Open 7am - 10pm 7 days and late on Friday and Saturday, it's somewhere you can go for all day breakfast, lunch, or a dinner that's bordering on a fine dining experience. Although, in Perth it seems as though a dirty place with laminex tables and dirty glasses can be classified as fine dining.
I was surprised at the number of people with nowhere else to be when I went there for breakfast this Monday morning (yep, I really need to get myself a proper job). Mothers in gym clothes, businessmen, and people like me, working or pretending to work, getting the most out of the free WiFi.
I've been going to Vans for years and have never really eaten anything bad, but the service can be ordinary. The prices are pretty high, but it seems they can get away with it being in the Western suburbs and one of the few places on Napolean Street to get a decent coffee. The staff are generally pretty friendly, but make sure they repeat the order to you or who knows what you'll end up with. The service can be slow at times, and this morning we waited about 20 minutes for two coffees.
Our breakfast was worth the wait. I had the bircher muesli with banana and rhubarb, which has been on the constantly changing menu for ages and is always good. My friend had a fruit salad with yoghurt that was supposed to be presented as a pretty little mountain but unfortunately it fell over on its journey from kitchen to table and the friendly waitress apologized. It was very fresh, but for about $10 for the small one, it would want to be. My friend followed up with some fruit toast which you can't really go wrong with. The coffee is usually really good, but today wasn't as hot as usual.
Other brekkie favourites are boiled eggs with toasted soldiers and dukkah, or pancakes with apple, raisins, cinnamon butter and syrup. However I'm a bit disappointed that the strawberry and banana pancakes with honeycomb butter are no longer on the menu.
For lunch, pretty much all of it is good, from a toasted turkish bread to a $30-ish dollar meal plus wine. The wine list is impressive. So are the freshly made juices. The open chicken sandwich is great. The duck spring rolls are delicious and have managed to stay on the menu for years and years.
It's a big place and you never have to wait long for a table. You can book for lunch and dinner but not breakfast. They also have a heap of muffins, cakes, cookies and sometimes cupcakes to choose from. If you've never tried Vans and you're not a tight budget, it's definitely worth a shot.
1 Napolean St Cottesloe.
