Perth Voice Interactive

“I RECKON we have the best bacon, caramelised onion and cheese bagels in Perth. They just fly out the door,” Cuppa Joe chef Connie declares confidently.

Having stalked her from her previous gig at Mia Cafe in Inglewood (because her food is so good) I wasn’t about to argue—even if I’m not a fan of the boiled yeasty bun. Whatever the filling, they were doing a roaring trade at the take-away window, with fluoro-clad tradies rubbing shoulders with office workers.

Tucked away amongst a row of fast food outlets and a pasta bar just off Scarborough Beach Road in North Perth the small cafe is a tad difficult to find, but well worth the effort. The menu has a great mix of home-made delights, both savoury and sweet, as lunch companion and Voice intern Nick and I were about to discover.

Veal rather than chicken schnitzel, purchased from the local butcher, features and the steak sandwich ($19.50) is 180 grams of prime scotch fillet, Connie pointed out. With breakfast on till 2pm, we could have had the breakfast board ($15), which is a chance to have your cake and eat it too so to speak, with a serve of bircher muesli, and a half-serve of eggs benedict, with either bacon or salmon.

Instead I took a punt on the handmade ricotta gnocchi, with burnt butter sage ($17.50). I’ve had a couple of rather dreadful gnocchi dishes but this was smooth and firm, fried rather than boiled and the sage butter was wonderfully oily. Which had me thinking about overly complicated recipes which fail to compare with this simple but delicious dish.

My young companion fancied the vegetarian haloumi burger ($15.50).

“Which would hit the spot for even the most extreme of carnivores,” he opined.

For a 17-year-old he’s scarily well informed about coffee: “The variety of coffees is impressively extensive—I had a single-origin short black that was just delectable.”
He’s a bit of a cook himself, taking pride in his desserts.

“I had the bittersweet pleasure of eating a phenomenal tiramisu and knowing it was far better than my own efforts,” he lamented with disarming honesty.

I had the coconut and lime cake ($6) which was delicious, but when Connie offered us a lemon curd cake just out of the oven we turned all Sinead O’Connor, as in “nothing compares to you”.

The curd is home-made and the cake is light and fluffy with a delicate lemon kick.

As you’d expect with a name like Cuppa Joe, coffee is taken seriously with a selection of in-house mixes, along with cold-drip coffee ($3 small, $5 large) which apparently is coffee on steroids. Having enjoyed a really good long black I can vouch for the great taste and smooth texture.

by JENNY D’ANGER

Cuppa Joe
7 Scarborough Beach Road, North Perth
9242 1006
open Mon–Fri 7am–3pm
Sat/Sun 7am–2pm