Cafe 959 Kogarah — Restaurant in Sydney

My partner and I ordered Nasi Goreng and Benny Smoked Salmon from this cafe on the UberEats App for breakfast as per usual, since we were quite familiar and fond of the food quality. The food tasted great initially, however there was a foreign object found in our Benny Smoked Salmon that we unfortunately discovered by having my partner bite into it unknowingly before spitting it out in distress.

The object was beige, hard, pill shaped with what appeared to be a paper coating and was described to have a "bitter chemical taste" similar to what could've possibly been a cleaning tablet (as suggested by some friends that I have working in hospitality). I decided to call the cafe to address what the object could've been since my partner began to feel nauseous shortly afterwards. After calling them and sending photos and descriptions of the object for them to inspect, they were unable to identify what it was. The manager appeared deeply apologetic and continued to offer us a refund, however considering that I was asking solely for object identification in the case that my partner had just been poisoned and had also made this clear both over the phone + in writing, this offer began to feel like an attempt to deviate attention from the bigger issue.

Although the response we received from the cafe was potentially sincere and genuine, the inability to identify or conclude a plausible cause for the presence of a foreign object (especially of chemical nature) in their prepared food is at its core a violation of food safety and ultimately damaging to customer trust and loyalty. The only excusable reason on their part would've been to say that the Uber Driver had done something with the food, however this would've been highly unlikely as well since the bag was stapled and the packaging showed no signs of tampering. Thankfully my partner was able to spit out most of the object and so her symptoms were relatively short lasting (a couple of hours), however this is something that we felt we needed to share, in the hopes that appropriate measures are assessed, defined clearly and implemented in the future since we do genuinely love the food other than for this incident.

(We were told as well that this was the first time this has ever happened so hopefully something similar hasn't happened to...

I came here for breakfast on a Saturday morning with my wife and daughter. My daughter ordered a kids breakfast burger and my wife ordered an egg and bacon roll and I ordered an Açai bowl.

The waitress that took our order placed a set of knife and forks next to my wife and daughter and a spoon next to me which made sense since I imagined I would use a spoon to eat what I ordered.

About 25 mins later they came to my table with 3 burgers. My wife and daughter got what they ordered but I didn’t order a bacon and egg roll. The lady asked me “Are you sure?” I replied “Yes I’m certain.” After walking around to a couple of other people and talking to them she came back with a menu and pointed to the Açai bowl and asked “Are you sure you ordered this?” I replied “Well unless you guys are dishing up Coco Pops I’m quite certain, that’s why I have a spoon next to me isn’t it?”

After that questioning me several times on what I ordered, the lady agreed to prepare an Açai bowl for me. I watched my daughter and wife finish their meals with a guilty look on their face because I wasn’t eating, then about 25 mins later my açai bowl came which was of total shock to me. I thought while waiting several times I would just cancel it and pay for my wife and daughters meals but finally it came. I ate some of it quickly because I was running late for an appointment and then went up to pay.

The lady asked me “How was everything?” I said “It wasn’t great because the lady messed up my order and then questioned me several times on whether or not I was sure I ordered what I ordered. Then it took quite a while for them to prepare my bowl and I noticed that plenty of deliveries and other customers meals were coming out but not mine. I would have assumed they would have prioritised mine but I guess not.”

The lady said “Oh I’m sorry! Well that’s $56.” I was just disgusted and exhausted by that point so I paid the bill and left. I will never eat at this place again after being treated like this.

I don’t expect a free meal but why should I be paying full price to sit down and wait 1 hour to get my correct meal?

Really...

We ordered a smoothie bowl to share since we didn’t want to bother them with too much food. It was really tasty though. I think it was some sort of dragonfruit or açai made smoothie with muesli and fruit on the side, as well as a cut passionfruit to make it tastier. This was actually my first experience having a real passionfruit and its actuallyy very refreshing and sour. It complimented the muesli bowl really well, and gavve more taste to the meal so it was very much welcome. I had most of it since marika had a coffee to finish, and it was pretty good.

On our second visit i had a big brekkie and a smoothie and it was an extremely delectable and large meal fit to serve more than just myself. It was served in what looked like an iron cast pan which was quite unique and everything was full of flavour, it was a fantastic meal, though i would have appreciated if there were more bread or carbs to mitigate all the saltiness...