Cowderoy's Dairy

What a great location! Caught up with a few mums during the week for a bite to eat and coffee. I had a large coffee brewed with columbian beans which set me back $4.60, this was accompanied with a muffin. Nice atmoshpere, plenty of other mums around taking advantage of the location with the narby park. Definite winner here!

I came with friends and found the caf inside to be gloomy and depressing. The outdoor part is nice and it conveniently overlooks a park but there is very little shade and people smoke there so it's not so great. The food overall is not good value and not great and I left most of mine on the plate. It's quite trendy but you can do better elsewhere at these prices. I was there on a hot day and was also concerned that refrigeration for sandwiches might not be adequate.

Did you know Sarah Jessica Parker, in town for the Melbourne Cup stopped by here a couple of years ago to get takeaway? Now that's local knowledge. Guy Pearce can be seen sipping coffee. Lots of family's, too many pedigree dogs and plenty of (some say too many, but since I have 2 of my own, what can I say?) kids. Food is faultless, service friendly. Great to be able to read the paper, drink coffee and watch your kids as they play in the park; win, win if you ask me.

milk bar/cafe next door to playground in back streets of St Kilda serving breakfast and lunches. we arrived at 3pm on a Sunday for a late lunch so there lunch menu had closed, but they still had some options to choose from displayed in their fridge such as homemade sandwiches, pies, etc. the coffees were very good (love the large size served in glass), staff friendly. plenty of tables to sit outside on deck with shade sails in a pretty open area over looking playground. I had a nice chicken sandwich on thick spongey sourdough bread. prices aren't the cheapest around. had a quick look at breaky menu for when i visit again which included yummy ingredients such as mushrooms, avacado, haloumi cheese, etc.

Cowderoy's Dairy cafe has a unique setting in a little art deco building next to the park which is great. I think the biggest problem with this place is that it doesn't know whether it is a milk bar/convienience store or funky cafe. This kind of ruins the atmosphere of the cafe. Perhaps if they extended the kitchen and dining area into the area where they have all their supermarket stuff, they'd make a real go of it. Unfortunately it is often really cramped for patrons with little available seating most of the seating is outside and there isn't a great deal of shade on hot days and it is a haven for smokers. There is very little choice of food and it tends to be pricey for what you actually get. The staff aren't overly friendly either (the most pretentious milk bar I've been to anyway). There is plenty of local competition in both squishy cafes and convenience stores but few in St Kilda offer real character, so I don't go there very often. Great idea, just poor execution.