There are many great things about Bangbang Cafe in Surry Hills. First of all, it’s a few minutes from my apartment. It’s a pleasure to pop over for coffee, meet folks there for business meetings, and recommend people who stay with us to go over as their first port of call.
I’d mention the coffee as of key importance. In fact, a year or two ago, it went through a phase (as I suppose cafes do) where I felt conflicted, because I liked the cafe to hang out in, but I wasn’t crazy about the coffee. But now, they’re back up there with the best in Surry Hills: strong and delicious.
The cafe’s gone through some big changes. Years ago, when I first arrived in Sydney, it was a great cafe called Plissé: excellent food and sweets. If memory serves, it went through one or two other incarnations which were sadly mediocre until Alan Thompson, the DJ, took it over with a British-inspired menu, and groovy decor. Alan’s moved onto bigger and brighter things at Barista and Cook in Green Square. I happened to try and get in on opening day (we didn’t mean to go on opening day!): it was so packed that we were warned we wouldn’t even be able to get a coffee for 45 minutes. Better luck next time.
Alan’s a hard act to follow so I’m pleased to see Matt and his crew putting their own spin on the place, changing the decor and moving in a new direction. They’ve mostly kept the delicious breakfast menu, but are switching things up for lunch. Looks good. I’m looking forward to trying it out. The inventive burgers have caught my eye.
I’ve so far stuck to the breakfast menu, and it’s delicious. The classic corn fritters of Sydney… here served with crispy bacon, two poached eggs, and maple syrup (photo at the top!). It was really very good, even though I found it a touch salty on the day. But beautifully presented, and portioned… and… well, it was yum. A mate who had the same thing found it a bit rich for a weekday , but admitted he loved the maple syrup. My friend who had blueberry pancakes found them delicious, and I thought the serving size was just right (since in North America, you often get a stack as big as your head).
Oh, and the pea, feta and avocado mixture I had on toast this morning was very, very nice.
In the meantime, just outside the cafe, something is going on, and this is what I freaking love about Surry Hills. How beautiful is this?
The endnote is a disclaimer: Matt shouted me and my mate for breakfast. Did this make me more inclined to like him, the cafe and the meal? Yes. But this is the kind of place that I have reviewed in the past, would review in the future, and if the meal (or something else) was poor, I probably just wouldn’t put write a review (and would feed comments directly to them). That’s-a my philosophy for now re: food blogging and getting shouted…