834 Bourke St
Waterloo, Sydney
It was a Saturday afternoon bloggers event which introduced us to this lovely Waterloo eatery. Big high ceilings, open windows and hanging ferns gave a light, bright and breezy feel to the place. These Dames had a fantastic meal here! The menu is fresh and interesting, with enticing breakfast and lunch options.
We started with a refreshing drink – the beverage menu offers an exotic range of Kombucha of different flavours (a fermented syrup used as a base) and Dame M chose the Persian rosewater iced tea. It was delicious. Dame T also enjoyed the blueberry and mint.
Coffee is taken very seriously here and they know their stuff. They offer several brewing methods using Gypsy beans and we were treated to a demonstration by a very knowledgeable staff member which was interesting and educational.
We then had the opportunity to sample and compare two different brews, the “chemex” and the “cold drip”. Both were good drops and preferences varied across our group, indicating that it is very much a matter of personal taste.
The first dish to arrive was a lovely Char Grilled Pork Belly which looked impressive and tasted even better.
Chilli fried eggs with the most tender, marinated pork belly you can imagine. It was served with crushed edamame and puffed black rice. The flavours were great and it was a winning combination. This is a dish the Dames will be coming back for.
We also tried the Heirloom Tomato Salad that arrived at the table with beautifully poached eggs and burrata cheese. This interesting and oh so tasty dish looked really vibrant, fresh and very healthy. Again, this whole meal had great flavours, it was well executed and the herb toast on the side was quite delicious.
Do you like something a bit naughty? Well the Grilled Mac ‘n’ Cheese Toastie would appeal to you. It did to us! It’s on both the breakfast and lunch menus as its perfect for either occasion, or any, really…. imagine the best and tastiest macaroni cheese you have ever had, squeezing out from a golden toasted sourdough sandwich. It was awesome!
Another tasty item from the breakfast menu arrived. Smoked Trout Kedgeree. This was deliciously spiced rice, trout, boiled eggs, citrus yoghurt and coriander. The dish looked amazing and was bursting with exotic flavours. It was definitely something different for breakfast but a super tasty and satisfying meal.
Lovers of sweet treats? The Buckwheat Waffles were breathtakingly beautiful and came with yummy butterscotch pears, raspberries, toasted poppy seeds and crème fraiche ice cream. This was impressively colourful and actually quite light and fresh. Dame M loved the ice cream.
The lunch menu offers some delicious and inventive salads which can be ordered on their own or combined (for a very good price) with your choice of protein dish. We sampled the Southern Fried Chicken and the Char Grilled Zucchini Salad. The chicken was awesome – crispy and succulent. The salad was also amazing, with black rice, pickled fennel, radish and pea sprouts. Not your average salad!
The Grass Fed Cheeseburger was next on the hit list. Milk bun, house pickles, bacon jam and a pile of chips. It was such a good burger with great flavours. Good chips too!
Another impressive dish, and a dessert this time, was the Coffee Ice Cream Slider. Dame T loves coffee ice cream and says it’s hard to find a good one. She was absolutely in heaven with this one - it was such a sweet-treat winner.
Barista & Cook is open 7 days a week from 6am on week days and 8am weekends until 4pm. It’s close to Green Square station and parking is not hard to find. This was an experience both Dames enjoyed immensely. The venue was beautiful and the food was to die for. We will absolutely be back!
Those Dames, who review for Sir and Mlady Dine Out, dined as guests of Barista & Cook. Special thanks to Lauren Smith from Wasamedia for this invitation.
