This bayside spot is worth the drive (or ride) for grazing with friends and a glass in hand

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On a sunny Saturday afternoon, as kookaburras sing in the trees of southern Sydney bayside suburb Burraneer, a staff member at Kin cafe is shaking a cocktail maker behind the counter to slow-beat jazz tunes.

People in sun hats, tiny dogs at their feet, raise glasses of wine to each other on footpath seating while, inside, solo diners, flower-carrying friends, chattering family groups and motorcycle enthusiasts with shiny bike helmets sit on bentwood chairs beneath bespoke brass wall sconces.

A man pays his bill, confessing it is his second time at Kin for the day, having already enjoyed a tower of French toast with cinnamon sugar, dulce de leche, pistachio, vanilla ice-cream and maple syrup two hours earlier.

A woman reads a broadsheet newspaper while sipping a glass of blanc de blanc sparkling wine from Centennial Vineyards in the Southern Highlands. She pauses to transfer spoonfuls of soy-marinated tuna tartare onto sculptural sesame-smattered rice cracker shells.

An average suburban cafe Kin is not. Opened in July and owned by two brothers and their two cousins, respectively Marc, Nathan, Blake and Adam Allouche, it is a handsome blend of cafe, restaurant and bar.

Sitting in a row of shops, minutes from harbour waters, it’s the sister business to nearby venues Sealevel Restaurant and Next Door, both beside North Cronulla Beach.

Marc Allouche says the foursome, who all live minutes away, are keen to create a place for all kinds of eating and drinking.

“Burraneer is a really tight-knit community,” he says. “We love the location of Kin, as it is at the top of the Burraneer peninsula amongst a great set of shops that are very important to the locals.

“We want to become a place for a morning coffee, a quick breakfast, food on-the-go or a long lunch, grazing with a drink in hand with friends. We [also] want to be part of the community and we want to the community to feel as if it is their place.”

There is a glamorous element to Kin. The golden-lit, wine bottle-lined floor-to-ceiling windows of the bottle shop next-door give a ritzy backdrop to the cafe’s partially open right wall.

Our group is ensconced along a soft dark olive green leather banquette beside fluted the wood-covered open-kitchen counters.

We drink lush pomegranate and coconut margaritas and fragrant apple and elderflower martinis as bowls of flower petal-sprinkled almond, cinnamon and cranberry granola, and pumpkin fritters wigged with fresh shallot and coriander, are delivered.

Portions are generous, service is fast, crockery and tableware are dapper and carafes of water are whipped to the table as a given.

Even the bacon and egg rolls are a cut-above, particularly the amount of fat-curling layers of pork winding beneath oozy egg and melty Swiss cheese.

There are plans to open in the evenings for dinner as the summer temps rise and Friday to Sunday an afternoon happy hour has been launched called “day drinKIN”.

Kin’s breakfast, brunch and lunch is all day but make like the French toast fan and return post-brekkie for all three.

Order a glass of AIX Provence rosé while considering the list of small plates: silky marinated olives, cumin-spiced hummus, whacking great orbs of buffalo mozzarella served with sun-ripened tomatoes and fried bread, or the deli plate, a landscaped hillock of smoked leg ham, pickles, kicky cheddar, sourdough and spiced apple chutney.

Then, go for a walk to the end of Woolooware Road, ponder the village of Bundeena across the sparkling Port Hacking waters, and walk back, emboldened for lunch.

Slurp iced watermelon juice and a toasted coconut-sprinkled berry smoothie while ordering the hickory-smoked salmon bowl or the prawn spaghettini, kicky with chilli, garlic, olives and basil.

The former is a smorgasbord of lox and nutty brown rice, seasoned with furikake and framed by sliced boiled egg, legs of cut cucumber, pickles and soy bonito dressing. The second, which doesn’t skimp on the seafood, is good feisty and filling stuff.

No normal person can afford to dine out three times a day like this. But, it’s a dream you might have while visiting here.