This is more of a "personal diary" entry than anything else.

The motto of The Coffee Club chain is "Where will we meet?"

Being a solo trip to Perth, I had nobody to meet over there. (OK, there was another PBaser who was in Perth but I didn't know that at the time. And I'm pretty sure I would not have bumped into Paolo Dybala there.) However I did have need of a place for a light lunch later that day, so I bore this place in mind.

Its usual hours are 07:00 to 15:00 weekdays and 07:30 to 15:00 on weekends. This was well before that time so there are no lights on and nobody is at home.

I came across it again when I was walking back from the Peth Mint later that day and decided to give it a shot. As soon as I walked in they advised that they were closing early (understandably, since there were very few people there) but that the kitchen was still open. (I arrived at 13:38.) So I put in my order for a chicken schnitzel sandwich with chips and an orange juice.

How was it? OK. That's the case with most Coffee Clubs these days. It used to be one of my "go to" places because you'd know that you could get a decent if unmemorable meal in a decently sized serving; the now defunct Coffee Club Rhodes, where I would go for Sunday breakfast, appeared more than once in my early PAD galleries.

But over time the servings got smaller, in the case of Rhodes the furnishings became tattier, and the food quality leaned closer to the "miss" side than the "hit" side without quite reaching either one. In the majority of cases the dartboard will be hit, but it'll generally be a score of 9 or 10, not 20, and never 50.

That's true here as well. The staff were nice, and the food was OK. But I note that the Google rating of the place is only 3.7. It's 4.0 on Trip Advisor, for what that's worth these days. But given that so many people lack nuance and toss out 5 star ratings like confetti, anything under the mid 4s suggests an issue.

I can't say I'd never go there again but I'd certainly scout other destinations first. That said, as I've mentioned previously this part of Perth has traditionally been more commercial than residential so there isn't an overabundance of eateries.

That may be changing, as we shall see in a few shots.