【Sydney Food】Armory Wharf Cafe, Newington .::Water view cafe next to a playground::.

Live in the northern suburbs and want to have brunch near home with water view? Try Armory Cafe. It overlooks the Paramatta River and sits right next to a supersize playground in Newington. I wouldn’t say the food was fantastic, but the casual outdoor seating and nearby facilities made up for it.

—–HER{curio}MAJESTY SCORE SHEET—–

Visited: 15 November 2014

Food: 6.5/10 || Ambiance: 7/10 || Service: 8/10

What I loved: The location (next to a playground)

Will I come back: Maybe if I’m bringing kids.

There’s a reason why it’s named the Armory Cafe and is decorated with camouflage: it used to be within the Newington Armory facilities. Apart from this, the seating and fit-out are quite basic.

The kids’ playground right next to the cafe. Kids are so spoiled nowadays…the facilities look like so much fun, even I want to play!

Asian style pulled pork burger with coleslaw, and a side of the Armory’s spiced “calamari frites”, $24. Very pricey for a mediocre burger at a casual cafe.

Grilled scotch fillet ciabatta roll (toasted), w/ caramelised onion, gruyere cheese, smoky BBQ sauce, roquette slaw, chunky chips, $18.5.

Salt and pepper squid with lychee & mango salad, served w/ aioli, $22. Again, not cheap for the portion and the quality of food.

Mussels steamed w/cider, green apple and mustard seed sauce and served with a bowl of chunky chips, $23. Not sure if it was the mussels itself or the sauce, or both – the flavour just wasn’t quite right. The chips were pretty ordinary but I had no choice but to munch on them because I really didn’t like the mussels. But $23…

Armory Cafe’s menu.

The view from our table.

We never end a meal with our dad without dessert. I went inside to have a look at the cake display, and one thing caught my eyes – caramalised white chocolate cheese cake!

Caramelised white chocolate cheesecake with ice cream, $11. I can’t actually remember what it tasted like already, it obviously didn’t make much of an impression..but at least it wasn’t bad either.

My cappuccino, $3.

King size scone with cream and house made mixed berry and vanilla jam, $4.5. They mean it when they say “king size”! This was the most value for money item that we ordered that day.

Overall, I found the savoury dishes to be underwhelming and rather disappointing for the price tag. However, the sweets and drinks were reasonably priced. If what you’re looking for is to chillax at a no-frills cafe, enjoy some water view and the outdoor, then you should give here a try. The service was ok (not as bad as what a lot of people had pre-warned on Urbanspoon).

There is a carpark right next to the cafe, however, parking wasn’t particularly easy to find on a weekend afternoon – you do need a bit of luck.

{Armory Cafe}
Address: Armory Wharf Cafe, Blaxland Riverside Park, Jamieson Street,Newington NSW 2127
Website: http://armorywharfcafe.com/