Cockles Cafe

Cockles Cafe

Location

Possibly one if the easiest cafes to find on the southern Fleurieu Peninsula, partly because it is on rhe main road in Port Elliot on the corner of The Strand, but mostly because it is 3 doors down from and in the same building conplex as the renown Pirt Elliot Bakery, which invariablt has a line of hungry custoners snaking iut its door and down the footpath.

Bike Parking

i saw only one small, lonely bike rail on the Strand side of the cafe, but this will only hokd 2 bikes and will only be easily visible from seating on the western side of the cafe. Its far more practical to simply lean your bike up against (or hook your handlebars over) the wire railings on the footpath, and find a table just adjacent.

Wire rails lend themselves to bike parking

Food and Drink

We were in Port Elliot as part of a family summer holiday, and enjoyed breakfast here on two mornings. Our eggs were cooked to perfection, the hollandaise was delicious with just the right amount of tang, the smoked salmon was yummy and the bacon juicy. Servings were generous and quick to arrive with the cafe less than half full.

Coffee

Grinders coffee is splashed all over the market umbrellas, and turned out to be a dark nutty roast, just the way we like it. Our long blacks came with the perfect crema clinging to the cups. Our waitress took our coffee order quickly upon sitting down, so their was not long to wait for our caffeine hit.

Amenity

We really found this to ve a lovely cafe in an idel location. The majority of outdoor seays were plastic whicker abd very comfortable, with a few outdoor tables serviced by simple metal atools instead. Indoors you have the chooce of plishbemch seats, ir much less inviting metal wire chairs with thin mats for comfort. I found tge vibe of tge vaulted ceiling with exposed beams, and covered outdoor dining areas to be in perfect harmony.

Toilets

These are found by heading past the kitchen, behind the rear of the orher shops in the complex, at the far end of the hallway. It woyld be quite a noisy hike in cleats on the hard floors. The toikets themselves were clean and well stocked but i did not notice any clothes hooks in the mens.

Service

On the two occasions we were there the cafe was well staffed, and did a good job of taking and serving our initial orders, However after that I did get a sense of staff moving around with eyes down, clearing tables and resetting very efficiently, but missing the opportunity to ask us for coffee refills, extra water etc. All staff were very friendly and accommodating when we had their attention.