Room Two Ten — Restaurant in Sydney

Looking at the menu in the window I was almost immediately bothered by a waiter asking me if I was just looking. I'm sure he meant well but give us a chance... Greeted and seated and swiftly abandoned before I got a chance to order coffee. Menu and water arrived then abandoned again. Ordered a quick egg bacon roll snack. Waiting I was asked if I had ordered four times by four different waiters. Twenty minutes later still waiting for my quick snack. A waiter noticed and went to look and immediately returned with said roll. How long had it been sitting there waiting to go out? Wasn't particularly hot so a while I guess. Looks to me like the balance is not quite right. Too many FoH and not enough cooks. Coffee is excellent. I had mocha which had good balance of coffee and choc sweetness and a long black which had a fine subtle bitterness so not made too hot. Nice place overall just a shame about the wait. As a local I'll likely give it another go. It might be later than sooner. UPDATE * Impressed that the owner had read and replied to my post I came in for breakfast this morning. Armed with prior experience I didn't let the waiter escape before ordering coffee! Had porridge and full cooked breakfast. All is good in the world when food arrives in good time. Some of the ingredients are locally sourced (the butcher here in Freshie does bloody good bacon) proper bread and local honey. Food was cooked and presented well, nice portion size and good flavours. The caramelised banana porridge is worth every penny. Again the coffee was consistent in its excellence. Lovely family atmosphere with good calm timely service. Not a place, as I have found out, to get a quick snack at lunch time but to sit and have a leisurely meal and soak up the local vibe. Adding to my review today. I'm kind of a regular now and that will remain so as it IS the best coffee and great service that keep me coming back. Today there's a lot of families with kids and the atmosphere I think is good for giving them an fine example of what it is to eat out. The semi confined eating areas allow for kids to be kids without too much angst for the parents. *Another update: A quiet lunch today of salmon and a salad of seeds and pearl cous cous. Very nice healthy modern cuisine with the fish being cooked to within 0.01 of perfect. My compliments to the chef. Having only a little, even miniscule criticism, hardly worth mentioning (but I'm going to anyway!) is I found the salad to be a little under seasoned. Perhaps that's just me and my penchant for over salting my own cookery but in the interest of constructive comments. Consistently though this cafe/restaurant has not disappointed over the last three or four years I have lived locally and the coffee...

It's not often you accidentally stumble across a place that makes you feel like you're at home but that's exactly what happened when I found this local gem almost 3 years ago.

From the moment I walked up to this place, I knew that's where I was going to get my coffee. I had no idea what else they sold, but the open windows and large covered patio seating were calling my name. Without spotting a menu in the window, I popped my head in and asked if I could see a copy. 'Of course!', the host responded with a beam. The staff response to this question is such a good indicator of how you're going to be treated, isn't it?

After being sat in the perfect people watching spot, I ordered simply: a long black, the Market Bowl and Potato Gems (Because life is about balance). The coffee arrived promptly and was full robust flavours with the perfect creme. You could taste the care that was put into it. The food came out next and OH BOY what a treat! The Market Bowl being my healthy option was so full of different textures, colours, and flavours. The turmeric hummus and pickled carrots bright and delicious, the kale cooked perfectly and the sesame dressing tying all the elements together. And the Potato Gems you ask? Legendary. The portion sizes are generous and my eyes were bigger then my stomach, but luckily, they do take away.

The owner is behind the machine almost daily and never forgets a face. His friendliness is infectious, both staff and customers alike can't help but smile when he is around cracking some of the best (or worst) 'dad jokes' you've heard.

It is also the seemingly little things that make the place so lovely. Great music played at that perfect volume where you can still have a conversation without shouting, but can also bop along if you please. Comfortable booth seating with a space for the youngest and the oldest of guests. The weekly quiz from the Sydney Harold that all are encouraged to participate in.

Extra brownie points for being the only fully licensed café in Freshi. They make a wicked Bloody Mary that could cure the nastiest of hangovers and offer a great selection of beer, wine and spirits...

I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone who has any dietary requirements, they were completely inflexible in making a small change to items on their menu to accommodate me. All I wanted was was scramble eggs without dairy in it, was told it wasn't possible. I then suggested it could be swapped for a fried egg instead, which surely takes about as much effort as cooking scrambled. Again I was told they couldn't make any changes to the menu because they were "in a rush." They were a little busy I guess, but it didn't look that bad, also in the end our food came surprisingly quickly. Would have been happy to wait an extra 30 second to get an egg.

Then the cherry on top was that, after changing my order, I asked for them to add avocado to my burger. They served it without. Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised...after all they had said no changes to the menu (though they still tried charging me for it when I...