[REVIEW] Sunset Diner Avalon — [MODEL] appetite

If it’s not the bright pink walls, the groovy retro furniture or the Miami beach vibes luring you into the Sunset Diner then it must be the super friendly service, drool worthy menu and pumping summer tunes. As many of you may know, Georges and I have taken the plunge to up and leave the Eastern Suburbs for the cool, calm and collected Northern Beaches. It’s still a work in progress but many trips have been made up this way in the meantime which is how we stumbled across, what could be, our new favourite local hotspot.

Our first experience of the Sunset Diner was ordering a couple of their Havana Salads to take away and it was from this point on that we were hooked. Meetings with our architect and builders were carefully considered so as to be on the Northern Beaches at lunchtime just so we could ensure a tasty stop over on the way home. However, on this particular occasion we opted for the dine in experience and the bright, poppy decor was an instant transportation to the Florida coastline. Popular tunes made for a happy, upbeat vibe as well as the lovely waitresses who made us feel incredibly welcome and were a hit with Valentina who thought they were the bees knees.

When asked if we wanted to start with something to drink my usual response is “yes, tap water please”. However, today we decided water was for wimps and instead we went all out with their rich, all-American style milkshakes. We ordered the chocolate, salted caramel and vanilla malt. The table was unanimous on agreeing that the vanilla malt was by far the best although none of them will be winning worlds best milkshake. Tasting a little powdery I can’t confirm whether there’s anything overly natural in these drinks but for a little bit of fun and something to wet the sweet tooth they really hit the spot.

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Now that Valentina was nicely hyped up on sugar (I can confirm she drank about 2.5 of the milkshakes) it was time to soak it all up with some deliciously carb rich meals. Georges and I remained true to our favourite, the Havana salad. As the name suggests, it’s a Mexican inspired salad with a rice, bean, corn and lettuce base topped with a tomato salsa, avocado and spiced mango vinaigrette. It is a beautifully refreshing salad and deceptively filling but even so we can always make room for the tempura broccoli bites. The perfect combination of naughty and nice they come with a chilli mayo dipping sauce, which is not for the light hearted. A couple of the Luxe burgers and a round of fries and we were in American diner heaven.

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On a scale of American burger joints with McDonalds being 1 and Shake Shack being 10 I’d happily award Sunset Diner at a 7. It has a great, positive energy and family friendly vibe. The food is yummy with some little gems for the win but if you’re looking for a burger to transport you from Avalon to America this may not be the place. Two things I can guarantee however, is that you won’t leave feeling hungry and you will leave feeling very happy.