Waverley Park Kiosk – A Garden Utopia Set to Grow

By Vicki Heath on February 24, 2013 in Other

There’s a new hidden haven that you may not have stumbled across in your travels. Up the top of Bondi Road, away from the beach, you’ll find a chilled out café amongst a garden utopia. There’s open space and fresh ocean air, with views over palm trees to the expanse of water that is the Pacific Ocean. It’s a bit incognito and it’s called Waverley Park Kiosk.

Waverley Park Kiosk is set into the side of the Margaret Whitlam Recreation Centre, next to the manicured sporting ground that is Waverley Oval. There’s a communal table indoors but most of the eating space makes the most of the great outdoors, where tables and chairs mingle with a random yet comfy array of eclectic hessian and print cushion-style seats both in the sunshine and under brollies.

There’s a handy new-age dog parking station with funky silver rails and puppy drinking bowls, plus there’s is a kiddie park out back that is the perfect spot for letting the little ones’ imaginations run wild while the grown-ups get through takeaway coffees, house baked muffins and pastries.

Waverley Park Kiosk is run by Jemma Lane, who has been doing the breakfast, lunch and snack thing in Bondi for just over six months. She comes with five years experience running a similar operation called Sydney Park Kiosk in the city’s largest off-the-leash dog park, so she’s well familiar with the controlled chaos of outdoor park life and the families and furry friends it attracts.

As for the fare, Jemma prides herself on using of organic produce wherever possible, including freshly pressed juice ingredients, and her Single Origin Roasters coffee is always a treat.

Maxmillan Bircher-Brennan would approve of the muesli, which is star of the ‘raw start’ menu. It delivers the right amount of soggy oats, nutty crunch and sultana sweetness, topped with freshly sliced green apple, tangy stewed rhubarb, natural yoghurt, and drizzled swirls of honey.

The cooked brekkies are back to basics but you’ll get a few fancy extras to accompany your poached eggs and bacon – think trout and chutney as well as mushies and avocado – and the buttermilk pancakes with lemon and sugar are always hard to go past.

For lunch, the ‘sammiches’ are simple yet delicious, with combinations including chicken, avocado and mayo baguettes, ham, cheese and tomato toasties and falafel, hummus, pumpkin and spinach wraps, Salads include the delighful trout, red cabbage slaw and dill potato offering as well as a wild rice, beetroot and coriander yoghurt number. There’s also a beef sausage roll and a couple of veggie tarts on the blackboard.

Waverley Park Kiosk screams community and is a popular haunt among those who inhabit the nearby Waverley Council Chambers. The venue has just been approved its own veggie patch, so you’ll soon see the chefs wandering through the park picking home grown herbs.

Like the herb garden, we can’t wait to watch Waverley Park Kiosk grow!

Waverley Park Kiosk

Address: Margaret Whitlam Pavilion, Bondi Road
Phone: (02) 9388 0859
Open: 8.00am – 4pm, 7 Days
Seats: 50
Price: $5 – $16
Payment: Cash and Card
Licensed/BYO: BYO only