High St. Society – Hospital Food it Ain’t

By Dining Dave on June 13, 2017 in Food

I now have a reason to look forward to a visit to the hospital – great coffee, fresh food served up quickly, and cheery service, thanks to the good folk at High St. Society, a new café in Randwick that has made everyone sit up and take notice.

Located across the road from the Prince of Wales Hospital on busy High Street, just near the intersection with Avoca Street and Belmore Road, High St. Society was opened back in January by three close mates, some of whom you may have heard of. Sydney Roosters captain Jake Friend is one, another is Aussie actor Les Hill, who recently played bad boy Max Saliba on the hit TV show Wonderland, and rounding out the trio is local identity Dave Martin, owner of Courtyard in Coogee.

Attracting the ‘stethoscope crowd’ from the hospital, when I popped in most patrons appeared to be coming from across the road, some clearly employed by the hospital, others more likely visiting patients. High St. Society is not focussed solely only hospital staff, though. It’s aiming to become part of the greater Randwick community, attracting students, families, and foodies alike.

Wooden tables and white-washed walls make up the look of the café interior, and there’s a stone ledge for sipping a latte on if you don’t have time to sit down. There are currently a few outdoor tables along the side of the building with further outdoor seating slated for the near future.

My companion and I were seated by Jake at around 11am on a Thursday and were immediately impressed with the offerings. Open for brekky and lunch at this point, High St. Society offers café classics as well as a few quirkier creations such as their Italian meatball baguette. We started off with a couple of organic, free-trade coffees (sourced from Girdlers), a fresh fruit ‘Zapple’ (apple, pineapple, mint, and ginger), and an acai smoothie (acai, banana, mixed berry, orange, apple juice). Served in on-trend mason jars, both had the right mix of ingredients to prep the palate for what was about to follow.

First out was the aforementioned Italian meatball baguette with Napoli sauce, rocket, and grated parmesan, a ‘healthy green’ salad of fennel, green peas, broccoli, cucumber, celery, spring onion, chives, roasted almonds, feta, and pomegranate seeds. Next up was a ‘BRAT’, made of bacon, rocket, avocado, tomato, cheese, mayo, and grilled chicken breast, and a Vegetarian Frittata with baby spinach, caramelised onion, cherry tomato, goats cheese, and sweet potato. We didn’t manage to finish it all, but only for reasons of quantity, not quality.

With what little room we had to spare, we finished off by indulging in an in-house baked brownie, one of the many tasty desserts on offer.

Though hardly run-of-the-mill fellows, Jake, Les and Dave have successfully brought a high-quality community café to High Street. And while I wouldn’t recommend a double ristretto immediately before or after a double bypass, at least pop in for a bite to eat.

High St Society
Address: 1/64 High Street, Randwick
Phone: (02) 8056 5967
Instagram: @HighStSociety
Facebook: www.facebook.com/HighStSociety
Open: Breakfast, Mon-Fri, 7am-12pm and all day Saturday.
Lunch, Mon-Sat 11am–3pm
Prices: $15-20 pp
Cards Accepted: All major
Licensed: No