I fondly remember a cafe in Surry Hills that seemed ahead of its time. What I forget every time I go to Sydney is that it doesn’t open on weekends which strikes me as quite strange. There are so many cafes in Surry Hills that we quickly looked up another one and detoured to The Book Kitchen, which is a little further east.
The Book Kitchen looks quite quaint and welcoming. It was a busy Saturday morning but we only needed to wait for a little while before a table for two opened up. The menu is reasonably basic but still has appeal.
Catherine decided on the bircher muesli and ordered it with fresh fruits. Even though we were on our way to the races, I chanced the fact that my suit might wear my bacon and egg roll and stuck with that option. My bacon and egg roll included a delicious slightly spicy chutney and did the job well. Unfortunately, Catherine’s bircher had been prepared with both apple and cream, which made it a really thick and off putting consistency which was close to inedible. It was more like putty – something had gone wrong.
The positive in all of this was the fact one of the waitstaff enquired about Catherine’s meal which she had hardly touched and offered to bring something else. In a bit of a hurry by this stage, Catherine chose to just grab some toast with jam which was good. We appreciated the staff had done a nice job to rectify the issue, but I certainly wouldn’t be ordering bircher there any time soon.
The important thing in running a restaurant is realising that not everything goes right all of the time. When you have these situations, providing a decent solution really helps all involved. Especially, the diner enjoying their bacon and egg roll!
The coffee here was pretty good, the bacon and egg roll was good, and the staff were friendly, and handled themselves well. While I would love for Single Origin to be open on the weekends, this is not a bad option a little down the road.
BLK's Food Blog 