Flinderz

Disappointing. My review is a bit old now due to a large backlog of blog posts however I won’t be back any time soon. I brought my friend from interstate and wss a bit embarrassed as she knows I can be relied on for food recommendations. The granola with panna cotta and fresh fruit sounded lovely as none of the hot meals grabbed me, despite being a savoury fiend.
It started out great. The waitress was very friendly although seated us at the table in the doorway where people kept hitting me on my way in. We moved, and when she realised we were planning and discussing something in detail she very kindly brought us a pen and paper which was so lovely. We ordered and waited. But then she got busy and we were left to fend for ourselves with the rest of the staff.
My friend’s benedict came out about 15 minutes later. Very average tasting, on the small side and lukewarm but no major issues. Mine took a further 5 minutes and arrived just with a dented panna cotta which had split, surrounded by granola and no fruit or milk. I tried several times to flag down a waitress but they kept ignoring me, and I told my friend to eat before her meal was cold. I finally walked up to a waitress before she could ignore me and walk away, and asked if milk was normally provided with cereal. I politely explained that the menu said there was fresh fruit in my dish however none had arrived and could she please sort it out. I sat down and she grabbed a menu from the table next to me and very pointedly stared at it for at least 3 minutes before I stopped watching. She then disappeared but 10 minutes later nothing happened. So I did the same to another waitress, and very oddly this second waitress did the exact same thing only stared at the menu even longer!
After about 20 minutes after getting my food I got annoyed and went and got a third waitress and said I was making a complaint and explained very calmly to her but told her I was annoyed and showed her the menu myself. She said she would look into it and didn’t look happy about it. Five minutes later a small jug of milk appeared from behind me, slammed down very hard on to the table and jolted us both. The waitress disappeared and I didn’t see who it was. Another five minutes later a lovely male staff person, slightly older than the young waitresses very politely explained that my dish was sent out too early missing the fruit and they would bring me a separate dish. I thanked him but then the fruit finally came 35 minutes after the rest arrived. Needless to say by that time I wasn’t hungry any more and our day of driving up to Lancelin was ruined before it gad started. Thankfully I had an Entertainment card and there were no issues with that however it was the older staff person who served me.
The pana cotta ended up being delicious even though the cream had split, but the granola was stale and my coffee average. I posted it to Instagram and they responded to my post saying staff were new but I thought all they needed to do was either let customers know, or monitor or train the staff a bit. I’m not going back now or ever.

Great spot in Hillarys for a coffee catch up with friends, as well as breakfast, lunch or dinner dates. Friendly staff and food is usually excellent. Menu could be more varied and have some more vegetarian options. Love the oyster and bubbly night. New smoothie and juice menu is impressive although fairly expensive for the size of the drinks.

Went there a few times now but I’ll review it based on the last time we went! It was a couple of days! Nice sunny day, we ordered a coffee each and I got the omelette whilst she got the eggs and bacon! Came out a little slow but once it was out the food was so good as usual and the service was also great as usual would recommend to anyone ! Reasonable prices too!

I took a trip back to Flinderz in Hillarys this morning, a nice restaurant that’s tucked away in a suburban shopping centre (albeit in an expensive part of town). I’ve only been there for breakfast, although I would definitely give it a try for lunch or dinner.
Last time I tried the oft-​photographed pancakes with salted caramel and fried ice cream, although that’s not on the menu any more and has been replaced with four varieties of French toast! (plain /​rocky road /​banana & salted caramel /​mixed berry).
Starting with an okay-​but-​not-​spectacular long mac, I ordered the «breakfast sandwich» ($ 14), a triple layered extravaganza of leg ham and fontina cheese with bechamel on slabs of lightly grilled brioche (their version of a croque monsieur). I really enjoyed this, it wasn’t remotely greasy and the cheese was especially nice. Perfect for the kind of day when you don’t fancy a complex breakfast but don’t want something boring either.
I really should go to Flinderz more often, it’s a comfortable venue with good food, friendly service and isn’t too busy if you get there early enough.

Average. That’s a charitable summary for what was an underwhelming breakfast experience.
Breakfast items need to be hot, they need to be tasty, and should be a great start to your day. Whilst the dishes were a visual feast for the eyes, this didn’t translate into the taste.
My dining companions banana pancakes were bordering on stone cold. The pulled pork Eggs Benedict had a flavourless sauce which was bland and tasteless, and eggs that were over poached.
And whilst their freshly squeezed juices were flavoursome, they are simply overpriced for what they were.
If you are looking for a breakfast option in the Hillarys area, give Flinderz a miss. There’s much better places.

I have always walked past this café on my way to other areas of the small shopping complex saying I’ll have to go here one day. Im so glad I finally did! Great fresh food and although I usually don’t tend to go for a sweet breakfast, if you do there was so much choice that even I was tempted by it! Staff were very friendly and the atmosphere of the restaurant is very relaxing, open and warm with the sun coming through but not the beach wind, which is great for a chilly winter morning! I will defiantly be going back soon and hopefully become a regular!

It’s not often that I venture north on the freeway, with all my usual haunts being close to the CBD or in the general fremantle direction. Two weekends in a row now I have found myself heading onto the Mitchell freeway, last weekend to Tropico and more recently to check out what Flinderz has to offer.
And for the second weekend in a row the drive was well justified, with Flinderz pleasing me with its bright, spacious interior (bonus points if you’re seated on the patio on a sunny winters morning), fantastic coffee and hearty, satisfying dishes.
Service was a little on the slow side, but understandable given the place was jam packed with a perpetual queue out the door. The wait staff remained friendly thought, and the pace never felt frenzied. You couldn’t fault the food that was streaming out of the kitchen — I drooled over every instagram-​worthy plate that went past. The beans and chorizo dish that I tried lived up to its visual standards in the tastebud department — beans with a solid texture, spicy chorizo and gooey egg yolks to top it all off.

Took the trip to try their breakfast menu after seeing some amazing pictures online. We arrived and the menu was fantastic and we happily ordered banoffee pancakes and poached eggs, mushrooms, avo & salmon. Coffee came out 20 minutes later and then breakfast finally arrived 55 minutes after ordering.
Not sure why the wait was so long; the poached eggs were overcooked, mushrooms were forgotten and the pancakes were cold.
They threw in free coffee for the wait but after that wait we won’t be back. Better hinges to do on our weekend.

So I booked for a Sat at 10am– granted its Valentines Day– so it was busy but we were sat in the corner at the back away from any natural light. Asked if there was other places to sit but response was No… Mmmmmm
So ordered Superfood smoothie within minutes of sitting down and waited a fair while for it. I wasn’t wrapped with mine.
Ordered brekkie Tasting plate and Quinoa granola & Banana Panacotta brekkie. It looked awesome but pana cotta was a wee bit bland def couldn’t taste banana. Granola was yummy. Partner had tasting plate-​found it yummy but frittata bland.
All up place definitely has potential and some great ideas for place in the suburbs. A few little tweaks on food and service and she will be right.
I’ll def give it another go.

My boy had the omelette ($ 14.00) which has mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, spinach and manchego cheese, with a simple side salad. He dove straight in to the sunny yellow creation, noting that the manchego cheese is what really delivers in the flavour department for this — I mean who doesn’t love manchego! It’s a simple dish, but the flavours work well and it’s a nice light dish to enjoy.
I opted for something a bit more decadent, the pulled pork benedict ($ 18.00) which is slow cooked pork shoulder, garlic spinach, poached eggs and spiced hollandaise. There’s something so satisfying about a tender, juicy piece of meat like this, and Flinderz version is slightly chunkier than your normal strings of pork, which I think is great (and filling!).
The choice of bread for me is perfect. It’s thick enough to maintain it’s integrity while soaking in the hollandaise. The garlic spinach is well cooked and flavoursome, a nice burst of freshness in the dish. My poached eggs were perfect! Check out the yolk porn above… yes, insert drool here.
The hollandaise is so sinfully buttery, coating the ingredients on the plate generously. I don’t get much of the spiced flavour, but I eat a great deal of chilli and spices, so it might just have been lost on me because of this.
Our share dish is actually the favourite for both of us visually and when it comes to taste. It’s like a gorgeous work of art on the plate! It’s quinoa granola with banana pannacotta, honeycomb, berries, nuts and honeyed jersey milk ($ 12.00).
Firstly, the price is extremely reasonable, so to see this come out really impressed me. Texturally this dish is all kinds of right, with crunch from the granola and toasted pistachio nuts, pops of juice from the berries, and creaminess from the banana pannacotta.
Pannacotta is a dessert I make quite often at home, so I’m always interested to see new flavours of this tried and true dish. Lately I’ve been seeing more and more breakfast spots featuring pannacotta on their brunch menus which is a little bit naughty, and a whole lot of exciting! In this instance it definitely delivered on the banana flavour and was just the right size without crossing into the sinful side of things.
Naturally after eating a dish and a half each the boy and I were feeling pretty full! But I’m so glad we decided to stop by this neighbourhood gem, and that we also were a little piggy and got that granola. It was definitely the highlight, and I will happily return for it again in the future! And if the food wasn’t enough to sell us, the service was really good, with the staff working friendly, happy and if they minded working on NYE, you wouldn’t tell!