Friends of Mine is a cafe that I've been wanting to try for a long time. Every time I drive down Riversdale Road/Swan Street I see this lovely while period building that has that quaint, gently decaying look to it. There's not many cafes nearby so I figured it must be doing something right if punters are willing to come and queue up for a table. It's situated right next to some industrial (electrical?) building/power station that lends an air of grittiness to the scene.
House-made iced tea
And queuing up for a table is a given here - at least during peak periods. The Log Lady and I arrived around 10:45am on Sunday and, boy, was it crazy hectic here. A crowd of 15 or so people all crammed into the small entrance area, all waiting for a table. While there were quite a few tables available on the footpath, all of us wanted a table on the inside, which was packed full. Being told that there would be a 10-15 minutes wait turned out to be closer to 25 minutes (*groan*). Sandwiched and sardine-d we were... not unlike squishing onto a packed peak hour train but with a lot more noise.
Finally seated, we quickly placed our orders. It became apparent to me that you have to be proactive here - flag down a waiter as soon as you can... they're all far too busy, whizzing around the place to properly take care of you.
The Log Lady went for a skinny flat white while I got the house-made iced tea (see first pic) - something that you don't typically find on the menu in cafes. This iced tea was refreshing with a good proper tea flavour and not too sweet.
The food was yummy and spot-on. The Log Lady was happy with her house-made falafel with salad and warm flatbread. It certainly looked fresh, and the falafel was a vibrant verdant on the inside.
I usually don't order po boys or sliders as I think there's too much bread for the amount of filling you get. However, these chicken po boys were brilliant. A nice juicy, panko-crusted chicken fillet with lots of fresh slaw. I especially liked the ginger-Kewpie mayo dressing that came with it. If all po boys were like this, I be happy.
Verdict
Overall
The food is tasty and it's really nice - that's definitely a plus for Friends of Mine. But the long queues, the crowds, the noise (you have to shout at each other) detract from an otherwise nice meal. Just for the food, I wouldn't mind going back but I'll definitely go during an off-peak period.
We dined at Friends of Mine using a dining voucher from the 2017-18 Entertainment Book. We're promoting the Entertainment Book to help fundraise for SecondBite. Pre-order your copy of the 2018-19 Entertainment Book, which will be available in a few weeks time!).
Also have a gander at Big Fil's review back in 2011.
Find it at
Friends of Mine506 Swan Street
Richmond VIC 3121
Phone: (03) 9428 7516
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