Sands on Sunday

Avoca Sands Cafe, Avoca Beach

 Lately I've been trying to think of something extravagant to bring to the blog, waiting for the next road trip far away from here, that crazy night out exploring new places, scouring the internet for something that tickled my fancy enough to write about. It turns out it was unnecessary, as today I stumbled upon a not so hidden, local gem that had (to my disappointment) eluded me for the entire time I have lived on the Central Coast.

 I hadn't been to Avoca since my teenage years when I'd hear about those classic under age drinking sesh's going down at the beach and quite frankly until now I had no reason to go there again; but today called for something new. I took my girlfriend (who is from Germany, so everywhere is new to her) down to the main beach access so we could scour the area for sweet spots to have lunch and right there opposite the surf club is the Avoca Sands Cafe. 

View from the Rocks at Avoca Beach

  As far as the venue goes, the outside terrace boasts the greatest of vibes. The bustling beach activity on a sunny day combined with the serene soundtrack of the ocean crashing against rocks and sand provides the perfect atmospheric backdrop for a summer lunch date. The inside of the place is fairly modern and the location makes you feel like you should be paying a little bit more than what the menu prescribes. Despite these being all massive positives, a cafe/restaurant is only really as good as the food it serves and this is what made Avoca Sands truly excellent.

  The inclusion of an all day breakfast menu is not something I've seen at a lot of places on the coast and as the type of person that loves a good brekky but tends to sleep through the appropriate time slot on the weekend, it was very exciting to see. I saw some other people with delicious looking plates and decided that lunch by the beach meant seafood, so I went with the "Fisherman's Plate". All I can say is amazing. A combination of perfectly seasoned and crispy salt and pepper squid; massive, freshly cooked prawns; super succulent after the crunch, deep friend Barramundi and last but not least the suspect 'soft shell crab', which actually looked like something from TLC's Bizarre Foods but ended up being really tasty after I came to terms with the texture and focused on the taste.

The Fisherman's Plate

 The food was undoubtedly the highlight. But the service, venue and overall experience of the place was wicked for a relaxing Sunday afternoon and I'll definitely be back again with friends to also check out the upstairs Glasshouse restaurant and bar. I noticed the place also has a Friday & Saturday dinner menu, Jazz from 6pm and a stunning selection of boutique beers on tap for just $6 (my favourite!). I kind of feel like I've been missing out all this time, and just when I thought the coast has nothing more to offer.

A Pod Where Everybody Knows Your Name

When I was doing a road trip throughout the United States late in 2010, the hours of driving mixed with an all too familiar iPod shuffle list drove me towards Australia's radio darlings, Hamish and Andy and their pod cast series. Although the new found passion for this particular series was short-lived, it opened my eyes to the magic of pod casts and made me curious as to what other comedy gems were out there when the music runs dry.

My search led me straight to Podfaces. Another chat-show style pod cast streamed straight from the couch in some guys living room. Led by the voices of the pod faces themselves, Anf, Josh and the Spice Rack, subscribers receive a weekly cast filled with the most obtuse humour guaranteed to ever hit open ears. Their unique brand of topical banter is worth hours of chuckling on the way to work or uni. When I say topical, I mean it in the most unorthodox way possible.

Whether it's engineering weird social experiments, baiting angry trick or treaters or even listening to my own sister's 'letter to the editor' get shot down hard live. Highly recommended and best to listen to in the car, on the train or any other setting that allows you to tune out, turn your brain off and just let the podfaces boys do all your pondering for you.

Recommended Links:

• Subscribe and listen to the weekly pod cast @ Podfaces on iTunes

• Check out their facebook @ PodFaces