Sam and Larissa opened up on Australia Street and from a scan of their menu their decades of experience in hospitality and customer service show as they’ve adapated to the ecclectic culinary needs of Newtown with a menu that’s hard to box into one style of cuisine.
As diverse and adventurous as its inner west clientele, Sam describes the menu as an assortment of favorite dishes both co-owners enjoy. It shares the nostalgia of their homelands and other regions of asia infused with premium modern Australian ingredients of brunch dining accented with hawker character.
The free range omelette is given a spicy overhaul allowing you to control the level of spice with the seeds in or out of the sliced chilli pods. A slight pink hue colours the egg which the soft shell crab rests on. It’s a fun dish to make your way through with its crusty sourdough base and varying levels of texture as your knife cuts through the egg and lightly battered crab.
If you’re familiar with the origins of the Vietnamese Banh mi and its ties to the French, this rendition would be its David Jones equivalent with its Pork Belly or Mixed mushroom options. All the usual essentials that constitute the Vietnamese baguette remain with pickled carrot, cucumber. Coriander mayo replaces the signature brown sauce with crackled piping that spans the length of its haute couture encasing.
Entering the long cafe hall of the casual dining setting you’re greeted by Amy Winehouse and Kurt Cobain with murals of icons from the “27 club” capturing the musical ‘soul’ of the area and the relaxed vibe of the venue itself. It’s a work in progress featuring the work of a local area artist.
Vegan options sold out pretty quick by 2pm, and we just missed out on the Potato, carrot and pea patty which is served on a potato bun with tomato, spinach and a side of kale chips. This was an opportunity to sample the some of the other vegan options including the curry puggs and cauliflower thai popcorn bites which are also available for meat lovers in chicken. It’s coated in a spicy sour coating of their in-house made tom yum salt.
Alongside cold press juices, their coffee beans (filtered) include double washed beans from Kenya with its soft body, grapefruit, apple and hazelnut notes and crisp finish. Their silky roasted espresso from El Savador with hints of lemon myrtle, almond and milk chocolate.
Open just two months, there’s potential in this menu which has alot of history and regional flavours to draw from. It’s also conveniently located at the finish line of a number of various stops on the strip making your way up from the weekly Newtown markets and right next door to the antiques shop, across from the courthouse and close to the local pre-school and Camperdown rest park.
Open from 7am weekdays and from 8am on weekends | FULL MENU HERE