HONEY JOY

29 July 2026

In my Return to Perth blog, I talked about how much I like honey. Not all sorts. I love the white Sainfoin honey from the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and the dark caramel honey from the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the single fruit honeys from Beechworth in Victoria and the tasty of expensive Jarrah honey from WA. But not Tasmanian Leatherwood honey or the Manuka honey from New Zealand. 

I was thinking about the joys of honey again because of two recent experiences that capture the unexpected joy that honey can deliver.

In Melbourne I went to a cafĂ© in Coburg, opposite the school which hosted the Saturday Farmer’s Market Susan and I used to regularly attend. Called The Glass Den, it’s in the old gatehouse of Pentridge Prison. When we went to the markets it was always busy with queues out the front door but on this visiit without booking, a friend and I were lucky to snag an outside table in the winter sun. I rather extravagantly choose a dish called “Bee in a Garden”. It consisted of honey waffles with yuzu custard, dried orange, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, honey meringue, vanilla bean ice-cream, oreo crumble and a small jar of honey (along with wooden stirrer) to pour over the top. Apart from the wonderful range of flavours, it looked beautiful.



The next honey experience was at the other end of the scale and the other side of the country, but equally tasty. One sliver of chorizo with a tiny dob of goats cheese on top sitting in a pool of honey. The cheapest tapas I’ve ever had at $2. The combination of all three flavours was a marvel.



 

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