Deep fried desserts at Sun Cafe Restaurant

The vibe of the place definitely makes you forget how loud you actually are...

The building at the corner of Newcastle and William streets has lent itself as home to many businesses in the recent past. These short-lived food and drink businesses may come and go, but the one thing that has stayed put are the table top barbeques for sensual, hands-on Korean BBQ feasts, situated on the level above Sun Cafe. Downstairs, a chilled-out, relaxed Sun Cafe opens its doors until late to its customers, making it a great hang out destination.

Sun Cafe Restaurant

I was simultaneously eager and sceptical about coming here, largely due to the reason of them refusing to honour a voucher I had purchased on numerous occasions, which already came with a peculiar list of terms and conditions. However if I could ignore that for a second, their menu certainly did pique my interest with the offer of 'oriental tapas' and a selection of Korean dishes with a modern influence (would you yay or nay pistachio-crusted chicken katsu?). We dropped in late at night after dinner with a full belly and only managed to fit in some sweet things.

Matso's Ginger Beer

We have quite the obsession with Matso's beers at the moment, and the Mango beer especially has made many appearances at the table whenever it is offered on the beverage menu. Even though I'm not a big beer drinking or loving fan, I am a fan of Matso's beer selections as I'm quite partial to the taste of their beers in comparison to others that I down once in a while out of convenience.

Green Tea Latte - $4.30

Green tea is making its way into drink and dessert menus everywhere and whilst I love this, I only love it when the green tea flavour is actually prominent in the food or drink and strong enough to be able to recognise its presence. With that, I do not love Sun Cafe's green tea latte despite how promising it sounded. The bittersweet flavour is so next to nothing that I would have believed that I had ordered a glass of warm milk and even the extremely pale green colour makes it unidentifiable even as a green tea beverage if not for the powder sinking into the milky froth.

Marinated beef tataki, fresh crunchy salad - $18

My cousin ordered the beef tataki, presented with raw red and white cabbage and a trail of spring onions and roasted sesame seeds on a bed of raw beef, slightly seared around the edges and bathed in a vinegary sauce.

Crunchy Honey Bread - $12

We picked Sun Cafe as our dessert destination purely because of the recommendation of their Crunchy Honey Bread, so naturally it was the most anticipated dish of the evening. And certainly a very late evening too, to be eating a whole block of bread that has been wholly and thoroughly deep fried until the exterior is a hard, solid casing for the crunchy interior. Although really, this really wasn't a concern considering we had a McDonald's run for cheeseburgers, fries and ice-cream straight after this...gosh, the power of hindsight sure gives more insight into one's frivolous eating behaviours.

One of Sun Cafe's signature desserts

This indulgent dessert is quite large and solid, and thus is thoughtfully slightly cut into tall batons to make it easier to slice through the crunchy centre, which is also slightly dense in other parts. The honey bread sits on an artistic crosshatching of chocolate, caramel and honey syrups weaving through each other on the plate and is crowned by three tiers - sliced fruits (kiwi and banana on this occasion), a big scoop of fluffy whipped cream and finally adorned with a strawberry. This colourful medley of contrasting textures and flavours is further enhanced by a light dusting of cinnamon, a crunchy pecan nut crumb and more drizzling of the honey. The fruits are definitely a wise choice to counteract the heaviness of the bread, which retains a lot of oil.

Stress stimulus

Running down the centre of the dining area is a display case piled with magazines and board games to use as you please, and Jenga definitely provided ongoing entertainment for us as everybody sat around and chatted quietly. The very relaxed vibe of the place definitely makes you forget how loud you actually are. Oopsy!

Sun Cafe would be a good potential place to head to after dinner for dessert or drinks when nobody quite wants to leave yet, as their dessert selection ranges from pastries to waffles to frozen yoghurts. I'm hanging out to try their tempura oysters and crispy scallops with renkon chips and the long opening hours of Sun Cafe is the biggest convenience of all because the sun doesn't set here until late at night.

Sun Cafe Restaurant, Perth

Sun Cafe's Facebook page
Hours as stated on Facebook page
7.45am - 12am (this ranges, as we had to settle the bill before 11pm on the Saturday night)
Open 7 days

Tel: (08)9227 5009
318 William Street Perth WA 6000