Juniper Cafe & Bistro

Went for lunch. They have a breakfast, lunch and dinner menu. It was packed for lunch in the noon to one pm hour. They have a nice area for kids behind a wall with lots of toys, but the pony wall can’t stop the sound of wailing, so if you can’t remember being a young mum with pleasure and commiseration — maybe not the place for you.
The menu is limited and from all sorts of cuisines — kinda like many of us cook at home. Pulled pork, Laksa soup, green curry with vegetables, grilled cheese sandwiches. The prices stray towards expensive so it would be a good idea to include the little piece of foccacia with the $ 8 bowl of soup instead of charging extra, and a 30 cent handful of potato chips and a pickle beside the sandwich would fill out the plate and make it feel complete.
Very neighbourly atmosphere and by all accounts a 1000% improvement on the previous tenant.
I would give it another try and I would just recommend they look at «value added» elements which would cost very little but deliver a better impression.

After my first brief visit which might have been on the first day this place opened, I finally got around to go back. Had the handheld Benny with pulled pork. It was messy to eat, although not as bad as I thought it would be, and tasted fantastic. Had a misto coffee which is their version of a latte. coffee was good, but the coffee is not a focus here. the wait was a little long, but I think it is becoming a busy place. Helped along by a good review I heard on cbc yesterday. Only reason I am not giving 5 stars is there is a fairly limited menu. As I live a block and a half away, I am looking forward to checking in here a lot.

After many years of tolerating an icky dive bar in my neighbourhood, which I think ended up getting shut down after they were busted for selling drugs or something, the Juniper café is a pleasant and civilized oasis of caffeine that has just opened where the dive bar used to be. I tried it for brunch on Sunday and it was surprisingly busy — usually a good sign — I just had coffee and avocado toast but they were both quite satisfactory. The décor is warm and welcoming and they are family friendly. Bit of a wait for service so don’t be in a big rush. Otherwise, generally lovely. I’ll be back.

I saw this place was mentioned on the local talk thread, and I even commented that I might have to check it out. Yesterday I was around Bonnie Doon so I looked up this café to give it a go.
I’m not super familiar with the Bonnie Doon area, so it took a bit for me to find this café. It’s in a strip mall (Strathearn Centre) right next to a convenience store. I got there at 4pm, it was a weird time to eat, but I hadn’t had lunch yet, and I wasn’t gonna wait another 2 hours for dinner.
There were several different cakes and squares available, along with coffees (it is a café), but I wanted something a little more substantial. So I got a cup of gumbo soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. The gumbo was quite good. The broth was a thin soup broth, sometimes gumbo can be a bit thicker like a stew. It had sausage, andouille I would assume, that had a good bit of spice to it. The grilled cheese sandwich was very good, although purists might be offend by the fact there was a spicy aioli in the sandwich (along with ham). I enjoyed it — there was a nice spicy and sweet flavour to the grilled cheese, which I’ve never had. I liked the fact the cheese was melted but still had a little bit of structure left — it wasn’t a total goofest. Some people are particular about their grilled cheese, so that might be good to know.
According to google maps this location used to be a pub, but Juniper definitely has a café bistro vibe, and I’m sure the owners have done some renovations because the restaurant is very modern and open looking. There are several tables and chairs, and even a small play corner for kids (little kids) with some toys. The bathrooms (at least the women’s) were clean and functional — not really anything amazing there, but if it’s clean and works that’s about all you really need.
Juniper was quiet while I was there although a couple of people came in after me. I don’t know how long they’ve been open now, but looking at their dinner menu and some of the other items I think this is a great little local spot to check out. I look forward to my next visit.