Chapels on Whatley, Maylands

In recent years Maylands has become a definite stand out location to visit if you want a decent breakfast.  There are so many options to choose from including Piccos Kitchen, Mrs S, Milkd, Sherbet Bake Shop and as I recently discovered; Chapels on Whatley.

The café is actually contained inside a shop selling a variety of imported Asian antique furniture, art and bits and pieces for around your home that they source from a number of countries including Tibet, Mongolia, Japan, China and Vietnam.  They have a wide range of over sixty different types of beautiful loose teas to purchase and you can book a tea tasting to try them all if you wish.

The café is located toward the back of the store and opens out onto a quaint and relaxing little courtyard. Sounds of the neighbours pet bird’s song echo gently giving a wonderful sense of serenity and peace. My dear friend and colleague Chris had the luxury of a few days break from her second job of being super mum to her two adorable children.  Her daughter was having a couple of days sleepover at her Nanna’s and so she only had her youngest little baby boy to watch.  This made the prospects of outing much easier and relaxing for the both of us. She loves the Maylands area and visits it more regularly than I do so convincing her to meet at Chapels was easy work.

I rose quite early that morning and felt buzzing with energy so I burst out the front door for a quick pre-breakfast run.  We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful city and no matter how many times I run along the foreshore I always revel in its beauty. Normally upon my return from a morning run I am literally starving and will immediately commence devouring breakfast of some form; ideally something that includes eggs and strong coffee. However in order to meet Chris on time I had to jump straight in the shower, dress and into my car to head off to Maylands with an empty stomach. As I was waiting for Chris to arrive, I was so hungry it felt like my stomach had started to digest itself in protest.  Thankfully she arrived shortly after with her gorgeous little boy in tow and as we waited for our orders to arrive she opened up a little container of puffed corn for him to nibble on. Figuring his food was fair game, I helped the little guy work his way through his breakfast snack as he looked back at me with a slightly astonished and bemused expression.

Our meals were super quick to come out of the kitchen and I had to conscientiously stop myself from greedily eating it in two seconds flat.  My eggs were poached just a few seconds beyond perfection maintaining most of their gooey centres which burst out like lava over my salmon and toast.  The gluten-free bread didn’t have that crumbly cake texture I loathe in some but was fairly standard in taste.

Chris also ordered the smoked salmon but had her’s with scrambled eggs and on rye toast.  Her eggs were airy and fluffy and although her little boy had already had his breakfast, he was totally fine with the idea of helping her finish her large serve.  Very cute.

One of the many things I love about eating out with Chris is her healthy appetite, especially when it comes to breakfast.  A lot of people cannot handle a large amount of food first thing in the morning.  Neither Chris nor I are one of these people.  She was the person who introduced to me the concept of a “second breakfast”, an idea that has great merit to someone like me who is often a very early riser.  In addition to this we are also big fans of a two-course breakfast.

The dessert menu left me spoilt for choice with a multitude of gluten-free options.  We ordered the mixed berry tea cake and a couple of green tea macarons.  The cake was fluffy and light with a great tang of tart berries and a dollop of decadent thick cream.  The macarons were a little disappointing.  They lacked a crisp outer shell and were mostly a chewy consistency.  Texture really is key to macaron success. The green tea flavour was too subtle for me and it was also a little too sugary.

Chapels on Whatley are another gluten-free friendly breakfast venue to add to your bucket list in Perth, especially if you love a good cup of tea.  Their menu is small but varied and I am interested to return and try their lunch menu.

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