The Kentish Chef — Restaurant in Sydney

(3.5 stars) With boneless chook tossed through a curry-like blend of cumin, turmeric, bay leaf, ginger, thyme and peppercorns, lengthened with mayonnaise, Coronation chook struck me as something the British would eat on dainty little sandwiches. There’s nothing dainty about The Royal Chook ($20) at The Kentish Chef. Loaded with thick slices of chicken breast, this rendition replaces the sweetness of apricots with a mango and sultana chutney, throws in iceberg lettuce, and serves the lot on thick, white sandwich loaf. Along with sourdough ($8.50/loaf), bread is baked in-house at this new, British-themed bakery in Petersham. It’s also pretty dense, and not the most economical shape if you like slicing it up for toast.

The bakery-cafe’s small range is rounded out by Cornish pasties ($12/each), pork pies ($9.95/each) and very large sausage rolls, all available hot or cold. The pasty is an enjoyable mix of beef, onions and tender cubes of potato and swede encased in a thick crimped shortcrust shell. To enjoy my favourite pieces of British stodge—crumpets and English muffins—you need to eat in.

The O.G. ($15.50) presents a pork sausage patty, American cheese, very crisp bacon and a fried egg with tomato sauce on a sourdough muffin. Crumpets only came with spreads so we opted for The Cure ($18). It places a chilli-dusted 62 degree C. egg on ‘hair of the dog’ toast infused with Guinness alongside good potato röesti and a pork sausage patty. It’s united with a tomato sauce spiked with gochujang and mirin. Cleanskin Coffee Co.’s Saint Blend taken strong in a cappuccino ($5.50) and flat white ($5.50) throws liquorice and dark chocolate. Made on a La Marzocco, it’s consistent across multiple visits, including in an iced latte ($6). It’s certainly nice to see something other than a tobacconist open in this part of the Inner West. Avoid Sundays if you don’t feel like shelling out a 12.5% surcharge on all items, including...

I want to give 5 stars for the food, because it is truly amazing. However, their attitude is towards customers is quite poor. If you publicly state in your window certain trading hours, don’t tell your customers you are closing at a time well before your stated closing time.

Also, how god damn hard is it to provide cutlery for dine in orders! Really amature. I take a 15 minute walk across town to enjoy what are awesome treats, all for it to be let down by the simplest 101 things, like a teaspoon to stir your coffee or a fork to eat your custard slice.

The Paris-Brest is the absolute best though.

UPDATE - 30/09/18

Totally avoid this place at all costs. Have been here at least 5 times since the owners response and no improvement. I had family up from the country on two occasions and again they still close over half an hour before their stated closing time. The French lady is so rude to the customers.

So my advice to anyone considering this place, just take a short walk further up the road to Sweet Belem instead, they at least appreciate their customers.

UPDATE- 17/11/18

So tried again to give these clowns another chance. Arrived at about 13 minutes past 4pm on Thursday 15/11/18... they had been long closed. Even though their sign says closes at 5pm.

Went to Sweet Belem instead. When we walked past on our way back home, they had stuck a new sign up in the window after seeing us take a photo of the trading hours saying 5pm. The new sign says closes 2pm.

Walked past on Friday 16/11/18 at 3:55pm and guess what, they were open but their 2pm close sign was still up.

Can’t really figure out when this place opens and closes as their signs are conflicting. Seems like they have a really bad attitudes towards their customers or potential customers. I would highly recommend avoiding this place, which is a shame because their products are...

This is my local so I buy bread, coffee, and croissants most days and with every sip of coffee or crunch of crusty warm sourdough I feel grateful and lucky to have them. It’s obvious that the ingredients are high quality, and everything is so fresh. The plain croissants are my favourite. Lightly crunchy on the outside, I love to peel away the layers of soft buttery deliciousness to prolong the experience. The chocolate ones are every bit as yum, with high quality chocolate inside. Best if warmed ever so slightly. Even the coffee is great. I’ve lived here over 20 years, and until 27three arrived I wished for them. Good bakeries like theirs are hard to find and they make me proud to live in Petersham. Oh! And I didn’t even mention yet how cute the owners are. I don’t buy from places just because the staff are great, but it does round out a...