Biara Cafe, Kings Park
Biara Cafe in Kings Park is the perfect family friendly place for a bite of lunch or a coffee catch up. Located at Ivey Watson Playground, this location has plenty to keep kids of all ages entertained.
Formerly known as Stickybeaks, Biara Cafe has had a refresh. There’s bright new paint throughout, and the adjoining playground has new equipment.
We decided to head to Biara Cafe for breakfast. The weather was sunny, and what better place than Kings Park to enjoy it?
Miss 7 opted for the Kids Pancakes (everything on the side – sensory issues!) and a milkshake. These came as a plate of two perfectly cooked pancakes with a berry compote, maple syrup and ice cream. The berry compote was sweet, but not overly sweet. A nice contrast to the sugary syrup and creamy ice cream. The kids milkshake came in the perfect size in a convenient takeaway cup. Handy if your child is like mine and doesn’t always finish before taking off to play. It was helpful that she could later finish her drink in the car.
My husband chose the eggs benny with ham from the adults menu. This came with two thick slices of toast, creamy hollandaise sauce, several slices of ham and baby spinach leaves.
For breakfast, I chose a simple scrambled eggs on toast and a latte. The eggs came perfectly cooked with two slices of toast stacked up. My husband and I also grabbed a latte and a chai latte. The coffee was excellent, as good as the last time we visited. *chefs kiss*
The kids menu options are available all day and include the pancakes, ham and cheese toastie, nuggets and chips, fish and chips or salt and pepper calamari and chips. There’s also a Kids Biara Breakie, which includes sourdough toast with a choice of two add-ons: egg, bacon, hash brown, mushroom, baked beans or sausage. This is a junior version of the adults Biara Breakie.
The adults menu features breakfast favourites such as smashed avocado, bircher muesli, and bacon and egg toasted sandwich. There is also an all-day brunch menu to choose from. This includes various burgers, salads, fish and chips, and seafood options.
In addition to the great menu options, there are loads of fresh rolls, toasties, pastries, muffins and more in the cabinet inside. There are also sweet options such as cakes, cookies and slices if you just fancy a small bite with your cuppa.
If you’re looking for somewhere for a catch up with friends who also have kids or somewhere to meet up with the grandparents, this is a great spot to do it. There is seating inside in the cafe, or there is seating outside undercover of the large verandah. On the other hand, there is a large grassed area where you can set up a picnic spot.
From most of the seating, you can keep an eye on the kids while they play, provided they stay in the upper playground area. There’s plenty of space to pull up a pram or park a wheelchair. We also appreciate that there are toilet facilities provided for families and those in wheelchairs.
If you sit outside, please be aware that the bird life may try to help your with your food. Kookaburras have been known to snatch chips and the crows will come for anything left unattended. So we suggest you do not walk away from your food.
However, Biara Cafe is a lovely spot to watch the bird life feeding in the native trees and bushes. I enjoyed watching the wattlebirds and honeyeaters in the bottlebrush bushes. I have no doubt there’s more wildlife living in the bushland around the playground and cafe.
Once you’ve managed to get some food into the kids, there is a playground adjacent to the front and rear of the cafe. This has climbing equipment, slides, a flying fox and monkey bars. The base of this area is woodchips, so you don’t have to worry about taking home a ton of sand in the kids shoes.
I believe another section of playground down behind the cafe has also been replaced. There is a new climbing frame with new slides. This has steering wheels like a bus for imaginative play in the bottom level, and a naughts and crosses game up the top. This area has rubbery soft fall to help protect little knees, which has also recently been replaced.
It’s also close to all our old favourites at Ivey Watson Playground. Miss 7 enjoyed the swings and the wooden maze now that she’s older. Previously, when smaller, she was obsessed with the firetruck and airplane, and the wooden pirate ship down the bottom of the playground.
There are also some giant outdoor books here based around the playground and the cute animal characters. While reading one of these, we discovered the meaning of the cafe’s name. ‘Biara’ is the Noongar name for the local Slender Banksia. In addition, the new name for the Ivey Watson Playground area, Poolgarla Family Area, is also for another variety of banksia, the Bull Banksia. If your child, like mine, is learning some Noongar words or songs at school then this is a great spot to learn more.
One of the things I love about this cafe and playground is that it’s well shaded. My child has fair skin, and often won’t keep her hat on, so the nature shade and shade sails are a godsend to us. I love that the whole playground isn’t sand based, and that there’s a mix of equipment that most kids will enjoy. I also love that the Kings Park Botanic Gardens are embracing the areas history and recognising the Traditional Owners of the land with the names of the cafe and the new family area name.
So, in conclusion, we’ll definitely be back to Biara Cafe again. It’s a favourite area to share with my family and my child’s grandparents. It’s a beautiful space, in the middle of preserved WA bushland, and we love it.
Biara Cafe, Kings Park
Located at Poolgarla Family Area (formerly LotteryWest Family Area), 10 Kulunga Grove, Kings Park. This is located off Kings Park Road.
Biara Cafe is open from 8am to 4pm Monday to Friday, and 8am to 5pm on weekends. Open every day of the year except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
Wheelchair and pram access is available. Disabled parking and toilet facilities are provided.
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Holly Clark is currently a stay at home mum of one, a self-confessed coffee addict and a baker of sweet treats. She studied Professional Writing and Editing, and occasionally writes on her recipe blog, Lucky Star’s Kitchen
