🍽 Trying to eat at every café in Northbridge

I spent about ten days in Perth two weeks ago, to work remotely and to speak at the inaugural Localhost meetup. Perth is on the other side of Australia, it’s three hours behind Sydney and is a five-hour plane ride. I actually love going to Perth, because I’m a morning person and going back in time a little bit makes me get up earlier in the mornings, and the days feel so much longer.

I enjoyed my trip this time around – I enjoyed it immensely. I sort of fell in love with Perth when I found the web community to be so approachable and friendly. I’d never come across a friendlier or warmer group. And to have that common interest of web development really put a smile on my face. I didn’t come across a single person whose behaviour put me off. It was pleasant.

Another thing I love about Perth is the food. I tried a few cafés last time I was there, but this time I got to try so many more. I looked up most of them on Zomato, but a lot of them were also recommended to me by others. I’m going to write about some of the good food I had – I would recommend trying out all of these places! Most are in Northbridge, Perth, as that’s where I stayed. You will find a plethora of cafés there. Others are a little out of the way.

Little Bird Café

Ughhhhh I love this place. I have only ever had breakfast here, not the lunches, but the vegan smoothies (or any smoothie I reckon) are to die for. The vegan smoothies do not feel heavy, they feel quite light. Coconut milk is used, and I usually hate the stuff because I used to be allergic to coconuts, but the matcha and cacao flavours, just to name a few, make it taste great. Sometimes banana or dates are added for sweetness. I usually hate dates, but gosh they are a stunning addition to these smoothies. Yum me up, brother.

Avocado, tomato, poached egg and feta on toast, with a matcha smoothie
Breakfast at Little Bird Café

Twice I had the avocado and feta on sourdough, I asked for it without any meat. The second time I went there they messed it up and accidentally gave me bacon but fixed my order right away. It honestly looks like there isn’t a lot on the plate, but the feta adds such a beautiful flavour to the whole thing. It steps it up from just being plain old “avo on toast”.

Little Bird Cafe
100 Lake Street
Northbridge
Perth, WA

Tuck Shop Café

This place won my heart the first time I went there and have raved about it ever since. The interior is a little dark, but cosy, even when busy. Getting the asparagus and poached egg with salsa verde last time I was in Perth, this time I just got the same thing again because it was that good.

A cup of soy chai latte
Always ordering chai
A plate of asparagus and poached egg on sourdough
Asparagus, spinach, poached egg and salsa verde

It was exactly as I remember it. The asparagus was cooked to perfection, the layer of parmesan on top worked so well with the egg and the vegetables, and the salsa verde gave it just that little bit of zest. Highly recommended!

Tuck Shop Café
Shop 1, 180 Newcastle Street
Northbridge
Perth, WA

Tarts Café

It was a rainy day but I really wanted to try something a bit of a walk away, for something different. I walked to Tarts Café, about fifteen minutes from my apartment. It was in a quiet area of Northbridge although the café itself was buzzing. I chose to sit outside on the worn-down metal tables, which still sat undercover from the rain. I was debating what to order… I ordered my usual soy chai latte because it fit in with the cold weather. It arrived in a tall glass. The serving was bigger than I expected. Then I opted for the breakfast quesadillas.

A tall glass of soy chai latte
Huge soy chai!
Breakfast quesadilla on a plate, filled with corn, tomato, rocket and cheese
Having a breakfast quesadilla for lunch

It was probably too filling for my liking but it was tasty! I didn’t feel like anything else on the menu. There is quite a bit of cheese in there, but that’s not unusual for a quesadilla. I’d say it was a little on the salty side but the rocket balanced it out.

Tarts Cafe
212 Lake Street
Northbridge
Perth, WA

Mr. Fox on William

Mr. Fox is a pretty small café, and pretty new I think – it sits on William Street, the main street in Northbridge. I was tossing up between the green salad and the avocado on toast… I just went with the avocado and paid extra for an egg. I would have gotten the green salad another time because it sounded good, but I didn’t feel like a salad that morning. I also didn’t end up going back, but I probably will next time.

Sliced tomatoes along with avocado and a poached egg on toast
Pretty standard avocado and tomatoes on toast

The meal was good. I don’t have any complaints; at the same time I don’t think it was super amazing. I probably prefer Little Bird’s version. I loved the large amount of spinach, though.

Mr. Fox on William
270 William Street
Northbridge
Perth, WA

Flora & Fauna Café

I seriously have mixed feelings about this place. Their food is photogenic, but I can probably criticise how the appearance of the food is not equal to how good the taste is. The food is colourful and riddled with lots of colourful fruit, but there is also a lot of basically inedible flowers. I had the three types of tomatoes on toast last October when I was here, and it tasted great, but when you think about it, it was just nice-looking tomatoes on toast. If you know me well, you know how much I love Really Good Tomatoes™ but beyond the tomatoes there was not much flavour.

The front of Flora & Fauna Café
The front of Flora & Fauna Café
Banana bread with seasonal fruit
This “bread” is more like a cake

This time, I got the banana bread, which Brett said was more like a banana cake. This was true. The banana bread was so thick and rich, and the fruit that went with it was plentiful. It was too plentiful for me, someone who doesn’t usually like a lot of sweet fruits. I find most fruit to be too acidic for my stomach to handle, or too much for my palate in general (which is why I am more a fan of savoury things and vegetables). I couldn’t really stomach all the fruit so I didn’t finish it. The banana bread was more like a cake, so I disliked how rich it was. If I was prepped for a cake I would have liked it, but the serving of the “bread” was also very large.

Flora & Fauna Cafe
Shop 4, 70 Aberdeen Street
Northbridge
Perth, WA

Aisuru Sushi

Not a café, but definitely a really awesome Japanese sushi place to check out. I went here about three times. The vegan sushi caught my eye immediately. They had quite a few different types and I was pleasantly surprised. One thing I love about Perth is its vegetarian-friendly and vegan-friendly eateries. They seem to be in abundance. Anyway, I enjoyed the plum sauce that was served with a couple of the dishes. So good.

Sushi roll with carrot, cucumber and asparagus and plum sauce
Veganpillar roll!

Of course I tried a few of the fish dishes too and greatly enjoyed those. I had tuna sashimi one night and it was delicious, had the right texture and softness. Very happy. I wish more sushi places in Sydney had the class that this place had. The presentation of all the dishes was excellent.

Aisuru Sushi
208 William Street
Northbridge
Perth, WA

Sayers Sister

This was a nice, very cosy café about a fifteen minute walk from my apartment. It was totally worth the walk. I sat in a corner on a comfortable couch adorned with cushions. I ordered the potato rosti (with poached eggs, spinach and rocket – also with bacon, but I ordered without), which definitely caught my eye on the menu. It’s not often that I find cafés serving rosti, but I love it. I love the crispiness and the flavour in thinly-presented potatoes.

Potato rosti with rocket, poached and egg and parmesan
Mmmm I love potato rosti!

It was so delicious. There was a lot of potato there, and definitely a lot of spinach that was hidden under all the rocket. I wished I hadn’t eaten so much potato in the first half of my meal. You definitely have to make sure you get enough of all the flavours on the plate in each bite, otherwise you might be left with too much potato or spinach at the end. :D

With my meal, I got chai with rice milk. I do love rice milk as a light, alternative option to almond or soy milk – I hate nut milk, I find soy to be overpowering sometimes, and of course, as you might know, I don’t drink regular milk. The chai was great. I wish I could have taken some home!

Sayers Sister
236 Lake Street
Northbridge
Perth, WA

Opal Café

This café was a little out of the way and had medium reviews. It was about a twenty-minute walk from my apartment and I settled on the poached egg with avocado. It seems that, if you eat at enough cafés, poached egg and avocado is a menu staple. You are bound to get sick of it, but in this case I wanted to give it a try and hope it was something different.

Sundried tomatoes, poached egg, rocket, avocado... on toast!
Definitely one of the better meals I’ve had from a café

By golly, it was! It was the most impressive breakfast I had to that date. There were little tomatoes that offset the flavour, and a bit of rocket lettuce added to the avocado, while grated parmesan cheese was sprinkled on top. I almost forgot about the mashed avocado beneath, but it was simply delicious.

I really wanted to send my compliments to the chef but I was too shy – hopefully they come across this review somehow. :)

Opal Cafe
134 Abderdeen Street
Northbridge
Perth, WA

Whisk Creamery

Where do I even start? Whisk does soy milkshakes. Anything that caters to people with allergies or dietary requirements is a plus – especially when it comes to things that are traditionally dairy. I love it. I had the soy matcha milkshake and various other variations… there are so many options for desserts at Whisk. They open late, absolutely perfect for dessert, and you’re not going to regret spending $12 after adding five toppings to your milkshake.

A takeaway cup of milkshake from Whisk
A takeaway cup of milkshake from Whisk

I came back to Sydney and wanted to cry, the 40ºC heat was getting to me, and you know what? I couldn’t walk to a Whisk store… 😭

Whisk Creamery
246 William Street
Northbridge
Perth, WA

Pearth Organic Kitchen

On the day before I left Perth, I went to Pearth Organic Café, which was recommended to me by Meagan. It was out of the way from the CBD or Northbridge, so my options were to take a bus or train for twenty minutes, or walk for forty-five. Knowing me, though, I’m short, my stride is shorter, so you could make that 50 or so. I ended up catching the train there and enjoying the walk. I decided I would walk back home to “walk off” my meal.

Parmesan scrambled eggs with kale, avocado and tomato relish
Yum yum yum Saturday brunch/lunch!
Matcha smoothie in a plastic cup with caco nibs
I love matcha 🍵

I already decided what I wanted before I got there. The parmesan eggs sounded sooooo good, so I ordered those, along with a matcha smoothie. I need to find a place in Sydney that does these… besides Starbucks frappuccinos. I got cacao nibs in my smoothie as well.
The parmesan eggs totally lived up to their expectations. I was dying for some scrambled eggs after so many poached ones during the week. I loved the flavour of the tomato relish but there was such a small amount, I really wished there was more.

I consumed the rest of my smoothie on the walk home. It did take just under 50 minutes to get back. It started to get so hot. The cacao nibs were a little hard to chew and I expected them to be softer, I probably wouldn’t get them next time.

Perth Organic Kitchen
106C Cambridge Street
West Leederville
Perth, WA

Long Neck Public House

For an eatery in the airport, you’d think it would be pretty mediocre. I stopped by just before my flight on Sunday morning and ordered the most appetising thing I saw. Smashed avocado. Can you have enough avocado? 🥑 Probably, probably not. It came with crumbled feta and a poached egg on quinoa grain bread. It’s easy to think that these things are pretty standard after you’ve had so much avocado. But this place impressed me, particularly for an eatery in the airport. The price wasn’t too bad either.

Smashed avocado on sourdough with spinach and a poached egg
Such good airport food.

The presentation was great and the flavours of the dish won me over. Great breakfast. Not too much of any ingredient… and hey, not too much avocado, either.

Long Neck Public House
Level 1, T1 Domestic Terminal
Horrie Miller Drive
Perth, WA


Now having serious avo withdrawals after all my Perth eats. Oh noes. Shout out to Chynna for crushing on avo – I also borrowed the idea from her to write out the addresses of all these places. 😄

So… do you like smashed avocado on toast? If not, we can’t be friends. 😦 I’m just joking. What is your favourite breakfast food? Brunch food? Do you like café food as much as I do?

Comments on this post

Great to hear that you had a nice time in Perth and that you really connected so well with the web community. :D I have never been there, but would like to do it one day!

That food. So much delicious. *drool*

I have a problem. I loved avocado. I enjoyed it. It was nice. One day, the relationship changed. I made the terrible mistake of eating one that had gone past it’s prime. It wasn’t a peaceful end. I haven’t been able to have one since. :'(

Oh no. 😞 I think the same has happened to me with some food… mostly because I ate a bad one, or ate too much (hahaha).

your seasonal blog theme color scheme is very… how do i say this, interactive? like, i just find it really adorable and fun to see it change according to upcoming events! :3

since i’ve never been to australia, i’m really curious about both sydney AND perth. i heard that australia’s heat is insane, just like how everyone says canada is cray when it comes to winter. is that true though? because heat and i, we don’t click together haha

i don’t like coconut water but adding coconut milk into smoothie is just *thumbs up* i don’t use coconut milk when i create my own homemade smoothie though since i use fresh milk but in restaurants, they like to use coconut milk right and it’s just super lovely! not sure if alcohol-free pina colada is considered smoothie or not but URGH, that “smoothie” is top notch. i remember my mom used to juice veggies – not as smoothie but just veggie juice, blended with other fruits like apple and carrots. ew, that’s gross. i tried it once and just blergh, no.

holy, that’s some fresh chunks of avocado right there! my boyfriend would have loved something like that. i, however, don’t. i dislike avocados and cucumbers (but i still eat guacamole, lmao)

i would love giving a comment on EVERY food you have there but we’d go through this for HOURS so let me just say that everything looks delish and your photography skill are doing them justice! urgh, especially the poached eggs. i’m weak with food or breakfast / brunch food that has beautifully done poached eggs! it’s such a crime to stab them and watch them melt (my boyfriend tends to say “muuuurrrdeeeer” whenever a poached egg is stabbed and the yolk starts pouring out)

funny side note, you know how sometimes sushi rolls can either be filled with cucumber or avocado? yeap, whenever i encounter such sushi roll, i will use my chopsticks and remove them. my boyfriend would complain and force me to eat them but i don’t like cucumber and avocado with passion so nope! HAHAHAHA

I am glad that you had a great time in Perth and that you managed to enjoy it. Of course 10 days are enough for a full experience, but I am sure you will have the opportunity to go back.

The food looks amazing. I wish I could try them, too bad I am on the other side of the world :(

I like avocado even though I don’t use it in my dishes to often. Maybe it’s time to change that. I love eating yogurt for breakfast (especially stracciatella) and fruits . Also, I love hazelnut musli. I could eat that all day long.

Omg!! Georgie!! Your layout!! I squealed internally when I saw it, even though I don’t even do anything on Valentine’s Day.

Reading/looking at this was a little painful because all of the places are out of reach, haha. Only because all of the food looks really delicious! I know someone who is both gluten free and dairy free, and she struggles finding stuff to eat because of where she lives. So it’s great that Perth is vegetarian and vegan friendly! It’s nice having the option to eat out when you are able to.

Also matcha is definitely <3

Omg, your blog is piiiiink. I actually really like it (I’m not a fan of pink either) – it’s so cute.

I love when I visit a different place and the locals are really friendly. It just puts you at ease and definitely makes your trip more enjoyable. I would love to visit Perth one day!

I literally had some avocado just before I read this post, and now I’m craving more. Avo is the best <3 Especially on sourdough. I've never had it with feta, though – I will definitely have to try that out.

You've posted about most of my favourite greens: spinach and asparagus. When I meal prep, I always be sure to include those vegetables because they're just so tasty. Also, anything with poached egg makes things better. My tummy is rumbling just looking at this picture!

AND CHAI LATTE! So, so, so good. Those quesadillas look so good – especially with the sour cream and guac. Hmmmm. I wish I could drink the healthier alternative to milk, but I'm allergic to soy and almond, which is what they mostly sell in the shops. Ah, well.

Honestly, all your food pics are making me so hungry. Everything you had looks amazing, tasty, mouthwatering. Sucks about the banana bread, I hate when something I order is not like what it is on the menu. Such a cop out.

A cafe is not a cafe without poached egg and avocado, LOL. You can never have enough avocado!

I only used to have sliced avocado because that's how it would come when I ordered it at cafes, but one day I smashed it when I was making my own at home and it was great! I love smashed avocado. My favourite breakfast food is porridge with a dash of honey. Avobviously I love avo w/ poached egg on sourdough – that's on fancy occasions, though. Cafe food is awesome – I discovered so many when I visited Paris, and there's quite a few good ones over here. Brunch is great <3

Ugh, the food there always looks so amazing. In Texas, I’ve known only one restaurant to dress the plates up beautifully. Otherwise, we just get our food thrown/set onto the plate like the chef is basically saying, “Here’s your food.” There’s nothing romantic about it.

I really like Flora & Fauna’s Cafe’s setup. I mean, there is the worry of rain and whatnot, but it just seems so convenient, like you aren’t obligated to “eat in”. No need to answer whether you’re eating it there or need it to go.

On the last dish, is that…chocolate?

I THINK it’s balsamic glaze, but hell it could be chocolate and it would probably still taste good! Whatever it is, it looks delish!

And yeah right now I live in west tx and they just kind of toss the food at you on dingy looking plates. No presentation, even though sometimes the food is pretty good depending on where you go. It doesn’t look pretty most of the time.

Yes, Shanae is right, it’s balsamic glaze.

Flora & Fauna assume you are eating in though, not sure how they would serve their extravagant stuff for takeaway. But as for coffee I think they do ask if you want it in a takeaway cup.

Not going to lie, that sounds like a BLAST.
I am hoping once we get to OH I can find some good places to recommend to eat should any one ever travel to Columbus for any reason. Plus after living in a little town in Texas for 10 years where we have Tex-Mex and fast food and that’s about it, I NEED to open up my palette some!

I am not an avocado fan, but those dishes might make me eat someone day lol. They look amazing!
It’s nice to hear you really enjoyed your trip. Maybe I’ll have to make a point to travel to Perth simply to dine and walk around!

Would you ever move to Perth if you have the chance? ;)

Sourdough bread and baguettes would always win my heart. Even though they gave you bacon on accident, it’s good that they fixed your order without giving any problems. That meal looks well portioned to power you through the morning ;). For a good minute, I was trying to figure out what was below the poached egg/asparagus. Oh, it’s just bread XD. I thought it was veggie meat or some kind of grilled fish.

The breakfast quesadilla looks so hearty! I just noticed that cafes out in Perth have some open-faced sandwiches going on. Yuuummmmyyyy. (Also notice you have a thing for poached eggs (; ).

I’m glad you got to try out some sushi out there. That’s probably my goal every time I visit a new town. Your airport food looks better than the airport food we have in LAX XD.

I love smashed avocados but cafes here love to charge a premium for it @__@. Does mimosa count as a favorite breakfast food? XD

Hahaha, not gonna lie, I probably would move to Perth. 😆

I think we have open-faced sandwiches in Sydney, too, maybe it’s an Australian thing? It’s not unusual to have everything facing up and visible.

I don’t mind poached eggs! I like them in moderation. I used to be obsessed with them, but then had too many – and having too much of anything can make you a bit sick… so I try to change it up a bit if I can.

I was in LAX en route to and from San Diego for our work trip last year, I forked out so much money on a salad on the way home. I mean, the salad was OK, but I paid top dollar for that. LOL. One day I’ll come around and you can take me for sushi. 😎