Alt Cafe, Blacktown

The city of Blacktown is slowly transforming into a Western Sydney culinary destination. There are places like Mr Ping’s Eatery, Black Bear BBQ, Green Peppercorn, Ketchup Canteen and the occasional food trucks & stalls of the Aussie Night Market. Now, another specialty eatery has joined the scene.

My prayers for a specialty cafe in Blacktown have been answered when I recently found out about ALT Cafe. They are located in the heart of Lalor Park. I really like what Osheen (head barista and owner) and his crew has done with the cafe. The space has a minimalistic look and a sleek Synesso machine that acts like a centrepiece. I love their coffee and the fact that they carry beans from the Reformatory Caffeine Lab. It’s a small all-day menu that has awesome offerings like a 300gram patty cheeseburger, a massive bacon & egg roll, French toast and more.

The house blend is the Loma blend from Reformatory. The flavours come through sweet and nutty in milk in a piccolo latte and flat white ($3.50). It had medium body and the textured milk temperature was perfect!

The OG breakfast burger ($9) here is one of the best bacon & egg rolls I’ve had. Y’all know I believe in the whole perfection in simplicity thing. The combo of texture and flavours of perfectly crisped bacon, egg, avocado and tomato relish in soft light brioche was just amazing.

The cheeseburger ($15) is massive! 300grams beef patty, sexy melted swiss and American cheese, mustard and tomato relish in a soft light brioche.  It reminds me of a Japanese style burger where the patties are smoky and peppery with a nice hint of sweetness and lots of umami. I really liked this burger but I think it could do with a smaller patty for better ratio. Nevertheless, it was ace! It’s also a steal for the price as it already comes with perfectly seasoned crisped medium thick hot chips. 

They also have a harissa fried chicken burger ($16) available on the menu, which also comes with hot chips. It has deep fried chicken breast fillet with slaw and lime mayo in a light brioche.

You can also get other usual cafe staples here like a French toast ($15). Their version comes with a salted caramel praline sauce, acai berry and fairy floss.

It’s really great to have more brunch options out in Western Sydney. I’m really looking forward to all the awesome things Alt will be doing in the Blacktown scene. Check them out when you’re in the area.

Alt Cafe
55 Turner St
Blacktown NSW
Hours:
Mon to Fri 6am to 3pm
Sat to Sun 7am to 3pm
(last order at 2pm)

Brewristas 2.0, Darlinghurst

We see some of our favourite restaurants and cafes come and go. One of those places was Brewristas in Glebe almost a year ago. It was a sad day for all of us who loved their creations like the Brewmonade and Porky Pig’s hotteok. Guess what folks? The boys are back!

Kevin Ly and the team have recently re-opened at a new location in Darlinghurst. It’s a smaller space compared to their 1.0 joint but their new pocket rocket shop delivers quite a punch. They got your espresso and filter coffee needs sorted along with a new minimalist style menu and some pastries from Brickfields. There’s a good combination of usual café-fare to Vietnamese inspired dishes.

The beans are sourced from Savant Roasters. The espresso-roast blend is a bit on the darker side. Even through a latte, the dark chocolate notes are quite defined. I’m more of light to medium roast kinda guy. But for those of you who like your coffee strong, then you will dig this. The Colombian coffee on pour over was quite juicy and nutty. The filter coffee was more of my jam.

I’m a fan of cheese toasties in general but I’m a bigger fan of the Gruyere cheese toastie ($10) here. I added ham for an extra $3. The sourdough bread was well buttered with the cheese nicely melted. It had a nice balance of sweet, sour and umami flavours.

Their Brewristas banh mi ($10) was next level! It had the classic banh mi thit salad like pickled veggies, coriander leaves, shallot, chilli and well buttered baguette-like roll. You get a choice of pork, chicken or mushrooms & tofu. I went with their extremely tasty and tender honey, shallot and black pepper pork. The bread was amazing! Quite similar to a baguette, which was flaky crisped on the outside and super soft on the inside. Seriously, this was the best non-traditional banh mi thit that I’ve had.

Last but not least is the Lunch in a Bowl ($16). It’s their take on a Vietnamese noodles salad with with vermicelli noodles, pickles, herbs, peanuts, and fish sauce dressing. You also get to choose between chicken, pork and mushroom with tofu. I opted for a perfectly cooked lemongrass and chilli chicken. The whole noodle salad dish was so flavoursome and fresh. I could have this for lunch everyday!

Version 2 of Brewristas might be smaller than its predecessor but the quality of coffee, food and service is more than ordinary. Congrats Kevin and to the rest of the crew!


Brewristas 2.0
2/303A Liverpool Street
Darlinghurst NSW
Open 7 days, 6:30am – 4pm

Sando Bar, Surry Hills

Winter is just around the corner and Sydney is just pumping out new restaurants opening left, right, front and center. In the past month, there’s one that I have patiently waited on. Let’s welcome Sando Bar to the Sydney cafe scene folks!

I’ve been a fan of Head chef and co-owner Naoya Shimada’s (aka @Nasir_San) cooking since his stint at Hills Bros. He’s teamed up with the crew behind Tokyo Bird and Osaka Trading Co to bring this Japanese sando inspired cafe in Surry Hills to life! But wait, it’s more than just a sandwich cafe, he also does ramen!!! Now that’s what I’m talking about! Sando Bar will eventually also serve as an extension of Tokyo Bird at night. Chocolatesuze and I checked them out on their opening day.

The coffee beans are sourced from Little Marionette. So expect some sweet chocolate notes in your coffee. The chocolate flavour profiled coffee was more prominent in my piccolo latte ($3.70). The textured milk temperature was just right.

His pork katsu sando ($14) is insanely good! A perfectly cooked juicy fried crumbed pork loin with apple cabbage slaw, mustard mayo & tonkatsu sauce. The pork was also marinated in shio koji for extra flavour and juiciness. Takes me back to Japan yo and it comes with a side of renkon (lotus root chips).

The breakfast sando ($7) consists of bacon, sweet fluffy tamagoyaki, mayo, rocket and bbq sauce with a side of fruits. 

My homie Nas came up with a ramen that’s suitable for a cafe menu. The shoyu ramen ($17) consists of a torigara shoyu broth that has subtle umami, light chicken flavour with yuzu and peppery notes. The noodles are cooked medium. Toppings include sous vide chicken in butter garlic yuzu, menma, mizuna dressed in yuzu, nori, negi and half hanjuku tamago. The runny yolk on that tamago was on point. Would have loved some extra fat on the broth. Nas doesn't claim that it's the legit kind but I think it is pretty solid for a cafe style ramen. It kind of reminds me of Afuri ramen.

A place of awesome sandos, coffee and ramen all in one place is my kind of joint. Come and visit them as soon as possible fam!! Trust me, they won’t disappoint.

Sando Bar
226 Commonwealth Street
Sydney NSW
Email: info@sandobar.com.au
http://www.sandobar.com.au/ 
Hours: Monday - Saturday 7am to 4pm