Devon on Danks - Waterloo

We hadn't been out to brunch in a while as I was sick of paying ludicrous amounts for hipster avocado smash on toast. So when hubby took me to Devon on Danks, I was a little weary... especially as it looked exactly like Danks Street Depot (a place where I've had really good and really average experiences).

Agreeing to sit on the high seats meant instant seating for us. My coffee was actually pretty delicious. Smooth and aromatic.

skim cappuccino

Foodwise, hubby got the soft shell crab roll. Crispy soft shell crab sprinkled with sichimi pepper, nori sheets, wasabi mayo, tobiko, pickled cucumber, daikon, and carrot, all served in a soft hot-dog style bun. It was actually really tasty. Really good textures and loads of flavour.

soft shell crab roll

I couldn't look past the 'Dr Seuss's Green egg and ham'. This was a juicy caramelised thick cut bacon - half meat and half fat - super duper tasty and succulent, with a 63 degree egg topped with pea puree and green tomato ketchup. Zomg YUM! But definitely not something you could eat lots of... 

green eggs and ham

There were cronuts and donuts displayed across the counter, all looking beautifully delicious. I simply couldn't resist but to order the Milo and chocolate ganache cronut. Unfortunately, looks are deceiving. Or maybe, I'm just not a huge fan of cronuts? It wasn't crispy or flaky enough and had a bit too much oozy custardy ganachy stuff inside... I think it's just me. I'm sure it's a good cronut and loads of people around us were ordering multiple cronuts.

Milo Cronut

I quite liked the food here but it does come at a price. Although there's more seating here compared to their Surry Hills branch, there's probably still a bit of a wait for seats at popular times. The food is fresh and comes relatively quickly and service is efficient but not really that attentive.... but overall - worth a try.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 29/40

Devon on Danks
2 Danks Street
Waterloo
NSW 2017
Tel: (02) 9698 7795

Danks Street Depot (2) - Waterloo

Brunch at Danks Street at 10am.

10am!?!?!?!?! Who organises something on Sat morning at 10? Not only that, why are the streets packed and the cafe overly populated at such an early hour? Well... it was my high school friends. And I like my high school friends. As such, early early on Sat morning, I dragged my hubby out of bed and headed for Waterloo.

The perfect anecdote for an early morning wake is a huge bowl of coffee. A HUGE bowl of super yummy creamy tasty nicely balanced mocha the size of my face. YUM :)

Bowl of Mocha

One of my friends was a vegetarian. As such, he opted for the tomato and avocado on toast. It came out first and I was a little surprised by it's portion size. The plate was big enough. But there's just a slice of toasted bread with some chunky tomato and avocado bits and scarce amounts of feta.

tomato and avocado on toast

Another friend opted for the broccoli and scramble on toast. Again, big plate, not much food. Looking slightly yellow and overcooked broccoli came with not much scramble unfortunately.

broccoli and scrambled egg on toast

Sardines and tomato on toast was colourful enough. I think it tasted alright coz there were not much complaints from my friend (except for maybe the portion size).

Sardines and tomato on toast

I ordered the creamed truffle eggs with grilled tomato and mushroom with a slice of bread. The eggs were awesomely creamy and tasty but I still remember that back in the days when I first came to Danks Street my creamed eggs filled the ENTIRE plate. And I mean - the ENTIRE plate. Those were the awesome days that I miss muchly >.<

truffled creamed eggs

One of my other friends went for the smoked salmon omelet. It was actually relatively decently portioned, the smoked salmon looked fresh and tasty.

smoked salmon omelet

My hubby went for the chicken sandwich. I think this looked the best out of all the meals. Awesomely toasted chicken salad with corn and rocket. YUMness! :)

Toasted chicken sandwich

All up, the food here is still tasty. The portion size, however, it horribleness! Inflation!!! I miss the good ole days.

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 6/10
Overall - 27.5/40

Danks Street Depot
1/1/2 Danks St
Waterloo
NSW 2017

Tel: (02) 9698 2201

Patisse - Waterloo

Following Masterchef and Food Safari hype Patisse has been packed out on most weekends.

I'm actually not a macaroon fan - but seeing all the different colours and flavours makes me really happy... hence, we went macaroon hunting at Patisse only to find............. there's only one flavour left!?!?!?!?!


Apparently, they make their macaroons every wednesday and people buy them buy the 50s or 100s (according to the shop dude)... hence, when I come on Sat (and I've been hunting twice), there's only like 1 flavour left.

Well... I got it anyway. The vanilla macaroon was sweet, fresh out of the fridgely cold, and... mmm... average actually. Slightly disappointed.

Vanilla Macaron

I also couldn't resist the Opera cake. This was really yummy. Layers of coffee syrup soaked coffee cake, chocolate ganache, coffee buttercream and chocolate glaze - it was really really yummy. Slightly lighter and less dense compared to most other opera cakes, it was still really tasty and coffee-chocolately... I gobbled it up in no time!

Opera Cake

I have to say - Patisse is nice. Looks nice. Looks appetising. Is appetising. But not super duperly so. It was kind of average ish - like, Opera cake is nice... but Opera cake at Intercontintal is better I think. So Patisse is a nice cafe, cake, dessert place which is slightly over-hyped by Masterchef.

Ratings:
Food - 7.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 28.5/40

Patisse
G01/197 Young Street
Waterloo
NSW 2017

Tel: (02) 9690 0665

Danks Street Depot - Waterloo

Danks Street Depot

Our first visit to Danks Street Depot was many many years ago now. Back before all the hype and even before they renovated and expanded. Back then, the coffee was awesome, the food was great AND the price was good. Now? Well, the food's still pretty good, coffee's still pretty good and the price has just gone up a notch. Inflation, right? LOL

cappuccino - $4

Anyway, I ordered a cappuccino ($4) and my partner followed suit - which is odd because he normally orders the bowl of coffee and not the regular size ($5). When I questioned him about it after, he said that he forgot - shows how long we had not been here for. Nonetheless, the coffee here is still good and smooth and creamier and richer than most other cafes.

Poached Eggs with Hash - $19

For our spur of the moment brunch, my partner decided on the poached eggs with has ($19). This consists of 2 perfectly poached eggs served with herbed tomato, bacon hash (or silverbeet hash) and a slice of sourdough toast. I don't know why, but when the order came out, the waitress said that the missing poached egg will come out shortly - interesting that they didn't wait for the whole dish to be completed before bringing it out. The bacon hash is really big chunks of braised-ish pork, super tender, with herbed roasted potatoes. Back in the day, the has bit of this dish was MASSIVE. I guess fame and inflation takes it's toll. Nonetheless, it was still very yummy indeed.

Chicken Sandwich - $15.50

I'm a huge fan of their creamed eggs (it used to be super super super yummy) but for this day, I opted for something different - the chicken sandwich ($15.50). Looking extremely simple and plain, it had a pretty awesome description attached - "biodynamic" chicken which is stuffed then roasted, mixed with roasted corn and mayo and rocket salad, all served on a rustic loaf. Honestly, the sandwich was pretty damn awesome. The chicken was really tender and tasty, the corn was super sweet and mixed with just the right amount of mayo. The rocket was also fresh and completed the whole sandwich well.

Jared Ingersoll with his family was also at the store that day so before we left, we decided to say hi! He asked for our names as well - but chances are, he would've forgotten about us before he had the chance to sit down to his brunch.Kekeke... but seriously, he seemed like a pretty casual friendly guy. And his cafe has still kept its food quality after all these years :)

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 6.5/10
Overall - 29/40

Danks Street Depot
1/2 Danks Street
Waterloo
NSW 201
Tel: (02) 9698 2201

Cafe Sopra - Waterloo

I dislike places which don't allow me to take photos. The last time that happened, I didn't bother to blog about them (and hence, you have not read a post on the buffet at Seven Hills RSL). This time, I was so so so so so close to not blogging about this place... but the food just needed to be talked about!

I actually tried to find Cafe Sopra around 2-3 years ago. I never found it back then and always ended up eating at Dank Street Depo. This time, with the guidance of my friends Cafe Sopra was found!

Being extremely bad at observation, I understood why I had failed to locate this Cafe on previous occations - it was inside a warehouse, above an Italian Grocer - Fratelli Fresh.

Fratelli Fresh

Given the location, I was genuinely surprised at the number of diners - and at the lines! We waited around 1/2 an hour before we were seated. According to my friends (who are regulars), the cafe is a hotspot even on weekdays.

Blackboard menu

The popularity of this cafe may stem from their frequently changing seasonal blackboard menu - which is really, quite huge. It took me a good 5 minutes (or more) to read through all the options (and even longer to decide).

Bread rolls - $1 each

We ordered a bread roll each ($1). The bread was warm and fluffy - and pretty average, really.

We also ordered an antipasto to share ($14.50). There was beetroot with cheese, a mix of eggplant, tomato, celeray and corn, beans with pesto, and nectarine with tomatos. My company thoroughly enjoyed this starter, commenting incesently about the freshness of the ingredients, the richness of the flavours, and the blends of different tastes. The nectarine/tomato bit received mixed comments - maybe a bit wierd, a bit too sweet, and oh, it's perfect! (and if you're wondering why I'm going off the comments of my company rather than giving you a first-hand account, it's because I'm a self-professed picky eater who does not touch beetroot, eggplant, tomato or nectarine. I did enjoy the pesto-covered beans though!).

Antipasto

My partner's coffee came before our mains. It looked pretty but tasted average (not up to scratch compared to Melbourne coffee - proclaimed my partner).

Coffee

Waiters hustled and bustled about and a while after, our food came out. This is also about the time when the waiter told me that I wasn't allowed to take photos (grrrr) - so all the following are just 'sneak shots'. I guess I was agitated enough to forget the prices of the mains (but they were all within the $16-22 range)

There was my friend's smoked chicken risotto. It had a nice creamy texture to it. The risotto was cooked quite perfectly - not hard and raw, it was soft, yet not mushy. I guess presentation-wise, it looked quite ordinary.

Smoked chicken risotto

I completely forget what this was apart from that it was quite nice. Pasta in tomatoey, chilli-ish sauce with zucchini.... or that's what it seems like.

Pasta in tomatoey-based sauce

My partner's penne bolognaise was quite a tastey mix of mince and pasta. The meat was so minced up that every little piece of meat was surrounded and emersed in sauce. Topped with cheese... mmm... The only thing I have against this dish is that it's made of lamb mince >.<

Penne with bolognaise sauce

And finally, my dish! My fresh ocean trout with fennel and salmon caviar. So deliciously fresh and zesty, it was a light yet filling dish. The aromas filled my mouth - which was a great thing, until the end, where it all got a bit too salty for me (and hence a lot of water was consumed). Nonetheless, it was a delicious combination of flavours.

Ocean trout with fennel

We also ordered the witlof salad with pear to share. Witlof was with it's expected bitterness. The pear... hmm.. I guess I personally, am not a fan of pear salad, but my company seemed to thoroughly enjoy this. So, I conclude that it must have been a good salad.

Witlof and pear salad

Now on to dessert. Below is my friend's Scroppino ($12.50) which is lemon sorbet (I know, it looks pink!) with strawberry, and liquer of some type. It was an interesting floating island. I think you were supposed to mix it up, but as my friend just dug in, it was sweet and lemony-sour up the top, and alcoholically bitter down the bottom!

Scroppino - $12.50

I ordered a chocolate and nougat semi-freddo ($12.50). And this was yummy. It would have been yummier if it was more chilled, less melted, and generally, more like icecream. But it was good. The toffied-nuts were deliciously interspersed throughout the dessert.

Chocolate and nougat semi-freddo - $12.50

So overall, the food - by the amount of people, and by us licking our plates clean - must have been pretty good. The ingredients they used were fresh and seasonal (picked straight from the grocery store downstairs). The service was attentive - and they checked in on us every so often, even though they were hustle and bustling around all the tables. My only disappointment at the service was that we weren't allowed to take photos (so deducting points there). Nonetheless, the ambiance was good and vibey and really, quite relaxing. And finally, our total bill was around $140 for the 4 of us. Not super cheap, but not super expensive.

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 6/10 (points deducted for disallowing photos)
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 6/10
Overall - 28/40

Cafe Sopra
7 Danks Street
Waterloo, NSW, 2017
Tel: (02) 9699 3174