If you’re in to hispter cafes then the Porch and Parlour’s cafe x night bar is for you. It’s creative, it’s got soul food, it offers vegan and vegetarian options and of course, it’s located in Bondi. Need I say more? Hipsters assemble!
Setting and Atmosphere
★★★★
If you’re anything like me, you’ll breathe a sigh of relief when you hear that the Porch and Parlour cafe is located on the quieter, northern side of Bondi. While the cafe does have open front windows for you to enjoy the ocean breeze, the beautiful view of the ocean is unfortunately obscured by the surrounding buildings – which is a bit of a shame. Nonetheless, the hipster interiors are pretty spech and the cafe plays homage to the all too familiar vibes of ‘refurbished warehouse’ and ‘open industrial roofing’, which actually, I still quite enjoy!
Porch and Parlour is small, cosy and not too overcrowded. I especially loved how all the tables were garnished with a small posy of fresh flowers – it’s the little things.
Food
★★★.5
Both the seared chicken with steam greens and the raw cosmic salad tasted great, as did our mocha. The chicken was organic, cooked well and moist. The steamed greens were well cooked and well seasoned – deliciously lemony. The raw cosmic salad was well dressed, fresh and creative – I really enjoyed the combination of flavours in this dish.
While the dishes and drinks tasted great, unfortunately we couldn’t help but feel a little cheated for our money. The seared chicken dish at $22 was very small with the chicken portion being particularly underwhelming in size. Similarly adding ocean trout to the raw cosmic salad was an additional $7 and unfortunately, the size of the trout was also not the most generous. With the overall salad amounting to around $25 there seemed to be a bit too much lettuce and less of the good stuff – trout, beetroot etc – and for $25 I expect more of the good stuff. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the sprout crackers which for me took away from the otherwise pleasant taste of the salad, and most disappointing of all was the ‘guacamole’. Just because you smash avocado with a fork, does not make it guacamole!!!!
Lastly the “large” mocha would be a regular size in most cafes, especially since it seems to be the trend nowadays to serve mochas in those huge mugs – I like those mugs.
Service
Rating: ★★★★
Good service, fast and pleasant.
Pricing and Value for Money
Rating: ★★★
Quite pricey, small portion sizes, but the overall taste is good.
The Details
Where: 17-18/110 Ramsgate Ave, North Bondi NSW 2026
Opening Hours: Monday – Tuesday 6.30am – 5pm | Wednesday – Sunday 6.30am – 10pm
Contact: info@porchandparlour.com.au
