This place reminds me so much of Black Books. Part bookstore, part art gallery and part Vinnies, I’m pretty sure the shop is the owner’s loungeroom, the cafe is his kitchenette and his stuff is for sale simply because there’s a lot of it and the front door happens to open onto the eclectic vintage retail stretch of south King […]
Garden Lounge, Newtown
The End of King, Newtown
Oooh, looks like there’s someone new in town… The End of King looks fantastic and I only just found out it was here! There was some good music pumping and fun vibes happening, with a big rustic counter covered with a big rustic display of phenomenal baked goods. But sadly, amongst it all, no banana bread! I opted for a […]
The Kiosk, Sydney Park
I love on-location cafes, like Redleaf Cafe, that are legitimate cafes in their own right but are also right where you want to be. You come for the location, but a good on-location cafe is a bonus. Unfortunately, I’m at Sydney Park way too often, and the kiosk, creatively named The Kiosk, isn’t quite the fantastic bonus I wish it […]
Cafe Martini, Newtown
Cafe Martini has been on my list of cafes to get to for a long time – not because I’ve heard good things, but because I’ve driven and walked past countless times during opening hours and it’s just been closed. This is not surprising for South King Street in general… it’s been pretty frustrating checking off all the cafes down […]
Rolling Penny, Newtown
Hello, authentic Newtown cafe. Their minimalist, post-industrial style fitout could have been 3 or 30 years old. The service was a little bit too cool for school, but I would’ve expected nothing less. Excellent coffee. Thank you, Rolling Penny, I rarely get coffees this good. The banana bread was a very alternative, homemade thing, covered in various seeds: sesame, linseed, […]
Patisserie Petunia, Newtown
Like its neighbour, Miss Lilly’s, Patisserie Petunia is also primarily a bakery. Humble and simply styled but with an impressive range of baked goods. I’m not sure if they baked it all in house, but they certainly had the kitchen to do it and it all looked really good. The coffee was fine – not bad, but not amazing. The […]
Miss Lilly’s, Newtown
Miss Lilly’s looks like it might have been a cafe at some point in the early 00s, with distressed-style cracked render and exposed brick down one side and some funky hand-painted inspirational message on the other, but the counter has since been brought right forward to the front door with drinks fridges and cakes cabinets covering it all up. The […]
Le Gourmand, Newtown
I’ve hit up a lot of vegan places this week. I’m starting to get used to almond milk, or at least fine-tune my assessment of what makes a good almond FW. My coffee from Le Gourmand today was as seamless as my “forgot it wasn’t real milk” experience at Buddha Bowl – absolutely delicious. They didn’t have BB, but my […]
Comeco Foods, Newtown
I’ve been trying for a little while to make it to Comeco, a Japanese, vegan and gluten-free cafe/casual restuarant. I really love the allergen and additive-free ethos going on here. With only vegan options, I picked almond again for my coffee and was suitably impressed. The almond milk was relatively neutral and I could actually taste the (fairly average, ssh) […]
Khamsa, Erskineville
Khamsa is a bright, open air, vegan middle eastern cafe that opens up onto a little laneway courtyard just off King St. On a sunny summer’s day, it’s positively beachy. There was a beautiful array of vegan baked goods and middle eastern pastries on offer and I was keen to try, well, everything. The banana bread was a little loaf […]