Sandbar, Dee Why – Rating: 17/25

Sandbar

Dee Why’s beachfront has no shortage of cafés, eateries and restaurants. I’ve enjoyed dinners at Sandbar before so I figured that their breakfast would be worth a try! This strip is normally a superb breakfast spot to show off Sydney to out-of-towners but with autumn upon us, the view wasn’t as spectacular as it can be.

From the moment we entered, the waitstaff were energetic and personable. Their speed and friendliness impressed throughout our visit. Even on rainy days like today, you can still sit outside as they can completely enclose the area.

Large flat white

Flat white

The Allpress Espresso alone makes it worth visiting Sandbar. Our coffees ($4) were slightly on the milkier side but made with excellent beans and had a full flavour with caramel tones.

Also available is hot chocolate, mocha ($4.50 each), iced coffee, iced chocolate ($6.50 each) and loose leaf teas by Tea Drop ($4.50).

Blueberry is the new banana smoothie

There is a handful of pre-determined smoothies available such as it’s not easy being green (kale, spinach, banana, honey, chia seeds and rice milk, $8), the health nut (Mejool dates, cashew nuts, raw cacao, maca root, honey and almond milk, $9) and it takes three to mango (orange, pineapple and mango blended with ice, $7).

I tried the blueberry is the new banana ($8) which is made with blueberries, banana, LSA (linseed, sunflow and almond), Greek yoghurt and milk. The combination sounded fantastic but I wasn’t blown away by what I tasted. The banana was too pronounced compared to the other ingredients and texture-wise it was too thick.

Milkshakes ($6.50) are also available as chocolate, strawberry, caramel or vanilla and you can customise yours by turning it into a thickshake (add $1.50) or adding malt (50c), soy, almond or rice milk (30c) or chia seeds ($1).

Sweetcorn fritters

The sweetcorn fritters ($18.90, add a poached egg for $2) appeared looking a bit more like hotcakes than the deep fried fritters I was expecting. The fritters themselves were fluffy with a reasonable amount of corn and herbs. Some more seasoning was required but the fritters worked very well with the other items in the stack namely roasted tomato, avocado, rocket and a large amount of crispy bacon. I almost felt like eating the entire thing like a sandwich! This was a moreish and well executed dish.

Sandbar breakfast

When my guest chose the corn fritters, I needed to quickly change to something else (to review a different dish)! While Sandbar does serve eggs Benedict ($18.90), I went for the larger Sandbar breakfast ($21.90). I swapped the included mushrooms for fresh avocado and I’m grateful that they allowed me to change it.

Not much to fault here, perfectly poached eggs which were slightly on the more cooked side but still runny, chipolata sausages that boasted spice and flavour, quality Sonoma toast and crispy bacon. For the price, I would have preferred more of that last item though. The tomatoes were too cool but other than that, I enjoyed everything I tasted. Sides that could have been added include yoghurt, hollandaise ($2.50 each), beans, two hashbrowns, mushrooms ($3.50 each), haloumi ($4), smoked salmon ($4.50).

Other dishes that we didn’t sample but would be worthy of a revisit are home made strawberry yoghurt with granola, fresh berries and rockmelon ($15.90), buttermilk pancakes with banana or mixed berries with maple syrup and ice cream (three pancakes $17.90, 5 pancakes $21.90) and green eggs and ham (scrambled eggs with homemade pesto and double smoked ham, $18.90).

While nothing really blew me away at Sandbar, you’ll find friendly service and a competent kitchen so if you’re in the area, it’s well worth a visit.

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