2 weeks Ago By Lenny Ann Low
Cafe $ $$$ To the sound of crashing waves, in an inland surf park 20 kilometres from the Sydney coastline, there is the opportunity to sit beside lapping aquamarine waters and drink an espresso martini. You can lie on manicured green grass, idly watching surfers attempting to ride barrel waves in the middle of Sydney Olympic Park, and nosh on fish tacos, charred cabbage burritos and churros with dulce de leche. The food and drink come from Sandy’s, a kiosk-style cafe inside modular electromechanical wave-machine complex Urbnsurf.
The mood is casual but, in almost every way, it’s a long way from the beach. On a hot spring day it’s not too crowded. Parking is a cinch.
The grounds, a mix of landscaped lawn, native plants and surrounding bushland, frame two bays of sparklingly clean water. Every few minutes white-topped waves gush to curving shorelines that look like they’ve been scrubbed by hand. And, on its edge, Sandy’s casually up-market kiosk is a place where you can order a tall glass of Rameau d’Or Petit Amour from Provence, a flat white in a ceramic chocolate-hued cup and saucer and a rather good grilled chicken bowl, plump with barley, quinoa, kimchi, black beans, diced pineapple and coleslaw.
There’s good hot chips and Butter Boy biscuits and, if it’s morning, breakfast burritos, bacon and egg rolls on potato buns and acai bowls with passionfruit, strawberry, banana, granola and optional swirls of peanut butter. All around you are surfers, wetsuits half-on, clutching long boards and staring intently at the waves tubing across two bays. They are hungry.
They’re eating fried chicken burgers with chipotle mayonnaise and slabs of bronzed, batter-coated poultry the size of a cheeseboard. They’re whipping in yuzus sodas and iced strawberry matcha teas and large Gabriel Beans long blacks before paddling out to tackle another tube. Sandy’s, which opened in May, is overseen by Applejack Hospitality, which also runs Rafi Urbnsurf, a fine-dining restaurant above the cafe.
Hamish Watts, co-founder of Applejack, says Sandy’s is a place for surfers, of all-ages, or anyone wanting to spectate. “You don’t have to surf to come here,” he says. “About 90 per cent of our trade is people from the local precinct or surrounding suburbs, many visiting Sandy’s or Rafi to eat and drink.
It’s a place that provides a sense of escapism in a way, in a place that’s a bit of a distance from the sea.” Watts says he and business partner Ben Carroll wanted a cafe that encapsulated seaside vibes. “We’re both surfers,” he says.
“We thought, what would we want? We want fish tacos. We’d want acai. We want a really good burger.
We want margaritas. We want really icy cold beer. We want ice-creams for the kids.
“It’s all that sort of stuff, where you can just rock in, dripping-wet in your wetsuit and smash a burger directly after your surf. We wanted it to be super-easy, super-accessible, no airs and graces with that clubhouse, hang out with your mates after surfing from the previous session feel.” The lunch and dinner menu, which runs from corn chips and guacamole to nachos fries with beef brisket, five kinds of burgers, a variety of tacos, burritos and chicken and vegetarian salad bowls, also includes grommet snack packs for kids which include hot chips, cut cucumber and fruit, a biscuit and a choice of cheese quesadilla, cheeseburger or fish fingers.
“It’s a great place for kids in summer,” Watts says. “It’s fenced and patrolled, there’s sessions for all-ages with boogie boards, and there’s cabanas and picnic tables with umbrellas. You can just hang out and watch the water and surfers and feel a level of escapism without battling the traffic to the beach.
” Spectators need to book ahead to visit Sandy’s without surfing. But once you’re inside there’s no time limitation. Staff update a blackboard to say the water temperature is 21 degrees with sunny skies and a bit of wind.
The tables are cooled by overhead misting surfers. Everyone is mesmerised by the waves. The only thing missing is seagulls.
Today there is a lone bush turkey, pecking between diners dipping hot chips in tomato sauce, and throngs of broad-shouldered, wild-haired surfers watching recordings of their surf session on screens inside Sandy’s. The waves are consistently perfect. The low-down Vibe: Inland surfside cafe overlooking green lawns, picnic tables and surfers riding machine-made waves, in the middle of Sydney Olympic Park.
Cost: $50, plus drinks (for two).
