Hoopla Espresso, Kensington

toasted vegetable with pesto flatbread

ham & cheese croissant, flat white and kid's books!

vanilla cheesecake

more coffees!

Poached has returned to Perth. Temporarily living with the parentals while looking for more permanent accommodation, we decided to find somewhere to have a morning brunch nearby. A quick search later, we discovered a new place in Kensington called Hoopla Espresso, located in a little row of shops near the intersection of Douglas Avenue and South Terrace. Hoopla is a fairly new establishment which prides on their ability to serve up a good coffee. And serve up a good coffee they do well!

We started off with flat whites ($3.90) each. Hoopla do not serve up a stock-standard blend, but rather Dark Horse blend roasted with various ingredients, with aromas of cherry and red capsicum - yum! This is coffee with serious flavour, and definitely scored high with us. Puritans may not like the flavouring, but we did; we went back for seconds (with cake!), grabbing another flat white and a topped-up long macc. These were just as delicious (breaking a disturbing trend elsewhere for average second coffees!).

To the food - Hoopla's menu is limited; you won't find egg on their menu. They serve up things like toast ($4), muesli with vanilla yoghurt and fresh fruit ($6.50) and some assorted paninis. I ordered a ham & cheese croissant ($6.50) and Renee had a vegetarian and pesto flatbread toasted panini. Both meals were good, but nothing to write home about, it's all about the coffee. We did decide to have a slice of vanilla cheesecake ($5.80) with our second coffees, and it was good; thick and heavy, but not rich. I don't know how they achieved that combination, but it made the cheesecake very edible!

Renee multitasking!

Hoopla encourage children, with some kids books lying around. We also noticed that there was lots of room (for prams). I had fun reading some Winny the Pooh to Tallulah. We were saying how well Tallulah was behaving. Then I noticed a wet patch on her top and asked "did you spill water on Tallulah?" "No." "Well she's wet, and its spreading, and it's kinda yellow tinged... oh!" We decided that was a good time to leave!

The Verdict
Coffee 5/5
Eggs (the meal!) 2.5/5
Service 4/5
Atmosphere 3.5/5
Total = 15/20

Tallulah's score = 4/5 (Tallulah enjoyed having kids books to read, and appreciated that there was lots of room for parents to park prams)

Would we go again? Yep, anytime we're in South Perth with the parentals, Monday to Saturday.