Along Somerville Road in Kingsville you’ll find the petite Westerly Cafe. It’s small but mighty, serving a steady stream of loyal locals who come for the excellent coffee, killer sandwiches and house made sweet treats.
Tom Ridgewell opened Westerly in 2016 with his childhood friend Justin Parle. As a child and a teenager, Tom grew up in Kensington and came to the inner west to meet up with friends and visit the Sun Theatre. As an adult, he found the strong community spirit in the west very appealing and thought that changing demographics of the area would appreciate what Westerly had to offer.
Besides the excellent coffee – made with Yarraville-based Craftwork Roasting Company beans – Westerly’s signature dishes are the classic BLT and Reuben sandwiches. In between thick cut hunks of Candied Bakery bread you’ll discover Westerly’s sandwich secret – the house made Russian dressing.
“I’m probably not supposed to have the Russian dressing recipe, to be honest,“ laughs Tom. “It was snuck out of another restaurant’s kitchen by my chef friend. Now I’ve tweaked it and made it my own.”
