Kookaburra Cafe (Frankston)

This place was a regular stop when I was a kid growing up in Frankston. Situated in Young street, opposite the station it served everything imaginable – roast dinners, fish & chips, toasted sandwiches, soup, cakes, ice cream, milk shakes & of course “spiders”. It was fairly dark inside & felt like a haven away from the shops.

The old Kookaburra Cafe (today)

My friend “Sue” & I had ravenous appetites when we were around 10 years old. Our mothers often took us to the Kookaburra for lunch during school holidays & we’d tuck into a huge plate of roast lamb, roast potatoes & vegies. Our mothers would be having a toasted sandwich whilst we would devour an entire roast dinner all washed down with a foaming lime spider. Heaven!

The cafe vanished years ago, & today it’s a delicatesan. I couldn’t help taking a photo of it on my last visit to Frankston. As you can see it no longer looks inviting!

12 comments to Kookaburra Cafe (Frankston)

  • Teresa

    The old kookaburra I remember well, also the cafe in Shannon mall I used to get hot chocolates and sometimes scones with mum and oma . I remember jacknjeans in Shannon mall , buying flex shampoo from ritchies . I remember the surfy store near the bounty shop who sold oil perfumes , the best jeans and bikinis . I used to love the cafe in Myer and how I could see the Myer building from the back of the shelter sheds at Fairway PS . Later on , I remember the cafeteria in Cole’s on Nepean Hwy , Vicks hamburger I can remember being next door to the grand hotel and further down Italian cafes and pizzerias . I remember the floods of Frankston in 1972 and Central Park and wardrops were all flooded and still have the photos . Later on I remember the Dutch cafe in Central Park , the library further down , a French cafe in the lane behind wittner shoes. I grew up in Frankston from 1965 and where some family still lives in Frankston South. The Frankston I knew was full of new families and where neighbours knew each other , so different from now. Concerning a lady who presumably over plucked her eye brows, this may not be accurate as there are various other causes of the loss of eyebrows or even eye lashes , try to be more respectful. My friend and I remember the lovely ladies from the beach kiosk and how there were railway lines down the Frankston pier . All wonderful memories of our beloved old Frankston.

  • Shane

    Thats not the Kookaburra , the Kookaburra was opposite the station. Tarantos pizza on Nepean Highway was an incredible Pizza Parlour, Pat and the guys really looked after you. Lets not forget Vics Hamburgers, they were opposite the station as well, best burgers in town. Back in the day, there was a group of shops to the left of the old Vines/ Frankston Hotel, heading down to the beach, I think that’s where Vics started, then they moved to opposite the station, then to Nepean Highway, just down from the Grand.
    Frankston was a great place to be brought up in during the late 60’s and early 70’s, just a pity that they got rid of Karingal High School……….

  • Sue

    THATS LUCKYS DELI CAFE WHICH IS STILL OPEN. BEST DELI

  • Tony H

    Does anyone remember the Last Call Coffee shop which was open in Frankston in the 80’s? Used to host open mike nights, Peninsula Folk Club events and had lots of board games along with great chocolate milk shakes. Happy days…

  • Sue

    This was not the kookaburra.
    Kookaburra was down towards the station. It is now mama lee asian food

  • Lee Madden

    I’ve been to Victoria, but I got curious about the cafe after seeing a b/w photo of two young women having dinner at the Kookaburra in a book called A Day In The Life Of Australia. It’s a coffee table book of pictures taken by 100 photographers all around Oz on the same day – Friday March 6, 1981.

  • Brad Williams

    My wife & I were enjoying dinner at La Porchetta in Frankston on 16/01/16. We noticed that Rugentinos has closed its doors. Don’t know if it is permanently or what.
    Cheers, Mordyboy.

  • Bruce

    That’s not the Kookaburra.

  • coolbuzz

    aah the kookaburra – toasted cheese sangers and cappucino… yummo…. other superb eateries n the district in the olden days were; angelo’s pizza , rugentino’s restaurant, vic’s, don luigi pizza (run by seaford legend Claude who knew how to entertain his customers as well as make yummo pizza), The Mexican Place (also known as Taco Bill at various times), Nick’s Edithvale Pizza (bit out of the way but always good for a change), Red Rooster at Karingal (they cooked their food properly and didn’t apply too much salt like their counterparts at Frankston store), and finally Nibs Cafe – opposite Just Jeans on the 2nd floor of the old Bayside Shopping Centre this little cafe had the best toasted sandwiches and milkshakes in Frankston – a little more expensive than other cafes but well worth it – and who could forget the lady behind the counter who drew eyebrows (very badly) on her forehead to make up for the ones she’d plucked out of existence many decades earlier – was does one pluck, pluck and pluck until bald if you’re going draw a pi back on ? did she think her drawn brows looked better than the originals (maybe in bizarro world but you had to see these things to believe them… i’m sure others must remember

    • admin

      Rugentino’s still in Frankston (I think?)… I also remember NIBS Cafe, it had a big green sign & if I remember correctly green booths. Great sandwiches & always a treat if I was taken there by mum during the school holidays.

  • Jody

    I was thinking of here and how we went there after school as teenagers. I had forgotten the spiders. I remember the small jukeboxes at each table and how this was somehow part of our growing up. I was thinking of the photo that was in the 24hours coffee table book that was published in the late 1980s.

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