The General - Eatery and Supplies — Restaurant in Sydney

(4.5 stars) The General - Eatery and Supplies is Dulwich Hill’s most popular cafe. Split into two halves—an eatery and a supply store—with a limited number of sidewalk tables, it was abuzz on the Monday I visited. Despite this, staff seated us quickly with a good view of the open kitchen. Dishes fly across the counter from the capable hands of owners and chefs, Dave Moran and Josh McPhee. They land in the mitts of an efficient floor team who still take the time for a friendly word or two while distributing a thirty-minute-lunch to guests who require one.

The most popular items are burgers and fluffy, American-style corn fritters. I combine the two on a vege burger ($18) with jalapeño poppers, cheese, onion, pickles, chipotle aioli, tomato and great quality lettuce on a pillowy potato bun. It’s a really good burger. The General burger ($18) is equally well-constructed, switching out the fritters for a juicy, house-minced beef patty. The aioli is replaced with a “special” sauce, and the poppers with rashers of maple-cured bacon. It slides down easy against a restorative Bloody Mary ($15) and a shared basket of very compelling shoestring fries ($7).

Amp up flavours by playing with the pair of hot sauces available in their produce store: the green jalapeño hot sauce (salsa picante) is a particularly good one. And finally, if you’re torn between healthy juices and alcohol, The Paradox ($17) has got your back. Combining super green juice with tequila, it’s a pleasant way to disguise your desire for a cocktail on a Monday lunch from the yummy Mummy set busily cooing over each...

Visited the Bar this evening. Good food. Mostly friendly staff but some lack this when they are up against a situation. Whilst trying to place our popcorn chicken on our table the waitress scattered 1/4 of the content over the table. She scooped up those pieces with her hands & placed them back on top of what was left , took them back and advised that we will get a new batch. Within a minute a "new" batch was placed on our table by another waiter. I questioned if this lot were freshly made. He wasn't sure and asked the kitchen. Answer was no, they just left all that was hand scooped and added a little more on top. I was flabbergasted that the mask wearing waiter then asked me what I would like him to do ? This infuriated me that he would even ask. The double standards. It seemed difficult for him to understand my reasoning. When I asked him what he would do, he told me we're different people. Clearly we are. The staff were in clear view going back & forth to the back area where they can be seen behind a large glass panel eating with their hands instead of cutlery and then we are expected to eat food handled by them, because ? They are wearing masks .... But I will clearly state the manager was happy to...

First of all, before anything else, the milk buns deserve a round of applause. Fluffy and soft yet sturdy, their slightly sweet blandness complimented the savoury patty. They held all the yummy contents of the burger together without getting all flat and teeth-sticking squished up like some other burger buns I’ve had.

The cheeseburger was short - a low stack of bun, sauce, cheese, meat, bun - with a good balance between the richness of beef and cheese and the tartness of the Coney Island sauce and pickles.

Being built so close to the plate, it meant the precious juices are more easily captured by the buns (like a strong sponge without breaking up), so you don’t lose juice to the plate. I hadn’t been fully aware of the importance of buns and height until this cheeseburger. Maybe no more towering drippy beef burgers for me!

The chicken royale burger was indeed regal - generous crunchy chunks of juicy well-seasoned thighs stacked like a crown. One of those “when you start, you can’t stop” burger. We will be back for...