Mrs Sackville recently opened up at the Kingston Foreshore. It’s not along the main strip by the lake, but faces the Bus Depot markets.
A lovely framed menu stands outside.
Upon entering, the first thing you notice is the mismatched furniture – wooden tables, cute cushions on the seats and benches, then glass tables and black reception-waiting-room-like chairs towards the back. The kitchen is completely open with a few pots, garlic and other items hanging down – country/cottagey style. There is a tall cabinet in the middle of the room stacked with cute tea ware. I love the front half – it feels like walking into someone’s home with the cute placemats and coasters. A quaint tea room look. But the rest of the furniture just doesn’t seem to fit.
It was brunch time so I ordered the Eggy toast with tomato and maple syrup ($12). You can add an extra $4 for bacon too but I went without. This was basically two pieces of French toast with a tomato on the side. It was nice and simple. I think a few extra things could’ve been added – such as a dusting of icing sugar on top just to make it more special.
Menus are handwritten.
I enquired about the milkshakes and the owner mentioned she makes her own strawberry puree for the strawberry milkshake so that’s what I ordered ($7). When putting this in a blender, the owner came over to ask if I wanted live yogurt in it. Sure why not? Unfortunately, this didn’t have much flavour to it and I could only just make out the taste of strawberries.
I also enquired about what kind of sandwiches were available and the owner mentioned she could make most things such as ham and cheese, chicken, tomato and cheese etc. I have a huge sweet tooth so I would’ve liked to try out the sweet tarts with cream ($6.50) for afternoon tea. However, I couldn’t see any tarts at the time as the cake stands were empty.
The service is good (though we were the only ones in the place) and the owner is absolutely lovely. It was like talking to your sweet grandmother. She was on her own that day but there might be more staff on the weekend. I love the idea of this place – Kingston Tea Rooms would be awesome and I like how she can customise any dish.
However, I’m not sure how long this place will last considering all the great brunch spots in Kingston’s green square, like hipster Penny University, and the new cafes and restaurants on the Foreshore. A lot of people walked past, peeped inside to look at the menu, only to walk off again.
Not much creativity with the food, but Mrs Sackville provides homey and simple food in a quiet spot on the Foreshore. Prices range from $9 for house-made toasted muesli, $15 for scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, to $25 for a Sunday Big Breakfast.
Things to note: No Eftpos facilities – cash only.
