Mannelli's Cafe Oatlands

Mannelli's - Oatlands

2/9/2015

Yet again a reader has given me a red hot tip about a delightful kid friendly cafe - thank you Jess! This latest tip is for a cafe called Mannelli's, and it is located in the Burnside Shopping Village in Oatlands - it's actually a bit of a hidden gem. Tucked safely away inside the Burnside Housing Estate, you would probably never know that it existed unless you were local. And Little Munch is just about to unearth it, so that all of the Mammas & Pappas of Sydney now know about it!

There's a lot to like about Mannelli's, especially the fact that they serve an excellent brew of Campos coffee and that babycinos are free with every coffee purchased! But I'm getting ahead of myself - let's go back to the start shall we - where do you park? The Burnside Shopping Village has ample parking right out the front, and if for some reason this is full, you can also park on the street. Pram access is very easy into the cafe. You can choose to sit inside or out and there is just enough room to park your pram next to your table. They also have a couple of funky looking high chairs available for those little bottoms to sit in. If your kids need occupying whilst you eat, make sure your bring along some colouring in.

The interior is lovely and clean with loads of subway tiling, recycled wood and exposed brick completing the fit out. After you have decided where you are going to sit, you grab a menu and then place your order at the counter. They serve breakfast and lunch at Mannelli's and make sure you check out glass fronted food cabinets as there are some mighty fine sweet treats to have with your coffee. And the kids have their very own treats too - fairy bread, smiley face cookies and jelly cups.

Kidlets are seriously well catered for at Mannelli's. The Mini Mannelli's menu is available for kids under the age of 12 years. At breakfast time a double stack of pancakes ($7) features on the menu and kids can choose to have them served with either cinnamon butter & ice cream or chocolate sauce & ice cream. If these don't tickle their taste buds, banana bread, toast & spreads, fresh muffins and fresh fruit salad are all available for them to munch on. At lunch time the typical kids menu is $7 and there are 3 choices - sliders/chicken tenderloins or fish cocktails are served with hot chippies.

My little dudes have road tested the toast for breakfast and also the slider at lunch time. Both were given the big thumbs up - especially the slider. Sliders are the perfect size for little mouths, don't you think? Mannelli's version came with a tasty beef patty, cheese, salads leaves and your kids choice of sauce. On the side was handful of crunchy hot chips.

The menu for big people at Mannelli's is served all day and included options suitable for both breakfast and lunch. All your favourite breakfast staples are covered such as Eggs Benedict and Triple Stack Pancakes. Their version of a big breakfast is called the Mega Mannelli's ($18.50) and it has basically everything on it - toast, eggs, bacon, sausages, beans, avocado, mushrooms, spinach & tomatoes. They also do my favourite - Avocado Smash with Poached Eggs. This dish is huge and very reasonably priced at $13.00. The avo smash was almost like a guacamole and there was loads of it, so much that I couldn't eat it all.

At lunch time there are yummy looking wraps in the front counter as well as some very tasty menu items such as a Mediterranean Plate that has marinated skewers of chicken & lamb that comes with salad, garlic dip and pita bread. There are also burgers, schnitzels, fish and a very good steak sandwich which we sampled. For $9.50 this sandwich is good value and the steak was perfectly cooked - no stringy sinew on this baby, just loads of flavour!

Now I mentioned before that babycinos are free with a coffee purchase - the babycinos are served in a little espresso glass and are lined with chocolate sauce. If you want to seriously treat your kids then make sure you order them a Mini Manelli's Extreme Milkshake - these decadent shakes have a layer of jelly on the bottom of the glass, then kids can choose what flavour shake they want on top. My little mate went with chocolate and it came topped with a crumbled oreo cookie, and then to top the sugar fix off, there was a snake tied around the straw!! This shake was seriously a meal in itself.

Your kidlets probably won't need any more sugar after a visit to Mannelli's, but just in case they do, there is a basket of lollies on top of the counter. The cutely packaged bags cost $3.00 and could be a good idea if you have somewhere to travel after your meal. And here's a tip - Mannelli's is located just off Pennant Hills Rd, so if you are heading north out of Sydney for the weekend, this would be a great spot to stop for breakfast or take away coffees so that you can hit the freeway totally caffeinated! And if you need a wee break, just ask a member of staff for the toilet key, as they are just outside in the shopping village.