👩‍🦰 Date night at Coogee Common! The restaurant only opened up in 2018 and we'd been meaning to go there for ages. Well, we finally got around to it.

A little bit of history about the restaurant, it occupies the old abandoned Coogee Hotel building, built in 1894. In a beautiful spot that overlooks Coogee Beach, the building was then used as an orphanage from the 1930s right through to the 1970s, when it was taken over by Main Roads and then left to die. It's been a bit of an eyesore until it became Coogee Common, and it's great to see that they've maintained and restored a lot of the vintage charm.

The Coogee Common menu is ever-changing, as the dishes are built around what grows in the gardens. Whatever they can’t grow, grind or ferment, they source from local, sustainable producers, who share their commitment to clean, ethical food production and the best seasonal ingredients.

The location itself is in a really nice spot and the restaurant is lovely, but it is a bit pricey for my tastes. My lamb main meal (without any sides, which would not have been enough for a meal on its own) was $44. Yes it was delicious and the potatoes we got as a side were the best I've ever had, but it made for a very expensive meal. One I wouldn't revisit often. The restaurant itself isn't fancy enough to make it seem like a first choice for a very special occasion that would warrant that price tag.