Cafe El's at Winston Hills

Have you ever had one of those mornings when you wake up and feel like a change of scenery?

I had one this morning, and as a result, my change of scenery was doing my grocery shopping at a new shopping centre. Dramatic I know!!!

I usually shop on a Thursday as I only have one little man to distract (the other is at pre-school). So off we went to the Winston Hills Mall a mere 10 minute drive from my house so it really was a dramatic change of scenery!

Once there the little bull discovered a quite fabulous playground within the shopping centre. So I did the obligatory Mumma thing and sat patiently whilst he explored the playground. At the same time I was on the lookout for my daily cup of joe. All I could spy were the dreary chain coffee houses so I started to feel a wee bit forlorn and I also had a mild dose of the shakes (hadn't had a coffee in over 24 hrs!).

After a while I dragged the child out of the playpen and into Woolies (he had a minor brain explosion the whole way - kicking and yellin...you know how it is). He had many more whilst in Woolies cause of those blasted Easter eggs that are around every corner of the shop.

By the end of my grocery shop I was feeling completely frayed, hassled, stressed and to be honest, really crap. I needed coffee and I needed it straight away. So I lined up at one of those dreary coffee chains (the child was now subdued cause I shoved a chupa chup into his mouth - who made those so bloody hard to open anyway??).

Then I spotted them!!

Those bleary eyed new Mummas with their big tractor prams. Surely they had to be going in the direction of decent coffee. I quickly left the queue of the dreary coffee chain and almost left my child behind as well - such was my urgent need for decent caffeine - and I followed those bleary eyes out the doors of the Mall and into Cafe El's! Oh what a relief.

So that I didn't appear to be a stalker I let the bleary Mummas sit inside and my babe and I sat outside (bit of a mistake as this was the smokers area - thought that was illegal these days??). Also as Cafe El's is on the outside of the Winston Hills Mall it is also located on a kinda busy road.

Anyway we ordered our usual cappuccino and babycino along with a freckle flower biscuit for the little man (all for $8.10) ; luckily I remembered that I was on a diet and didn't order anything for myself. Plus those bleary eyed Mummas already looked like Yummy Mummies so I a felt a wee bit guilty for still looking like a Tummy Mummy when my baby is almost 3!

The really friendly staff delivered out coffees promptly and made a fuss over my little man. Immediately the stress, hassle and the frayed edges disappeared. My coffee was excellent and the child was extremely happy as he had a chupa chup, a babycino and a delicious biscuit (I'm glad the eldest cannot read this as he would be mightily jealous).

Life was returning to normal. Until.... the child spotted another playground across the road - seriously they have X ray vision! So then the meltdown resumed, but never fear all you child psychologists - I stood my ground and said very calmly NO! There was no bloody way I was taking a trolley full of groceries and a 2 year old across a very busy road so that he could satisfy his 2 year old tantrum!

All in all Cafe El's is quite a child friendly cafe. They have a decent kids menu for lunch and plenty of other options like kid size milk shakes and cupcakes.  It is spacious, they have high chairs, they are near 2 very good playgrounds and you can find all of your baby change facilities inside the Mall and lastly they do a decent cup of joe. So what else do you need? Maybe just a nanny now and then x

PS: this is now a favourite haunt of our family and we have been back many many times x

---

---

---

https://www.facebook.com/cafeels
Winston Hills Mall
180 Caroline Chisholm Dr Winston Hills NSW 2153 
02 9624 7595
Open 7 days from 7am

---