Our Breakfast Club
Twenty somethings review
breakfast places in Perth
Boucla, Subiaco
A western suburbs adventure on a rainy weekend morning
The Breakfast Club strolled in to Boucla one cold Saturday morning after noticing a distinct lack of western suburbs breakfast reviews on the blog, and not for lack of options. The “western suburbs dome”, as we like to refer to it, is filled with restaurants, Louis Vuitton bags and designer dogs. With designer dogs comes delicious breakfast. Huh, what? Hmmm.
Boucla is located at 349 Rokeby Road, south (towards Thomas Street) of the main Subiaco hub. This Greek-inspired eatery has some outside tables, designed for the two-person dining experience, but the real treat is inside. Inside is an eclectic mix of scents, trinkets, crockery, wall hangings, art works and various other furnishings. We were promptly greeted by barista Fred (once SoTo, once Imp, to name a few of his previous barista locations), and then set about finding ourselves a table.
Boucla was busy – all the tables on the verge were full and the inside was at capacity. We were told about a little area around the side, which we investigated and did end up sitting down in for a moment. It’s a rectangular shaped room with a high ceiling and filled with cushions and tapestries. Upon sitting down on the ‘chairs’ it was quite clear these were just converted milk crates, which get the thumbs up for recycling initiatives but not so much from our bottoms, which were soon sporting square indents. We checked the back area (out through the kitchen), but it had been raining so the tables and chairs were a little damp. We ended up grabbing a towel from the car, wiping down the surfaces and settling outside regardless, amongst the pot plans and herbs, under an umbrella.
It was at this point David realised he’d forgotten the memory card for his DSLR, so please excuse the dodgy iPhone pictures!
Hungry bellies rumbled so we headed inside to place our orders at the counter. The counter is filled with beautiful looking cakes and pastries including baklava, with the menu perched on a board behind the counter. The menu is fairly standard with nothing out of the ordinary, a theme that would stick with us for the rest of breakfast…
- 1x Vegetarian big breakfast – $
- 1x Toast with fetta, olives and tomato – $
- 1x Beans on toast – $
- 1x Toast with avocado and tomatos – $
- The usual array of coffees
We were served by who we can only assume is the owner, who appeared on this morning to have gotten out of the wrong side of the bed. She did not seem enthused for one of us to pay over EFTPOS – we understand it’s not as quick as cash and do give thanks for the convenience of it – but she just seemed in a generally bad mood, offering abrupt answers to questions regarding items on the menu. We did all manage to order our meals and get away unscathed, though.
Our coffees arrived first by a waitress who didn’t seem to know what she was carrying, multiple times arriving at the table with coffee in hand but unable to repeat to us what the actual coffees were. Due to our extensive coffee drinking experiences we were able to quickly distinguish a latte from a flat white (although soy/cow’s milk required a smell test). All the meals arrived shortly after, fresh from the little kitchen at the back of the restaurant.
The presentation of all the meals we ordered was bland. On Nat’s block-of-fetta and cherry tomatos on toast the seasoning consisted of a dollop of oil and cracked peper, with two small sprigs of parsley and two olives. Guest blogger Oda’s avocado and cherry tomatos on toast really did not leave anything to the imagination. The avocado was also brown on one end, something that could have easily been chopped off in the kitchen before it was served.
David’s vegetarian big breakfast looked the most enticing, with a range of colours and textures on the plate. Unfortunately that carried no further than aesthetics. The mushrooms were plain, the wilted spinach was sparse, there were no less than 10 cherry tomatos, the eggs were poached hard, and to be quite frank, the beans were fresh out of a can. Whilst we couldn’t remember the brand name, we have no doubt these dolmade-flavoured beans can be acquired at most supermarkets.
We expected more from Boucla. We all left agreeing that Boucla’s breakfast offerings were underwhelming, but that we’d definitely back for coffee and to sample some of the cakes and pastries.
Highs: Coffee, herb garden out the back is lovely
Lows: The food was less than impressive, milk crates masquerading as ‘chairs’, antsy staff member, dolmade-flavoured beans
Our Breakfast Club’s final score: 4/10 coffee mugs
The facts on Boucla, Subiaco
Address: 349 Rokeby Road Subiaco WA 6008 (map)
Phone: (08) 9381 2841
Opening hours: Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm; Saturday 8.30am to 3pm
Spoonback: 
Entry posted on Wednesday, May 26th, 2010 at 11:28 pm. Tagged in eftpos fiori coffee Greek outdoor dining pastries Subiaco vegetarian options
How disappointing! I used to work across the road from Boucla and never had a better coffee anywhere else and loved the cakes! Disappointing to see that breakfast isn’t their forte!
Where does the incentive lye in publishing a negative review?
I don’t think our review was particularly negative.
surely it’s in the interests of the readers who don’t want to pay money for a dodgy brekky?
Very dissapointed with these guys, asked them what was gluten free and had blank looks. How about the hot chocolate? the reply: oh some chocolate has gluten in it but I have no idea (and not prepared to bother looking).
It’s the usual overly trendy cafe with well dressed younger staff who are just utterly clueless.
I have to disagree and report that my expriences at Boucla have been vastly different. I find it to be a completely, refreshingly different cafe from the usual run of the mill, predictable cafes around Perth. It has a rich ambience and I have always been delighted with my meals, cakes and coffees – fresh, hearty, delicious and varied. A real treat for me to visit Boucla at anytime – even if the staff are a little short at times.