I don't cry. I eat...at The Boathouse, Palm Beach

If you've ever been lucky enough to visit the Northern Beaches area in Sydney, you'd know why I love it so much. It's so far away from the hustle and bustle of Sydney city that I can feel myself relaxing as I drove past the many beaches to reach the Palm Beach end of Barrenjoey Road. About an hour's drive from Sydney's CBD, Palm Beach is an expensive area to live in so it was no surprise that it's a little bit more expensive to eat. Full of many beachside eateries, Palm Beach is a very tranquil beachy community where you can eat by the sea, take a swim while you wait for your brekkie order or kayak past your friends while they brunch on the deck of a cafe like the Boathouse.

Opened in November 2008, the Boathouse is a cafe, flower shop and gourmet food stockist. When we arrived, from the outside, it looked like a humble little establishment with mismatched outdoor furniture and a gorgeous selection of flowers and crates of fruit balanced on top of lobster traps (which made them look very glamorous! who woulda thought lobster traps could be home-deco-glam?).

sorry, doggies.

 lobster traps!

have a seat while you sip your coffee and decide which flowers you want to buy

As we walked through the entrance of the Boathouse I was indeed taken back with what I saw: Amongst the beautiful striped pink wallpaper, a wide assortment of flowers and antique wooden furniture was a giant vase holding massive branches of frangi pani in the middle of the room. I thought I just walked into a Vogue Living editorial!

beautiful calla lilies

yummy baked goods!! hard not to press your nose against the glass...

Unfortunately (actually it wasn't so unfortunate) we couldn't find a seat inside so we opted for outside on one of the picnic benches on the deck of the Boathouse. The Boathouse didn't just leave the Vogue-ish decorating for the inside. The deck brunchers were treated to even more antique wooden furniture, cool knick-knacks such as antique watering cans, porcelain and candles and most importantly an unblocked view of the sea.

my view

the deck where we sat

"But what did you eat?" I hear you ask. Whilst waiting for my delicious spinach salmon eggs I shared one of their giant meringues with everyone (see above pic). It was not overly sweet and nice and gooey in the middle. It reminded me how much meringues should be left to the masters because I have attempted making meringues before...and it wasn't pretty.

After we finished brunch we couldn't help ourselves so we ordered the beer battered fish and chips to share..and if you are a fish and chips fan THIS is a MUST EAT! It was just beautifully made, not too oily and you can really feel the freshness of the fish.

Oh, and if you were wondering what it was like coffee-wise, well when my friend's coffee order went missing for about 30 minutes which made her a little upset (even though they refunded her money because they felt so bad) all was forgiven when her coffee arrived and she took her first sip. It was that good.

Hope you're all having a good week!

love,
idontcryieat

P.S. For more info on the Boathouse, visit their website here.