Hope you all had a wonderful weekend especially with the weather getting a lot warmer now. I definitely felt the heat yesterday and while it’s nice change from the unpredictable weather Sydney has had recently, I am pretty sure we are in for some even hotter weather by the end of the week…I’m told it’s going to hit 40 degrees by Friday! Better pack on that sunscreen if you plan on heading to the beach!
But back to my eating adventures from the weekend. I really wanted to try a new cafe on my list of breakfast places that I have yet to visit. I had read many great things about Cornersmith Cafe at Marrickville on various blogs and I knew that this was somewhere that I had to visit to see what the food was like and I definitely was not disappointed. The food was fresh and light and you could tell that the kitchen used a lot of good produce to create their various dishes on their menu.
The cafe itself is quite small so if you want to get a table you will probably have to get there early. Mr Muscles and I got there at 8 on the dot when it opened and we noticed that there were already some customers sitting inside. By the time we had sat down and were sipping our coffee and tea, the cafe was already quite full with most of the tables full. I can only imagine what lunch would be like as I can tell this place gets packed pretty quickly and that you most likely will need to wait in line if you are trying to visit here for lunch. I know I definitely will come back to try their lunch menu as I have heard that their Ploughman’s Plate is really good using fresh ingredients. The menu is written on a black board that has been mounted on the walls of the cafe. After you decide what you want to order (I took forever as there seemed to be so many choices) you then order at the counter.
Mr Muscles decided to order the Poached Egg Roll with Pasture Raised Ham, Garlic Aioli, Apple Chutney, Watercress and Red Cabbage upon my recommendation after reading various blogs and he was not disappointed by his choice. He could not stop raving on about his roll saying that the roll was really delicious and that the apple chutney (which you can buy in a jar from the cafe and is homemade) provided an extra flavour texture that made this roll less than ordinary. His only qualm about the dish was that the poached egg was not really poached and slightly more cooked but he overlooked this as he said that the flavour combinations worked well together regardless. Also, the watercress and the red cabbage provided a nice crunch with the ham and egg. The roll itself was crispy but soft in the middle as a good roll should be. Mr Muscles said that he would come back just to have this again.
Cornersmith also offer sides to go with your toast and eggs so as a side, Mr Muscles also ordered the Yellow & Green Beans with Quinoa, Nuts & Orange. The Quinoa salad looked very appealing and bright with the contrast of the oranges against the beans. I looked at his salad and wondered how Quinoa might work with Orange but somehow the flavour combination worked well together. The citrusy tang with the crunchy but soft quinoa and then the extra crunch from the nuts and the blanched beans. This is definitely a dish that you would want to order if you are feeling like eating something light and not too heavy.
On this visit, I decided to order the Open Toast – Local Ricotta with Mulberry & Rhubarb Compote with Nuts & Seeds served on Organic Harvest Grain Toast. This was sooooo good! So much so that I demolished the plate clean within minutes. I loved the contrast of the savoury ricotta against the mulberry & rhubarb compote jam (which is homemade as well by the cafe). The flavours all worked really well together. I loved that they had served this dish with sunflower seeds and flaked almonds as it paired well with the ricotta and jam. I will definitely order this when I come back to visit for breakfast again. I loved this so much that I bought their mulberry & rhubarb compote jam to take home with me so that I could try and replicate this dish at home. Whilst mine was not as fancy and did not really look the same, I was able to recreate and replicate my own homemade version of the dish and I was not disappointed!
All in all I thought that the cafe was really great and that the prices for the food justified what you got: good produce, fresh ingredients and quality food. The service was also very good with friendly staff who were always attentive to the customers’ needs…so much so that when Mr Muscles accidently left his sunnies at the cafe, one of the staff ran out of the cafe to bring back his sunnies to him.
Photos from my visit to Cornersmith:
The blackboard menu
Homemade Condiments & Jams
Cornersmith’s Mulberry, Rhubarb & Apple Compote $12.00
My drink of choice: Green Tea
Mr Muscles’s Coffee
Poached Egg Roll with Pasture-Raised Ham, Garlic Aioli, Apple Chutney, Watercress & Red Cabbage $12.00
Open Toast: Local Ricotta with Mulberry & Rhubarb Compote with Nuts & Seeds served on Organic Harvest Grain Toast $10.00
Side: Yellow & Green Beans with Quinoa, Nuts & Orange $5.00
My demolished Plate – Yes..it was that good ;P
After our meal, I decided to also take home some cakes that I saw on display (pictured above). I ordered a gluten free chocolate & rhubarb cake and Mr Muscles ordered a carrot cake. The chocolate cake was light and airy surprisingly and not too dense however the same can’t be said for the carrot cake which I found to be very dry and difficult to eat as a result.
I thought I’d also post a dessert I ate over the weekend while catching up with Mrs Papparazzi before we went to watch the last Twilight movie. Nothing better than green tea pudding. Sushi Tei’s Green Tea Pudding is smooth and creamy with a slight bitterness from the matcha. I wish there was more of it…it was demolished very quickly! ;P
Cornersmith
314 Illawarra Road
Marrickville NSW 2204
Ph: (02) 8065 0844
Trading Hours:
| Tue – Fri: | 6:30 am – 3:00 pm |
| Sat – Sun: | 8:00 am – 3:00 pm |
Until next time!
x
Jackie
Tagged: breakfast, brunch, cafe, cake, ham, Jam, Poached Egg, Ricotta, Seeds & Grains, toast, western
