Deep fried desserts at Sun Cafe Restaurant

The vibe of the place definitely makes you forget how loud you actually are...

The building at the corner of Newcastle and William streets has lent itself as home to many businesses in the recent past. These short-lived food and drink businesses may come and go, but the one thing that has stayed put are the table top barbeques for sensual, hands-on Korean BBQ feasts, situated on the level above Sun Cafe. Downstairs, a chilled-out, relaxed Sun Cafe opens its doors until late to its customers, making it a great hang out destination.

Sun Cafe Restaurant

I was simultaneously eager and sceptical about coming here, largely due to the reason of them refusing to honour a voucher I had purchased on numerous occasions, which already came with a peculiar list of terms and conditions. However if I could ignore that for a second, their menu certainly did pique my interest with the offer of 'oriental tapas' and a selection of Korean dishes with a modern influence (would you yay or nay pistachio-crusted chicken katsu?). We dropped in late at night after dinner with a full belly and only managed to fit in some sweet things.

Matso's Ginger Beer

We have quite the obsession with Matso's beers at the moment, and the Mango beer especially has made many appearances at the table whenever it is offered on the beverage menu. Even though I'm not a big beer drinking or loving fan, I am a fan of Matso's beer selections as I'm quite partial to the taste of their beers in comparison to others that I down once in a while out of convenience.

Green Tea Latte - $4.30

Green tea is making its way into drink and dessert menus everywhere and whilst I love this, I only love it when the green tea flavour is actually prominent in the food or drink and strong enough to be able to recognise its presence. With that, I do not love Sun Cafe's green tea latte despite how promising it sounded. The bittersweet flavour is so next to nothing that I would have believed that I had ordered a glass of warm milk and even the extremely pale green colour makes it unidentifiable even as a green tea beverage if not for the powder sinking into the milky froth.

Marinated beef tataki, fresh crunchy salad - $18

My cousin ordered the beef tataki, presented with raw red and white cabbage and a trail of spring onions and roasted sesame seeds on a bed of raw beef, slightly seared around the edges and bathed in a vinegary sauce.

Crunchy Honey Bread - $12

We picked Sun Cafe as our dessert destination purely because of the recommendation of their Crunchy Honey Bread, so naturally it was the most anticipated dish of the evening. And certainly a very late evening too, to be eating a whole block of bread that has been wholly and thoroughly deep fried until the exterior is a hard, solid casing for the crunchy interior. Although really, this really wasn't a concern considering we had a McDonald's run for cheeseburgers, fries and ice-cream straight after this...gosh, the power of hindsight sure gives more insight into one's frivolous eating behaviours.

One of Sun Cafe's signature desserts

This indulgent dessert is quite large and solid, and thus is thoughtfully slightly cut into tall batons to make it easier to slice through the crunchy centre, which is also slightly dense in other parts. The honey bread sits on an artistic crosshatching of chocolate, caramel and honey syrups weaving through each other on the plate and is crowned by three tiers - sliced fruits (kiwi and banana on this occasion), a big scoop of fluffy whipped cream and finally adorned with a strawberry. This colourful medley of contrasting textures and flavours is further enhanced by a light dusting of cinnamon, a crunchy pecan nut crumb and more drizzling of the honey. The fruits are definitely a wise choice to counteract the heaviness of the bread, which retains a lot of oil.

Stress stimulus

Running down the centre of the dining area is a display case piled with magazines and board games to use as you please, and Jenga definitely provided ongoing entertainment for us as everybody sat around and chatted quietly. The very relaxed vibe of the place definitely makes you forget how loud you actually are. Oopsy!

Sun Cafe would be a good potential place to head to after dinner for dessert or drinks when nobody quite wants to leave yet, as their dessert selection ranges from pastries to waffles to frozen yoghurts. I'm hanging out to try their tempura oysters and crispy scallops with renkon chips and the long opening hours of Sun Cafe is the biggest convenience of all because the sun doesn't set here until late at night.

Sun Cafe Restaurant, Perth

Sun Cafe's Facebook page
Hours as stated on Facebook page
7.45am - 12am (this ranges, as we had to settle the bill before 11pm on the Saturday night)
Open 7 days

Tel: (08)9227 5009
318 William Street Perth WA 6000

The beautiful scenic voyage to Voyage Kitchen, Sorrento

Nothing short of delivering a satisfying, guilty pleasure...

Long lazy breakfasts had at beachside restaurants with the fresh morning sea breeze rustling through is unarguably one of life's most simplest but most perfect luxuries. Most of us (I am also guilty) have gotten so used to our pristine beaches, nature's beautiful landscapes and endless summers that we often take it all for granted as we slave away our weekdays...to enjoy moments like this.

Voyage Kitchen

 Having the beach as its neighbour makes it not very surprising to hear that Voyage Kitchen opens its doors as early as 6:30am everyday to provide breakfast and coffee to early risers. Its airy, spacious and open interior is comfortably relaxing even amongst the busy noises and hurrying footsteps of the waitstaff, whom are dressed in striped sailor-like uniforms. This nautical theme is dotted throughout the beachside cafe and its décor merges seamlessly with the sounds of the ocean echoing in and out of the restaurant.

Takeaway, coffee and bar area

At one end of the cafe is a big, inviting takeaway and coffee area that had an impressive queue at several stages of the morning. The cake cabinet is lined with cookie jars and displays the array of freshly baked goods, sweets and wraps available for purchase throughout the day. One of the staff was perched high on a ladder scrawling on the daily chalkboard specials on the blackboard, detailing the selection of homemade salads, wraps, muffins, toasties and tarts on offer that day.

Voyage Farm Yard Breakfast - $22.80

The Voyage Farm Yard Breakfast is Voyage Kitchen's rendition of the big breakfast, and features all the breakfast staples you love and expect from a big greasy fry up. It is a large, filling breakfast nothing short of delivering a satisfying, guilty pleasure from all the deep fried, grilled and fried elements of the dish. We chose scrambled out of the option to have eggs cooked in any way, which were fluffy, seasoned well and served atop toasted ciabatta. The short, stubby pork and sage sausages were small but big on taste even without smearing on the sweet tomato relish, while the roasted pesto mushrooms definitely stood out with its sheen of basil pesto which eventually glossed the rest of the dish with its oil. The hash brown was a different take on the burning hot, fluffy potato filling of normal hash browns, essentially having strips of potato shaped into a ball and deep fried for a thin, crisp and golden crust.

Voyage Breakfast Board - $18

I scoped out their Summer breakfast menu (which changes seasonally) at least a week beforehand and both of us had decided on the same thing: The Voyage Breakfast Board, which features a spread of three items presented on a long, wooden board. I started from the left with the small stack of zucchini fritters, generously loaded with soft zucchini slithers throughout the patty. Its relative blandness is compensated with the salty layers of smoked salmon, interchanging with the tang of lemon sour cream drizzled on top. The potted yoghurt provides a very refreshing hit of flavour with its sour berry compote, full of fresh summery berries that leave an intense ripple of colour through the yoghurt canvas. I'm not a huge fan of soft, mushy food with a baby-food texture, so the nut crumble provides that delightful textural crunch and salty balance that I desperately needed, made obvious by my excessive repeated pulling of sour faces.

Why mornings are worthwhile

There was a lot of food swapping occurring throughout breakfast but I remained faithful to my bite-sized brioche slider. A gorgeously poached egg is sandwiched between two pillowy soft and sweet buns with a runny stream of golden egg yolk that flows onto, hmm, everything when pierced with a gentle bite. I am not big on the slight bitter taste of rocket, and thought a bigger dollop of tomato relish would really have excited :)

The north and south end of Voyage Kitchen
Voyage Kitchen is in a large building with two separate open dining spaces, connected by a walkway entrance.

Coffee takeaway window

There is small window along the front side of the restaurant dedicated to coffee service for the time poor, which allows for SMS orders ahead of time so it is ready to pick up. Along with its rustic, imaginative, Mediterranean-inspired food, Voyage Kitchen prides itself on its caring hospitality, which was still evident despite staff working like mad on a busy Saturday morning. Hospitality workers deserve so much more recognition for what they do, especially when every second person is a self-proclaimed food critic these days.

Voyage Kitchen, Sorrento
The drive/stroll along the coast is just as yummy as breakfast

Voyage Kitchen
Mon - Tues: 6:30am - 5pm
Wed - Sun: 6:30am - late
Breakfast: Served until 11:45am (Mon - Fri) and 11:30am (weekends)
Lunch: 12pm - 3pm
Dinner: 6pm - 9pm

No reservations for breakfast on weekends and public holidays
No BYO
$5 cakeage fee
Coffee SMS orders: 0401660002

Tel: (08)9447 2443

128 West Coast Drive Sorrento 6020