Hemmed in between the railway tracks, Cambridge and Loftus Streets, this little strip of West Leederville has seemed light on everything. Now with warehouses coming down and offices and apartment blocks going up, the purveyors of artisan toast have moved in.
Your burb just hasn’t made it until your local coffee shop has bike racks and its own Instagram hashtag, and Hylin has both – but, far from achingly hip, it’s the neighbourhood haunt that we all hope for. It’s light, airy, simple and functional in design, with coffee from Micrology and the clincher: friendly, helpful folk who are happy to serve.
Hylin takes its menu cues from both east- and west-coast USA – from the breakfast burrito to the Reuben and for us, a brekky litmus test: a bagel. At $9 it scrapes in under a tenner and scores on every level from the bagel itself – from Fremantle’s top-notch Holy Bagel Co – to the combo of cream cheese, fried egg, bacon, cheddar and rum sauce. It’s comforting and refined, where it could be overwrought; everything there for a reason.
A menu focused on the breakfast-and-brunch appetite runs all day. Smart plates of creamed corn and chorizo and Spanish beans will have us return, but that bagel is the one to beat.