Like two peas in a pod, or a family of Cabbage Patch dolls, Flower Child may look pretty similar to the Grounds, but Chatswood Westfield’s newest café is no offshoot of Alexandria’s hugely successful eatery. Think of it more as a second cousin, related by blood, but determined to make it big on its own.
Flower Child Cafe founders Chris Lou and Adam Choker are already managing lines out the door so they can tick that off their list. The Happy as Larry food truck founders are used to crowds – Choker cut his teeth managing The Grounds, which was co-founded by his brother Ramzey Choker, and who hasn’t waited in line at a festival for a fresh pizza from that fab food truck?
Work your way through a colourful Breakie. Image by Nikki To
Like hijacking your nonna’s homemade biscuits, Flower Child’s sour dough bread, coffee and pastries come fresh every day from The Grounds. The little patch of greenery they’ve injected into the shopping centre is courtesy of ACME & Co, whose Potting Shed and Grounds designs shot industrial garden chic to fame. Head designer Caroline Choker is another of the extremely talented Choker siblings. Seriously, what was their mother feeding them?
Cherry picking some of the best elements of The Grounds – interiors, pastries and a few familiar faces (waitstaff from the Grounds are helping out, who doesn’t want a bit of extra spending money?) – is where the similarities stop.
Flower Child is having a fair bit of fun with its menu – “Breakie” is served all day long, so start with an almost too pretty to eat fruit salad dotted with pistachios, flowers and freeze-dried raspberries before moving on to the jumbo Bacon and Egg burger that’s given a pop with miso onions and scrambled egg.
The cafe name says it all! Image by Nikki To
Brunch/Lunch ambles between light dishes like haloumi quinoa “tabbouleh” and smoked chicken breast salad, to a hearty serve of Tasmanian crispy skin salmon that’s selling out on weekends. Make sure you don’t skip the sides – “Flower Child Fries” are lightly drizzled in duck fat and orange salt and are as moreish as they sound.
Filtered cold drips, pour overs and batch brewed coffees keep the caffeine addicts happy, while the colourful smoothies and freshly squeezed juices are great for a healthy kick of energy.
Shopping centre dining has come a long way from the food courts of our youth, and this stunning café/indoor garden has raised the bar once again. Flower Child has planted its roots and is here to stay.
Flower Child Cafe
Mon – Sun: 8am – 5pm
Thurs: 8am – 9pm
Shop 391, 1 Anderson St
Chatswood Westfield
official website
