Cheeky Monkey

Great breakfast joint. Been here a couple of times for breakfast. Always good food, friendly and welcoming staff and I just like the look of the place.
Also the portions are more than enough and pricing is ok as well.

Recently returned & thankfully much improved. Coffee well extracted and flavorful, food was delicious and reasonably priced

First time ever i struggled to finish a «big breakkie».
Genuine ingredients.
Outstanding value for money.

What a place. Great location, great atmosphere, great food. I don’t drink coffee so I can’t comment on that. Once again as most spots in town they have vegan, vegetarian, and gf options. I’m a picky fuck and let me tell you that the chef was willing to do anything to make me happy (stop your dirty thoughts). They even made me a special tasting plate. Awesome spot on a sunny day as they leave all the windows open and it gives the place and nice feel. Better yet eat outside. Plenty of seating. Great area of town with lots of shopping and such. Don’t miss it next time your in the area.

If Cheeky Monkey were a song, it would be a cover. Probably a Beatles cover. It might even, technically, be better than the original. But it’s not better. The original was the Beatles.
Harsh. I’ve got to say I’m not a fan of Cheeky Monkey. I think the first stumble is their Banksy «inspired» monkey street art on the outside — Actually «street art» is quite inaccurate, this is just branding. I guess the original is illegal street art, so I can’t get on my high horse about copyright infringement and ripping off other artists. Even so, it’s not even executed very well. It’s just plain derivative (both literally and emotionally).
The food follows the same vibe. It’s stodgy, salty, sweet stuff. Corn Fritters, heavy hash browns. Everything splashed with oil, sauce or coulis. Big meals piled high on the plate. That sort of thing.
No specific comments on the coffee really, but it’s fair to say it’s pretty random in quality. I have had coffee here I didn’t mind, but I’ve also had burnt sump-​oil coffee here too.
If I was on holiday in my early 20’s, hungover and this place was right on a sunny beach, I’d probably love it. I’d sit there in my sunnies and think about having a swim. The fatty, salty bacon would be a godsend. You’d want to hug the oily, oily hash brown. However, this is on Swan St in inner Melbourne and you’ve got plenty of better options.
The thing is, the meals sort-​of look like they have flair, but they don’t. I’m not adverse to straight-​up café food. However, if you’re after that, try the straight-​talking Booktalk a couple of doors down.

Really cool vibe, but our food wasn’t amaaaazing. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but if I go back an it’s great, I’ll re-​review!

Good and very fast service. They give an okay but sadly unspectacular meal. Coffee is serviceable. Given the stiff competition nearby, I’m sorry to say that customers can do better elsewhere.

Great location and atmosphere ideal for a relaxing, casual mid morning brunch; you’ll appreciate the polite and prompt service, warm and rustic interior and ample sidewalk seating. Cheeky Monkey has alot to offer but needs to improve on their food which, in my opinion, is THE most important factor in determining how good a restaurant is. For brunch I had the Dill Crepes with smoked salmon, roquette, avocado and hollandaise (which I asked for on the side), to drink I had a soy chai latte (the Chai latte was good, no complaints there). Now let’s talk about the food; there were a few major issues with my crêpe dish 1. Too Salty — I think salt had been added which was totally unnecessary as the salmon’s already salted, this resulted in a salty dish which was on the brink of being inedible; 2. Too much Olive oil — I love Olive Oil, I could saturate a bread in the stuff and happily consume it all day, however, way too much was drizzled on the rocquette so my crêpe arrived swimming in a pool of oil which overwhelmed flavours of the crêpe and almost everything else except the salt. The crepes were tasty as far as I could tell and other ingredients fresh, but cut out the salt and use the oil sparingly please. I’m so glad I asked for the Hollandaise on the side because I doubt I’d have been able to taste any of the ingredients. The dish could be excellent but there’s truth in quality not quantity and more is not always better. I hope Cheeky Monkey will heed these words because I’d like to return and give it another chance.

Decent, if unspectacular coffee. Points for: outdoor ordering window (within range of the free wifi across the road). Points against: a bit overpriced, EFTPOS minimum ($ 15) is too high.

One could only assume that Swan St would be full of iconic eateries, but one would be wrong. There are a couple of places that I come back on Swan St but Cheeky Monkey is not one of them. I have actually been foiled a few times by cafes that are located on corners, from now on I will only go to a corner café by recommendation. I must admit that the name is what got me to enter and the service was good, the décor is alright and the menu sounds good but the food was subpar and needed to step up a level.

I’ve never had the pleasure of dining on Swan Street in Richmond, mainly because I spend so much more time in Prahran and South Yarra. Today however, the perfect opportunity arose to have breakfast at the Cheeky Monkey in Richmond. I was excited and full of anticipation. Not to mention, hungry and in need of something savoury and sweet.
We were seated promptly and quickly skimmed through the menu which seemed quite appealing, with prices that were pretty average. The food came out very quickly which was nice, but the overall taste test didn’t meet the mark.
The pancakes were too heavy for my liking and tasted a wee bit too similar to the (instant) ones you can get from Woolies. The corn cakes with bacon and tomato were also a little disappointing because it basically looked better than it tasted. The verdict: presentation superseded the taste. There was nothing special or out of the ordinary here. But the service was prompt, the crowd was nice and relaxed and sitting outside in the sun was a welcomed treat. Would I go back? Not, unless I had no other choice.