Seddon Village is ever-changing from a sleepy suburban strip to hip hangout. This week we said goodbye to Seddon video store, hello family-friendly cafe Est. 1906.
The large space has been transformed into a funky daytime venue with a liquor licence which is one of the best kid-friendly spaces I’ve visited in a while.
First there’s a lot of space inside and out to manoeuvre and park a pram, including wide doorways and ramps everywhere. The front dining room is huge, with white exposed brick and pops of yellow in the furniture and the crockery.
For those who want some privacy, there’s a glassed-in room facing Charles Street which is separated by a sliding door. If you don’t have kids this is a great place to hide away!
The concrete industrial chic decor continues around the right where there’s another room with more tables and one side that looks out onto the courtyard and leads to several bathrooms, one of which includes change facilities. Numerous high chairs are available.
The courtyard is where Est.1906 really comes into its own. It’s spacious and has long communal tables, a raised platform with smaller tables on soft fake grass. It’s fully fenced too.
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There’s a large collection of toys that kids can enjoy – Duplo, wooden puzzles and quoits for instance. There are also basic colouring-in supplies that keep Lady AB happy for a long time.
On our visit, there were up to fifteen toddlers playing in the backyard and everyone is busy and happy. No screaming, crying or tantrums as there are enough toys and space to share, and parents are able to keep an eye on little ones while sipping their coffees.
The all-day menu is a fairly run-of-the-mill list of cafe standards, with the occasional Asian twist thanks to the Chinese owners.
As far as smashed avo goes ‘The Avo’ is pretty good, with generous lashings of avocado with cherry tomatoes, marinated feta, slices of cold smoked salmon and two perfectly poached eggs.
It’s comforting and pretty without being thrilling – and probably a few dollars more than I’d expect to pay at $20.
The banana bread is a hunk of gently spiced cake with segments of poached pear, a passionfruit half and a dousing of overly sweet honey cinnamon yoghurt. The banana bread is delicious without all the accoutrements and I think solid value at $12.
The kids menu is all day and ranges from sourdough toasties ($5.30), pasta with napoli sauce, chicken schnitzel and chips and fish and chips (all $9). My kids are used to crusty, seedy bread but if your kids are fussy you may find the toasties too hard for them to chew.
The flat white is creamy and smooth and the babycino comes in a half-filled miniature paper cup – not one of the most impressive cinos we’ve had around the traps and with a distinct lack of froth.
On our weekend visit Est. 1906 is full by 10am so I recommend an early trip. The space is large but there are not enough wait staff when the place is at capacity so the timing can be a bit off – our food comes before our coffees and as the place gets busier the wait gets longer. Our dirty plates are not cleared for a long time. Hopefully these small blips will be ironed out once they settle into their new digs a bit more.
HOT Tips:
- Pram access with wide doorways throughout and ramps;
- Numerous high chairs;
- Disabled toilet which fits a pram and includes change table;
- Children’s menu;
- Standard menu suitable for kids;
- Toys, puzzles, colouring-in; and
- Free 1 hour parking on Charles and Victoria St, bike loops out front.
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