82 High St
(Inside the New Edition Bookshop)
Fremantle Western Australia 6160
(08) 9335 2383
Hours:
Mon to Fri 7.30am-5pm
Sat 8am-5pm
Sun 9am-5pm
Website
Facebook
There is little to say about this café, and everything is good. The most important thing about the Grumpy Sailor is that they have an excellent coffee. In fact, they have one of the best coffees, if not the best, in the whole Perth Metropolitan Area -my opinion-, plus one of the cutest and more recognisable branded logos and cups in the city. They also have an awesome selection of home-made sweets. The pistachio brownie is my winner!
Located within the New Edition Bookshop, this cafe is a dream for any book lover. You are having a damn good cup of coffee surrounded by an ocean of books, in a place that is ample, cosy and charming. The Grumpy sailor has cute and comfortable pieces of furniture and table service, a lovely wall with iconic movie posters, and an ambience that induces you to very good things beyond "coffeeing", like enjoying your company's company, having a intellectual conversation, listening to other people's conversations, reading, writing, browsing the newspaper, playing with your tarot cards, doing solitaires, or watching the Fremantlites pass by. You choose your mood and what you want to do, and push your bottom down into one of their lovely seating areas: one of the tables around the cafe, one of the many tables spread around the bookshop, or one of the little seating places located at the faux-balcony facing the street.
The service at the café is diligent and helpful but, unlike the guys who used to attend at the Grumpy Sailor Northbridge, the ones I have found during my visits here lack a bit of warmth.
The pricing of the sweets is a bit high and the size small. They are great and yummy, though. Bagels are not my thing, so I have not tried theirs.
The Grumpy Sailor is worth the ride to Fremantle. You will feel like one of Woody Allen's characters, if you aren't already one. Follow the rail Camino and you will get to any caffiend's pilgrimage destination. No sailing needed. We are all grumpy.
212 William St
Perth Western Australia 6000
(08) 9227 0930
http://www.thegrumpysailor.com.au/
http://www.facebook.com/thegrumpysailor
Closed Down
A wooden bookshop with a café is my sort of favourite café, the one that invites me to enter, perhaps because I associate both things with nice interesting people. However, I am very picky with my
coffee. I like it to taste of coffee, smell of coffee and have
consistency or creaminess. We get coffee concoctions in most of the
city, not proper coffee, so when I found the Grumpy's I thought my prayers to the Olympus had been heard.
The Grumpy Sailor Northbride had my super-favourite coffee in Northbridge by far regarding taste, consistency and creaminess. They had a great selection of home-made cakes, too, although I never tried them. Not only that, the staff really gave the visitor a genuine friendly treatment and conversation, teamed up in genuine friendliness with the lovely guys attending to the New Edition's bookshop. Winner team! Something that you rarely see nowadays, as you get to a café and your "good morning" is not replied to.
Despite so, the Grumpy Sailor struggled to survive in Northbridge, and closed down its doors a few months after opening. How can that be possible?! I truly can't believe that cafés in the Perth Cultural Centre get all the hype and people cueing for average coffee and poor service, while the Grumpy Sailor struggled to survive. What is wrong with you people?!!!! Well, I know exactly what is wrong with you people...
The place was mostly for take-away coffee, as the seating space was limited to a few benches on the footpath and a little corner inside, so this might be one of the reasons why they did not attract more customers.
Fortunately the Grumpy's are still open in Fremantle.
Please come back grumpys!
