go.
Thanks for having us, guys :)