This place is usually complete with people spilling out the seams sipping lattes and waiting for a table where green smoothies and pancakes can promptly be consumed. The Saturday morning I ventured here for breakfast was surprisingly quiet, no problem nabbing a table (in fact there were many) and coffee landed before we had time to warm the seat. Being a new resident to Bayside, I'm just beginning to realise that the 9.30 crowd you might see in an outer CBD cafe for weekend breakfast is instead replaced with bay front joggers with prams and dogs enjoying the sun and fresh air. I'll take this with pleasure if every brunch date begins with a piccolo within minutes of arriving!
Black Squirrel is one of the best performing (read: always busy) cafes on Sandringham's Bay Road strip. Interiors are pretty cool, a sorts of funky which borders on mainstream "cool", complete with rough part-exposed brick and all. The coffee they spit out for their many patrons is key to their success, a great coffee from the very first sip.
Breakfast for me was the eccentric on the list of veggie options where normally I'd jump straight to poached eggs on sourdough. Definitely try the kale and goats cheese dumplings, served with a base smear of passion fruit yoghurt (the odd hook that drew me in!) and some classic pretty looking green bits on top. Vegie patties are notoriously hard to 'cook through' and while these kale dumplings seemed a bit wet inside, the flavour was fantastic and the hits of goats cheese a highlight within a crisp coating. I can also report from my sources that the smashed avo and herb convo on sourdough was also pretty ace.
Give Black Squirrel a shot if visiting the bay or still cautious of the big kid on the block. Getting there at the right time to instantaneously feed your caffeine and food desire is recommended. read more