Bianca: I’ll always have a soft spot for the Hills district. I lived in Winston Hills for the first 12 years of my life and Kellyville into my early teens. We made the jump to the inner west when I was 15 and haven’t looked back. But it’s always fun reminiscing and who knew all these years later we’d cross over, kinda, sorta.
A little google maps error, saw us arriving at Winston Hills shopping centre (literally up the road from our old house) where there is a La Bionda Hair Salon. They’ve been operating for 30 years but don’t be confused. The cafe is at the Baulkham Hills location.
Haircut and waffles? You can go for your life. I quite like the concept of making a day of eating, getting your hair did and grabbing a meal. That’s the best of both worlds. There are a few incarnations of this concept going around at the moment. Christopher Hanna in the city and Blends & Brothers in Rouse Hill.
But first, coffee. A small Skim Cappucino $3.80. Just a wee spoonful of sucre needed to cut through the bitterness. I’m soft (literally) what can I say…
BUT here we have the real reason for our visit. Surely you’ve seen this beauty gracing social media at the moment? The Tim Tam Waffles -w/ Chocolate ice-cream, Tim Tam crumbs & fresh berries $18. I think now at 31 I’ve worked out my measure of food enjoyment. It’s by the amount of nodding I do whilst eating, it’s kind of a pondering nod. But really, all you need to know. These are very good, incredibly rich chocolate waffles but so worth the 1.5 hours on the treadmill you’ll need to spend to be guilt-free.
Surprisingly, the dark horse was the Buttermilk Pancakes -w/ Nutella & Banana $17. Texture wise these were perfect, great ratios of ingredients and sauce. We ate every single bite.
A little less successful was the ‘Calabrian’ Breakfast -w/ basked eggs, crusty bread, prosciutto, mozzarella & olives $22. Tasty but we did provide some feedback about giving people the option of adding the chickpeas. If I saw it on the menu I probably wouldn’t have ordered this dish. But, this dish did compliment our last dish well.
The House Made Arancini – Spinach & Ricotta & Bolognese w/ chips $15. Really tasty, we both gravitated towards the meat filled bolognese more and we did suggest they serve this with a Napoletana tomato based sauce (or as we did, dip into the baked eggs sugo).
Lots of pros here, the food was tasty, you jump in for a quick blow dry mid coffee and loads of free parking attached to the cafe.
Bianca
Nice find in the Hills! Those Tim Tam waffles look worthy of a visit just alone!
Wow the waffles look great! And food or drink while getting your haircut is such a great idea! 😀