Le Monde Cafe, Surry Hills

Catching up with good friends over a meal is always a fun affair and this time, it was a last minute invite from Hubes to join him and a few others for brunch at one of his favourite cafes.

The neat layout of the cafe drew my attention immediately. The tall tables were lined with magazines for those waiting for their takeaways or just wanting to have a quick cuppa before heading off. Smack in the middle is another row of tables which seats about 12 people facing each other. Along the 3 sides of the wall were table of 2s for those wanting a little 'privacy'.

The staff here are really attentive and friendly. In no time, my skim flat white was served.
I notice on the wall behind the barista that he had an assortment of coffee beans including kopi luwak. Asking him what he pulled for me today, I was told it was a house blend.
I  think the barista's head was probably tilted a little to the left when pouring this. heheeh

I tried to get a babychino review from 3yr old Dean but failed to get a word out of him. This was surprising as he wouldn't keep his mouth shut about dinosaurs, rockets and gorillas before he got his drink! Judging from his unwavered attention to spooning all the chocolate syrup into his mouth, I shall take it that he enjoyed it thoroughly.

bad photo. Potato Rosti with smoked salmon, spinach, feta, poached eggs, hollandaise & pistachio ($16)

I didn't ask Lou for a bite of her dish but using my other senses, I heard the crack when she cut through the potato rosti which revealed a steaming pile of shredded potato. When sliced, the poached egg yolk flowed out like a river of gold. Apparently this is her go-to dish whenever she visits this place. Writing this now, I want some potato rosti too!!!

poached eggs with haloumi, avocado, lemon, truffle oil and toast(16)

WN commented on how she enjoyed this dish. Two perfectly poached eggs sitting atop thick slices of avocado and haloumi. The toast itself was drizzled generously with truffle oil giving it a nice aftertaste. It was mentioned that the haloumi was not overly salty nor chewy.

Pork belly with poached eggs, avocado salsa, cherry tomato, garlic puree, radish pickles, watercress& toast ($16)

 What pretty plating. Seeing the speed of which Hubes, smashed it down, he must have really liked it. Then again, Hubes likes anything with pork in it. :P Once again, the egg was perfectly poached and the pork looked super tender as it was sliced up and vacuumed into my good friend. 

Smoked house chilli bacon with chilli jam, mayo, fried egg, avocado on a brioche bun ($13)

For a moment, it crossed my mind whether I could squish the burger down and fit it in my mouth. I decided against it and commenced the deconstruction process.

Chilli Jam with bacon goes SO well together. It cuts away a little of the saltiness to it. Anything with a brioche bun is always a treat and this was put to good use at the end to wipe up any leftover egg yolk on the plate. What impressed me the most was the egg! It was fried so that it could stay in the burger but the top layer was translucent enough to see through. Cutting it in half, the yolk had an almost jelly-like form as I took bits of every other ingredient to form a mouthful of goodness. I would recommend this dish to anyone.

Le Monde impressed me! The staff are ever so friendly and attentive. Our glasses of water were never empty. Their own blend of coffee tasted good and the service was fast. There were a number of other dishes that I am keen try so this is definitely a place that I'll be putting on my list of cafes to revisit. 

Good job Le Monde Cafe!  :)

Le Monde Cafe
Address : 83 Foveaux St, Surry Hills
Opening hours
Mon - Fri : 6:30am to 4pm
Sat : 7:30am - 2pm
website / Google map

Dear Delicious, Dulwich Hill

Mornings like last Sunday should be spent at  home, with a whole lotta junkfood, a few movies and a thick quilt....but nooooo, my bodyclock had to wake me up at 8am and my stomach asked to be fed. My brain used 'the force' on me and said that I had no desire to make pancakes at home but instead to go check out some place new.  It was against my will! 

It was pouring down with rain and as much as I wanted to take a picture of the shop front, I couldn't be bothered as my umbrella was already at risk at being blown inside out. So here's a photo of their logo instead. :P

I like the interior of DD. It's lovely high ceilings and spacious interior gives it a sense of spaciousness. It's kid friendly with colouring books and crayons in 1 corner of the room. There's even a massive round table at the back for those with large groups.

errr...constellation latteart? No I did not stir it.

Coffee at DD is pretty good, serving up a SingleOrigin of a unknown brand, I had no complaints except that, I didn't get any sort of pretty fern leaf, loveheart, hello kitty or even a round blob of milk! I mean, we were there just before 9am and the place wasn't even half full. Their FB page boasts of latteart photos so one would think that the barista would have put a little bit more effort in? Anyhow, I still drank my coffee as it was a good one. :)

Croque Monsieur with free range ham and horsradish clotted cream n fried egg ($15.90)

The missus thought this dish was a pretty good but halfway through changed her mind as the flavours of salt and the sourness of the clotted cream overpowered the dish. The bread which came from Brickfields was throughly enjoyed though, so thumbs up to them! :)

Gypsy baked eggs - smoked hazelnut dukkah, bacon, tomato, feta, eggplant ($18)

This dish had the right balance of flavours to it. Not one ingredient overpowered the other and I would happily order this dish again if I revisited DD. The only constructive feedback I would give would be the plating. It was slightly tricky to cut up the bacon pieces on the already cramped plate without knocking the bread onto the table. I ended up mashing everytthing in the bowl up and tearing the bread up with my hands.

Dear Delicious is the new kid on the Dulwich Hill block and definitely has potential. 2 customers (and myself) were served dishes that we didn't order and to me this is a no-no especially when the cafe was only half full.

On a positive, the waitresses were always cheerful and the food was pretty good overall.
So with that, let's see how they fare with time.

Dear Delicious
Address : 245 Wardell Rd, Dulwich Hill
Opening hours : 
Facebook / webpage (which has no content yet)

Brighton The Corner, Petersham

Continuing on with our weekly cafe visits is yet again another cafe in Petersham.
Just off a leafy backstreet where the traffic isn't heavy, this place is just 200meters from the station which makes it convenient for those who don't drive. We got ourselves the window seats and enjoyed watching the early morning dog walkers and staring at the mural drawn by some high schooler.We lost interest fairly quickly... :P

Did this place used to be an old bottle shop?

Both the missus and I ordered the same coffees today (skim flat whites) and we were pleased after the first sip. You know you're gonna get a good cuppa when a cafe uses beans from Little Marionette. I haven't been disappointed so far....oh and compliments to the barista too. :) 

Braised Brisket. Potato Hash, Mojo Verde, poached eggs, Onion rings ($17)

 After what felt like an eternity,  our food finally arrived and I was starving by then! Sheathed in crispy batter, the onion rings were a delight to eat. Sadly one of them was actually the outer later of an onion. I chewed on it for abit but finally gave up. I had to put that aside. The beef was tender and slivers of it was used to wipe up some of the lovely egg yolk. Topped off with crispy potato hash and Mojo Verde to add to the taste, this was a kicker of a dish to eat.

Hot smoked salmon, pickled radish, fennel, peas, quinoa &  poached egg ($17)

The missus went for something a little lighter and complimented the chef for the generous helping of salmon. It's always a joy to eat when every element of the dish harmonizes with each other making each bite enjoyable. And check that eggporn out!

Housemade crumpets, caramelized pear, Dulwich Hill Honey butter ($14)

Wanting to end on a sweet note, we ordered the above halfway through our meals. Note : if you're planning on ordering this, please eat it right away. by the time we started, it went a little cold and lost it's crisp. Nevertheless, the crumpets still tasted awesome and awesome-er when you add a generous amount of honey butter to it.


Brighton the Corner is worth a visit for it's good food but only if you have time. The service is a little on the slow side and this was confirmed by a few other cafe-hunter friends of mine.

So..... to visit or not to visit? Good food vs longer wait-time? Your call. :)


 
Address :49 Palace Street, Petersham 2049
Opening hours : 
Tue-Fri 7am-4pm; 
Sat-Sun 8am-4pm
google maps / facebook