When I say “hipster coffee shop,” what do you envision? Exposed brick walls, white ceilings, minimalist furniture? Its pretty indicative of hipster movements in big cities, providing the cool, insta-worthy aesthetic along with overpriced avocado toast and fancy coffee. If you’ve been yearning for your hipster fix in little ol’ Des Moines, St. Kilda is here for you!

This all makes sense, seeing as St. Kilda was founded by a Australian/New Yorker who saw a gap in the breakfast and lunch market in the Des Moines area. Their mission is to serve healthy breakfast and lunch items all day, a a sophisticated and “more service oriented” style of seated dining. They do not serve any deep fried food, everything is baked, toasted, or poached, served in easy-to-finish portions.

I visited St. Kilda twice last week, to get a good feel for the place’s vibe. The first time, I just had a cappuccino, Pratyusha had a Latte, and Riley had a Mocha and a chocolate pastry. I had no complaints about my cappuccino, it was less frothy than i’ve had before, but I actually liked this better.

My second visit, Andrew and I went for brunch, the true meal of all city-hipster-millenials. There was plenty of seating available but enough people there to make it feel comfortably full. The amount of natural light in here is really beautiful, and as you can see, really conducive to taking fantastic pictures.

We started off with drinks, Andrew got a Hot Chocolate (because he’s a child with an insane sweet tooth) and I got a plain coffee, with a teeny pot of cream. It was all very cute, and good – no complaints here.

Andrew ordered the Banana Pain Perdu, which was a riff off french toast with candied walnuts, vanilla creme anglaise (a “light pouring custard”) and bruleed banana. Andrew thought this was amazing, he had at it as soon as I was done taking the picture!

I had the Avocado Toast. I think i’ve decided that I need to stop ordering avocado toast at restaurants. No matter how beautiful or tasty it is, I always feel that the price doesn’t reflect the quantity or quality. St. Kilda’s avocado toast is by far the prettiest i’ve seen, for sure. Toasted sourdough is topped with smash avocado, charred corn, pickled red onion, cucumber, feta, tomato salsa, and a dash of olive oil and topped with microgreens.

Y’all know how much I love microgreens and pickled onions, so this dish was definitely hitting the rights spots. The bread was definitely good quality, and each bite had a different flavor of the basic toast with all the embellishments. However, it was missing just a little more, some easy changes can make this dish a more filling and satisfying dish. I would prefer two pieces of toast with a little less of all the toppings so its easier to eat, the feta swapped for goat cheese to be a little less harsh, and some red chili pepper or a little green chili in the salsa for more of a kick. Some easy improvements and I would order this dish again and not feel guilty.

On both visits to St. Kilda, the service was very good. The servers were prompt and had good suggestions, they didn’t seem fake or not committed to the vibe. Whatever you order here, the presentation is impeccable and every part of this experience is well thought out. With some changes to the dishes, this spot can be the perfect combination of the NYC hipster millennial vibe and Midwestern bang-for-your-buck.

The Bottom Line

Unbeatable atmosphere and flawless presentation – a great spot for coffee and a snack!

Cone Rating: 4 Cones 

Price: $$ (Around 10-15$ for a drink and food)

Location: Downtown Des Moines, IA

On the Internet: St. Kilda Website, Yelp Page