Peakhurst Social Cafe — Restaurant in Sydney

For a business centred around a pavlova cheesecake, Cheatday Sydney sure make a mean burger. Modelled around the fitness (fallacy) that consuming tonnes of calories in a single day can shock your metabolism into action, this cafe is aimed at gym-types taking a break from structured eating programs.

You’ll find it located at what owner George Mavridis calls “the golden triangle” between Mortdale, Oatley and Peakhurst. While this burger joint is deep in suburbia, it faces onto a light industrial area; though Mavridis is quick to admit the local tradies still head to the old-fashioned sandwich shop next door for their burgers. Cheatday Sydney attracts the office worker crowd, plus a mixed bag of locals on weekends, so popular they were recently extended to include Sunday trade.

The Original Cheesecake Pavlova ($14) is based upon the passionfruit cheesecake that George’s mum, Ellie, used to make at home. Her cheesecake spun into a business – Ellie’s Artisan Cheesecakes – and a market stall at the Peakhurst Foodies Markets. By this time, George’s brother (and chef) Angelo Mavridis had made a few modern-day renovations, and the cheesecake pavlova was born. While it definitely has been designed with Instagram in mind, it eats as well as it looks with a surprisingly light texture and plenty of tangy tartness. I'm a fan.

According to George, a café can’t live on cheesecake pavlova alone – even if you throw in a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Pavlova ($14) version (that was way too hectic for me). So when George opened Cheatday Sydney a year and a half ago, he went back to his brother Angelo and together they came up with a range of burgers to round out the menu at the gym-themed space.

The Big Mav ($19.90) – takes on the litigious fast food giant’s Big Mac – with double beef, double cheese, pickles, lettuce and special sauce on a triple layer sesame seed-covered bun. It’s an improvement on the original if you ask me, keeping its shape throughout the eating experience using much less sweet potato buns. You also don’t get that nasty oil-slick the stewed Maccas patties leave on your tongue. Seasoned Fries ($4/add on) are also oil-free, with salty-sweet steak seasoning to keep you reaching for more.

The Big Mav impresses me more than the Philly Cheesesteak Burger ($18.90), though that's not due to any lack of quality. Chef Angelo has opted to include two cuts of high-quality beef – Angus beefsteak and smoked brisket – and kept them thick-cut so you can really taste them. The resulting burger is beefy and smoky; though a bit of a stretch from the original’s thinly sliced rib-eye browned on the grill then laid over with slices of provolone and American cheese. Here they use a Danish harvati cheese that I found a bit bland, making me wish for a chilli-based top note somewhere in the middle of all the green peppers and grilled onions.

With a big coffee window onto Lorraine Street, fuelling up on caffeine is another big part of the Cheatday experience. Mavridis is proud to be serving Little Marionette, roasted in my own Inner West stomping ground. It performs well in a Latte ($3.80) with subtle hints of liquorice. I like it better than the Strawberry Thickshake ($10) served in a shaker bottle, that, for an extra tenner, you can keep. Maybe it's one for...

An amazing menu with very poor service! Good decor and themed interior which is refreshing. They r super busy serving the take away coffee and uber eats but not acknowledging a customer that are waiting in the counter to order. We had to ask someone if they can take our order as no one was communicating and busy doing their thing. The guy at the front seems super angry from the get go also because we wanted to correct our coffee order even when he was serving food. I hope it was a bad day for them but my suggestion would be, acknowledge and communicate to ur customers. If ur busy and will take a while to attend, pls let them know that u will attend shortly. Dont keep working in front of ur customers who is waiting in the counter to order and not say a thing. You have lost me as a repeat customer but i wish u all the best!

Hey @Cheatday.. Thanks for ur reply. fyi, -No one abused ur team but simply asked if we can get someone to take our order after waiting for 8 min in the counter. Dont think, its a crime or a form of abuse to ask to be served -No one is slandering ur business but sharing disgusting experience that we have experienced by choosing ur business. You need to understand how ur service made us feel and hopefully, u get to review ur attitude under pressure and do not to act like this with another customer in future. -No one from ur team mentioned that u r down on team and we will be attended soon. U can not expect ur customers to understand ur staffing issues and keep waiting if you do not...

Very friendly service however the meals we got and the rest of the menu looked very mediocre/average. I got the australian oak burger and at first it looked great but taking a couple of bites into it left me wishing i just went to maccas and got a classic angus meal instead. The onions weren't grilled properly and the pickles were low-grade. Maccas pickles are better.. My friends 'golden eagle' burger was okay. The shoestring fries with seasoning are alright but very lackluster. Cheatday uses the cheapest possible ingredients (besides their meat) and it shows they do like to cheat ;). At least they're consistently average with good service.

I even got their signature cheesecake pavlova, and yes it tasted good (who doesn't like sugar), but the cheesecake underneath the pavlova was so small leaving you with mostly meringue/cream. Furthermore, the strawberry rosewater on the top only had maybe 1 small sized strawberry's worth leaving me with a lust for more cheesecake and fruit instead of a lot of meringue and rosewater jelly flavour in my mouth.

Also the café (if thats what you would call it since its open until 3pm but pretty much has no real cafe food as its all burgers, rolls and sugar) was so small for a rainy day.. there were 2 tables available and both were in-front of the open door that had a strong cold draft blowing at...