Flour Drum — Restaurant in Sydney

Dec 2020: It's almost Christmas again & I am so excited with Flour Drum's stunning offering. I have been eating their Xmas goodies for the past 4 years & look forward to it each year. I love their boozy mince pies, which has a delicious gingerbread pastry which I love & then there is the mince. Very generous, macerated fruit (since 2018) with flavours that has had the time to mingle & get to know each other. I love all the spices that is associated with Xmas, a little kick from the booze & an extra depth of flavour that cannot be described & comes from the time taken to produce these little beauties. Then there is the Xmas pudding which is super moist & decadent. Any excuse to indulge in these delights leading up to Xmas!

Pre 2020 Its hard to walk past this cafe & not notice. Whether its the happy people dining here or the smiling staff or the amount of people waiting for good coffee & food to go or their delectable, enticing & huge array of cakes all of it is made in house! This place is deceiving from the outside as it is a much larger space inside then expected. Slabs of lamington in a variety of flavours like creme brulee, tiramisu, hazelnut or PB&J is the talk of town. The beautiful looking & smelling Middle Eastern Orange cake, apple & pear cake, brownies, salted peanut caramel tart, white & dark rocky roads with generous chunck of Turkish delight. The choices seem endless. On this occasion, I indulged in the Hazelnut lamington & immediatelly understand about its popularity. Fluffy sponge, moist layers of hazelnut chocolate in between, coated with a generous amount of chocolate & coconut shavings. The hazelnut torte on the other hand is a huge contrast. Dense, rich & very hazelnutty, layered with a delicious chocolate ganache in the centre, it feels naughty & indulgent but oh so delicious. The apple & pear cake is super moist, filled with spices, scalloped apple & pear slices on top. One bite & a warmth run all through you, nostalgia, comfort, a big hug. Last & not least was the salted caramel peanut tart. Perfect base, gooey, lightly salted caramel, a good chocolate top sprinkled with generous amounts of peanuts. Delectable. Pair it all with good coffee, hot chocolate or a pot of tea, friendly staff & you will float out the door glowing with joy. Don't make the mistake of only coming for cakes here as the savouries are also hits. The dishes have sprinkles of cultures & flavours and somehow they all work so well. Don't expect a traditional bowl of duck wonton & noodle soup like you would in a Chinese restaurant. Wontons are like ravioli with a smooth creamy filling, broth is predominantly Chinese with hints of South East Asian herbs. Lamb Ragu pasta is sweet and tender with hints of the Asian subcontinent & Greek flavours. The reuben is a classic & done so well with perfect chips that are well seasoned, crunchy on the outside & fluffy within. Then there are the fritters which are also perfect. They also cater for vegetarians & vegans. I cannot fault this cafe as each experience has been amazing - the food, the atmosphere, the people.

September 2018 Congratulations to one of my favourite cafes for opening for dinner! (Thurs, Fri & Sat)! The vibe is more relaxed & cosy, the food warm, hearty, comforting & so so so delicious. Being a regular I was absolutely so pleasently surprised by the dinner menu - so different to their day menu & even more delicious! The wontons are super crispy & flavourful, olives have been marinated for years & served warm with fluffy house made rustic bread. Salmon rillette is as good as I have had in France. Beef cheeks & lamb shanks have been braised for hours, infused with flavour & falling off the bone. Pasta all house made, silky yet chewy. The sauces are all amazing. Then there are the dessert. Impressive to look at, theatrical & absplutely delicious & indulgent. Wines (& food) soooo reasonably priced. Service friendly & efficient. Could not fault my visit! Made me fall in love with this...

We all know Newtown is a Sydney dining and drinking hot spot. With so much choice, how do you find the gems? We will help you, with this blog post. The place is called Flour Drum, an ecclectic cafe restaurant toward the St Peters end of King street in the mix with some cool boutiques and op shops. A great place to visit to kill a few hours browsing. But you will need some pre, or post browsing sustanance or even a caffeine kick, and Flour Drum is the place to get it.

Newtown is a little different, in a good way and Flour Drum oozes Newtown. A deceptively large dining space, with street side seating as well a two rooms with plenty of seating for dining in. The cafe is uniquely decorated with to a retro Australiana theme, quirky, yet cool.

As you walk past you will be taken in by the sweets displayed in the window, as well as the coat of arms in the form of a Kangaroo and emu statue. This shows that the cafè will not take a backward step. This is also reflected in their progressive cusine including some crazy good versions of an Aussie favourite: the lamington. The 10 layered blackforrest lamington is a must, but be warned - you will need someone to share it with or you will need a few sittings to finish it.

We were visiting with the FCBA crew including Cecelia, famishedduo, pa7ricko and bill.desu. We had a great late lunch that rolled into afternoon tea. I loved the menu scribed on the wall where we were seated, the writing so neat, very impressive. To start we shared the lentil and zucchini fritters, served with an asian style slaw. The texture and flavour was spot on, so light and fluffy.

The emperors omelette was also very nice, again with an asian influence, including Japanese and Thai. An open omelette with different flavour combinations that strangely worked, black rice, sake, dried mango, zucchini, sesame seeds, cherry tomatoes, fresh herbs and Thai onion crisps. An omelette fit for an Emperor.

The mushrooms on toast with poached egg also a tasty breakfast option. We had fun prodding the poached egg trying to create some yolk porn.

A favourite was the house made dumplings with bbq duck, water chesnut, garlic chives and dried wild forrest mushrooms, blitzed to create a flavoursome ravioli style filling with a smooth texture. This served with some fresh egg noodles served in a flavoursome duck and porcini mushroom broth that had done some time.

Then we were onto the sweets that flour drum are famous for: including the aforementioned 10 layer black forest lamington, a tower of decadance, that was not overly sweet. The apple cake, even better than it looked. The sticky date pudding; always a good option. The rocky road another spectacular sweet, perfect to wash down with a coffee...

Environment: There is a variety of different seating areas including an outdoor area surrounded by various different plants which was neat.

Food Quality: I ordered the Zucchini & Lentil Fritters - these didn't have a lot of flavour. it included a salad which hadn't been washed properly. I had to pick out five little gnats (insect commonly found on lettuce) I have soft spot for Banoffee so I had to try the Buttermilk Banoffee pancakes - these were very fluffy and well presented just as they are advertised, I didn't really taste the true Banoffee flavour I'm used to though The flat white had more of a milky flavour with little coffee

Service: The staff seemed dazed and confused about what they should be doing The table was not properly prepared I had to request cutlery The only engagement was to take my order and deliver the food to the table The person making coffee and taking payment (I assumed was a manger) came across as very stressed and yelled at other staff 'come on guys hurry up' he also told some customers that walked in the door, they are too busy to serve them

I think the staff require additional training including learning how to work under pressure.

I hope some of these comments will help with continuous improvement

Overall a below average dining experience. I wouldn't be rushing back or recommending the...