There’s a certain type of café that Sydneysiders on the Northern Beaches seem to seek out instinctively — close to the water, ideally on it, with coffee in hand and nowhere urgent to be. Buoy Kiosk Balgowlah delivers exactly that. Tucked into the weatherboard spaces of North Harbour Marina on Gourlay Avenue in Balgowlah Heights, it’s the kind of spot you feel lucky to have found.
The question of just how waterside Buoy Kiosk really is gets answered by a single detail: the trading hours carry a “weather permitting” qualifier. That’s pretty waterside.
Behind the kiosk is chef-owner Emily Jolliffe-Murphy, who was most recently head chef at day-to-night favourite Effie’s — so whatever expectations the word “kiosk” might set, the food quickly surpasses them. Jolliffe-Murphy leads the kitchen, sending out potato subs loaded with bacon and eggs, torched-cheese “mousetraps”, and sell-out herby cheese scones — best split open, toasted, and spread generously with salted butter. Come lunchtime, big baguettes packed with proteins join the menu.
On the drinks side, smoothies and coffees are the staples, alongside fresh juices and cookies-and-cream thickshakes. Banana smoothies arrive tinted blue with spirulina, while mango pours are given extra body with tahini and buckwheat.
The wraparound deck fills up quickly — with locals, dog walkers, and those making a pit stop on the Spit to Manly walk, a 10-kilometre coastal track between Spit Bridge and Manly Wharf. Wellings Reserve sits along this final stretch of the walk, placing Buoy Kiosk right in the path of anyone who’s earned their morning coffee the hard way.
Buoy Kiosk is open Monday to Friday, 7am to 2pm, with extended weekend hours of 7am to 4pm, weather permitting. Find it at North Harbour Marina, Gourlay Avenue, Balgowlah Heights.
Published 25-June-2026
