Wards Central Dining

Wards Central Dining is an all-day eatery and provedore from the team behind North Street Store, Little Loaf, Big Loaf and the now-closed Peoples Cafeteria. Hot Bread Retail Group partners Lachlan Bisset and Craig Stewart opened the eatery – in the former Shenton Park Rehabilitation Hospital – in 2023.

The space is full of weathered knick-knacks and furnishings sourced from antique shops – teak Indonesian furniture, dishy display cabinets, pews salvaged from Fremantle’s Victoria Hall that have been reupholstered in the tartan of Stewart’s family – which help conjure an old five-star hotel aesthetic. But as attractive as the space is, Wards Central Dining is less about design choices and more about choices for diners.

The breakfast menu features egg dishes gathered from all over (think three-cheese omelettes and the Arabic baked egg classic shakshuka alongside the usual eggs Benedict and hollandaise offerings) plus Mexican-inspired avocado toast and waffles. Lunch hews close to a cafeteria-style offering and features salads – tofu with roasted broccoli, radicchio and a fermented chilli sauce, perhaps.

As at Bisset and Stewart’s other hot spots, there are standout hot pastries like sausage rolls, pies, cinnamon scrolls and slabs of pizza, as well as ready-to-go filled rolls. Daily specials such as nasi goreng are rotated through the menu regularly and the selection of provisions sold here is growing weekly. Basically, however you want to eat, Wards wants to help out.