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-.
