The Tasting Deck — Restaurant in Sydney

A lovely new cafe restaurant at the newly renovated Forestway Fresh store, where not only can you buy your fruit & veg, but a huge selection of cheeses, meats & imported European goodies. Before or after your shop, stop by the stylish, modern cafe for a delicious breakfast or brunch of ricotta hotcakes that's like a hotcake/muffin/cake all in one. Or maybe the perfectly poached eggs with asparagus & hallandaise. Or maybe lunch on the salmon with polenta or grilled halloumi or a delicious woodfired burger straight from the impressive woodfire oven. There is also a selection of ready made salads to have in the cafe or to take home as well as ready made meals and of course a selection of sweets like brownies, cakes, cannoli and more that are perfect with a great coffee. Quality is key here and there is plenty that will please adults and children, who will love the milkshakes, babycino or thick oozy cheese toasties. The staff are super friendly here, especially the boss Pascuale who is gentle, warm, with a smile that is so genuinely welcoming. A large playground for the kids means this cafe is catered for adults & kids equally and everyone can enjoy and relax in such an environment. Great to see such a little gem on the upper...

I have been going to Tasting Deck for years and had always enjoyed the food and the friendly service. Yesterday, however, was a different story. The food was not as good as it used to be and the service non existent. I had booked a table for breakfast earlier in the morning and someone else had booked the table for lunch. The person had arrived early but we were told I an unfriendly manner that we had to leave. This was just as we were going to order more coffee and cake.

The young waitress could have either given the other person a different table as there were plenty available or asked if we minded moving to a different table that had not been reserved. She was so abrupt that we decided to leave and are now looking elsewhere to meet for our regular breakfast catch ups. No service with a smile, thee young waiter looked like he just didn’t want to be there. What has happened...

Had the eggs benedict with smoked salmon and grilled halumi as a side and the hotcake. The hollandaise on the eggs Benny did not have a lot of flavour and I could barely tell I was eating smoked salmon either as it was quite tasteless. The creamed spinach was quite good however and the poached eggs were runny inside and cooked on the outside. The hotcake was pretty tasty and I would recommend that over the eggs benny. The hotcake could have done with a bit more topping and a bit of butter. The worst part of the meal was the cost. Quite expensive for what was a small breakfast. I'd try my luck...