The Armchair Collective, Mona Vale

I had full intentions of writing this post while summer was still going strong and the weather was still beach-worthy, but it seems like I've blinked my eyes and February has gone and Autumn has arrived.

Don't let that stop you from visiting the Armchair Collective though. Even though it's conveniently located next to Mona Vale beach, the food, atmosphere and beautiful homewares available for purchase in the store will keep you coming back for more, as we certainly did when we visited them two weekends in a row!

Traditional iced coffee - $7

We started with a couple of drinks and I couldn't go past getting this traditional iced coffee. I'm a bit of a sucker for DIY things so this was right up my alley with each iced coffee component separated so you can mix your own. There's a shot of coffee, milk, sugar and ice cream and it's up to you to balance out the flavours as you please.

Iced chocolate - $6.50

The iced chocolate is also pretty mammoth sized and is generous on the chocolate syrup.

Armchair Big Breakfast - $19.50

We'd just come from a morning of falling into water paddleboarding so we were starving and so the Armchair Big Breakfast was a popular order. Housemade baked beans, scrambled eggs, bacon, chorizo, mushrooms and tomato were all crammed into a cast iron pan and served with a side of levain toast. The smell was amazing and it was quite a lot of food which the boys polished off with ease.

Collective beef burger - $19

Sir D had burger cravings and decided to get the Collective Beef Burger. This was a thick, juicy beef patty sandwiches between two soft buns with tomato and red onion chutney, melted tasty cheese, fresh tomato and beetroot. The thick cut chips on the side were also pretty great and I may have stolen several of these off Sir D's plate.

Beer battered fish of the day - $23

The fish and chips were also a winner with the fish portions encased with a light and crispy batter, and those same chips packed to the brim inside the steamer basket. The actual type of fish changes depending on what's on offer, but both times the fish was cooked perfectly and the batter was consistently good. It came with a housemade tartare sauce which was perfect for dipping the chips into.

Mussels with white wine sauce

I spied mussels on the specials board out the front and these didn't disappoint. The mussels were lightly steamed and served with a creamy white wine, bacon and onion sauce which was delicious. Needless to say that the bread served on the side was the perfect vehicle for mopping up the rest of the sauce!

There's a reason why this is a popular dining spot and why we went back two weeks in a row - it's because the food is consistently good and great for a leisurely lunch by the beach. After a good feed, we hopped across the road and lazed around near the beach for a good couple of hours... and these lazy days turned out to be some of the best days of the summer.

The Armchair Collective
9A Darley St East
Mona Vale NSW 2103
Open 7 days, 7am-4pm


View Larger Map