Pool Café - Maroubra

Hey guys!

Ben here with the first of many to come reviews for our blog. So, I wanted my first post to have sentimental value towards me and so I can let you guys in on my life. As some of you may already know I reside in the Eastern suburbs and love the ocean, which means when I’m sitting at a restaurant or café I want to be dazzled by the views but not have to pay the hefty prices most restaurants charge when ocean views are present. Hence, I present to you Pool Café in Maroubra.

As you can probably see the exterior of the building is quite basic with not a lot of architectural ingenuity, but this really adds to the personality of the venue. The venue has a quirky interior with colourful chairs, rustic style table designs and very simplistic layout, but you probably didn’t come to this blog to learn about the interior of the restaurant. While I understand that may be the case, understanding the layout of the restaurant partnered with the view will give you a better understanding of how enjoyable the meal is.

Pool café offer a Mediterranean/ Middle eastern inspired cuisine ranging from offering falafel for breakfast to scallops and avocado smash for a lunch option. Me and my girlfriend Ella thought we would opt for the breakfast options to review. She chose the halloumi and poached egg, while I went for the Middle Eastern Big Breakfast consisting of a large assortment that will be talked about in a second. 

The halloumi was perfectly cooked, not too chewy but still cooked well enough that it melts in your mouth with every bite. The egg was also very well cooked as the yolk was runny, the egg white surrounding was tasty and seasoned which paired well with the grilled tomato and the bread. The spinach leaves added a bit of flavour but weren’t enhancing of the other flavours as initially expected. Overall the meal was presented well, was very tasty and was incredibly hard to put down. 8/10

The big breakfast consisted of the poached egg, which like the halloumi and poached egg meal before was cooked perfectly, three tomato slices drizzled with a vinegar and balsamic dressing, a slice of halloumi, some sautéed mushrooms, three falafels, two pieces of zaatar bread and a selection of 3 sauces (Hummus, Babaganush, and feta cheese spread). The halloumi paired with the tomato and sauce was quite an enjoyable experiment as the mix of salty, the tomato and the balsamic really fused well. Now I personally don’t really enjoy mushrooms, but these mushrooms were incredible. They had an incredible flavour to them that made me unable to put them down. One of the few downsides of the meal was the lack of zaatar bread for the sauces, and the falafel balls were a little cold. I would rate the meal 7/10, very thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

If you ever find yourself in Maroubra I would recommend checking out the Pool Café because the staff are friendly, the great views are super enticing, as well as the food being very tasty. Alright that’s me off for today, stay tuned for my next post where I take this international.

- Ben