Friends of Mine, Richmond by Bureaucrat

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

We really liked it.

Mid value.

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 Mine
506 Swan Street
Richmond VIC 3121
Phone: (03) 9428 7516