Remember when Devon Cafe and Three William Street were helping Sydney compete quite fiercely with Melbourne’s famously progressive cafe scene? All of the sudden laneway bars started to pop up over the city to take care of the night owls (at least until the lockout-law-mandated-cessation-of-service). But by day, these increasingly creative cities were taken good care of the breakfast and brunch crowds.
Now, having a good cafe near you in Sydney isn’t even worth mentioning. Most cafes are decent, but only a few really take things to the next level with consistent bursts of culinary creativity.
Perhaps it’s that I recently left an office job and am back working remotely that I’ve started to love cafes again. Like, really love them. When I want to get shit then, I work from a cafe because being surrounded by life, conversation and good food helps me focus far better than slumping in my room talking to myself.
I’ve spent a few weeks dining through some of Sydney’s most interesting cafes. These are the three that stood out to me over the past few months.
Pina
This is a cafe with restaurant-level popularity. It’s a superstar. Pina was meant to be a pop-up from the fine folk at Potts Point favourite Room Ten. It was such a colossal success that it’s not a permanent fixture and absolutely one of the best places to eat in Sydney right now.
While the price point reflects the quality, I’ve made the mistake of making Pina a weekly thing. And my bank account hates me for it. Regardless, I don’t live far from this Llankelly Place cafe and it’s one of the only consistently good things in my life right now. Pina and dogs; that’s why I living in Potts Point.
Just note, you will 100% have to wait 10-20 minutes for a table. It’s always so busy.
Must Try: Fried prawn burger; caponata; scrambled eggs.
4/29 Orwell St, Potts Point NSW 2011
0432 445 342
Monday – Sunday (7 AM – 3 PM)
pinapottspoint.com.au.
Haven Specialty Coffee
Haven is special. It reminds me of when Sydney’s cafe was in its infancy and people only started to realise just how much creativity could be found within the scene. And there’s a few locations as well – Haymarket, Darling Quarter and Rosebery.
The Rosebery one seems to be the biggest of the locations, but all of them are tied together by a calming, simple design that wouldn’t look out of place in a city like Tokyo. On the cafe’s website, Haven is pitched as an “oasis of calm”. I honestly don’t think they could have nailed the brief as well as they have.
As for the food; healthy, delicious and surprisingly rich. Rich, I write, because the dishes are also quite light. Balance like that isn’t easy to produce, dialing in just the right amount of each flavour. The XO prawn spaghetti with salted yolk, cherry tomato, kale, shallots, chilli and an optional egg – perfection. I ate a nice dinner at Ester that night and the XO prawn spaghetti was still my favourite dish of the day.
On next visit, I’ll probably go for the fish burger or prawn sando if I want some carbs. If I’m in the mood for something light though, I would order the Vietnamese rice noodle salad again. At $17, it’s affordable and delicious.
Must Try: XO prawn spaghetti; Vietnamese rice noodle salad.
Various locations
havencoffee.com.au
Rolling Penny
Although it’s been a fixture of Newtown since 2015, Rolling Penny still flies under the radar for many of us who live in the inner-city. I would like to see that change, and not only is the service always so damn uplifting, but the food is some of the best in the inner-west.
The famous oversized bacon and egg roll is still one of Sydney’s greatest breakfast baps, but the menu is constantly changing, so repeat visits are recommended.
Must Try Bacon and egg roll.
583A King St, Newtown NSW 2042
0449 934 369
Monday – Friday (7:30 AM – 3 PM); Saturday – Sunday (7 AM – 3 PM)
rollingpenny.com.au.
