Chalk Espresso Leaves Its Mark

By Dining Dave on June 11, 2015 in Food

When I first heard the name Chalk Espresso I was curious; what is it referring to? Something to do with coffee? The location? The owner’s name? Intrigued, my companions and I headed down to Maroubra Beach for a late breakfast on a Saturday to find out what the story is and what the fuss is about.

Located a stone’s throw from the northern end of the beach, it’s a little up from Marine Parade on McKeon Avenue, across from the Bay Hotel and Diner. The outdoor wooden seating contrasts the funky indoors, which provides the reveal on why it’s called Chalk.

The whole place is decorated with chalk drawings. No hanging pictures, no ornamentation, just black walls and chalk artwork. A Chilean skull, Che Guevara, a Rubik’s Cube, a motorcycle racer and an astronaut floating outside a window all feature on the walls. As Dennis, the manager, co-partner and barista extraordinaire explained, local artists and passers-by do the decorating. Quirkily, their loyalty program is also on the wall, which came about after guests kept losing their loyalty cards.

Not surprisingly, the coffee is the star here, and Dennis’ passion for the bean is hard to beat. When they opened 18 months ago, they offered no food, just coffee, centering on the Arnika Reserve Blend from Di Bella Coffee.

While I love my morning coffee, we were starving when we arrived, so we went straight for the all-day brekky offerings. We started with the bircher muesli with yogurt, apple, strawberry and honey served in a mason jar, which got us in the mood for the big guns. The huevos rancheros – a Mexican-style wrap with scrambled eggs, mushrooms, cheese, bacon and tomato salsa – was a highlight, and the breakfast bruschetta with poached eggs, mushroom, tomato salsa, baby spinach and feta was also a delight. A very intimidating-looking but delicious bacon and egg roll with a fried egg, onion jam and aioli all stuffed into a Turkish Panini followed. If Chalk’s coffee is its reliable point-scoring jab, the food is definitely the knock-out punch.

We finished off with a second round of coffees and four tasty sweets to-go including two craft muffins – a raspberry and white chocolate dream and a Ferrero Rocher chocolate and cherry overindulgence – plus two brownies – a mango and white chocolate ‘blondie’ and a Belgian chocolate and walnut bar – a great way to finish off a late brekky while baking in the May sunshine just off the beach.

If you are up for dinner, Chalk also offers an Italian-style menu from Thursday to Saturday, which I’m sure would make for a great night out.

Chalk Espresso seems to be doing everything right and it certainly left its mark on us, and if you’re handy with the chalk in hand, you may even be allowed to leave your mark on them.

Chalk Espresso

Address | 45 McKeon Avenue, Maroubra
Phone | (02) 8068 1415
Website | facebook.com/chalkespresso
Email | scott@chalkespresso.com
Open | Sun-Wed 7am-3.30pm; Thur-Sat 7am-late
Prices | Brekky $8-$16; Lunch $12-$17
Seats | 30 inside + 20 outside
Cards | All major cards
Licensed | Yes