The Woods Pantry — Restaurant in Sydney

When you're travelling away from home, it's human nature to think about how great other places have it. "I wish Sydney had this". "That's amazing, Sydney doesn't do it like that". Very true for me too. After my recent trip (if you've been following along on the stories!), I could go on about how Sydney doesn't have spectacular mountain views, metre high al pastor taco spits or dim sum the size of small fists. But while it's easy to make comparisons with rose-coloured travelbug lenses, you can also appreciate backwards at all the great things that make home, home. Sydney really does do great coffee. (I'm not even a coffee-head, but it's really obvious). The cafe culture here is as good as it can probably ever be. What else? You don't have to anxiously choose a tip percentage when paying the bill. That's a big one. And also, how good is our Middle Eastern food here? Thinking about food is a great way to divulge patterns of migration into a certain area, and while we do miss out on abundant Mexican food (duh we're halfway across the world!), the Middle Eastern food we have in Sydney is plentiful and delicious. We're talking manoush, shawarma, falafel, mashawi, kibbeh nayeh... and so much more! You could go more simple than that though and still have a great time. Fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, olives on flatbread with a schmear of labneh. Even better if the bread is fried. How about pomegranate seeds, or grilled halloumi, or sujuk (a spiced beef sausage)? It's no fatteh, but thinking back to my meal at this cafe The Woods Pantry does make me appreciate how I've grown a love for the Middle Eastern taste palette just from growing up in South West Sydney. Shout-out the area. I guess the takeaways for this story are (1) don't take our coffee for granted (2) the next time you look for a cafe, maybe try the cultural brekky instead of your usual avo toast or eggs benny. Most times out of 10, they're a great introduction to a new cuisine you might not have tried before! P.S. the steak sandwich is nice here too 😂 📍 The Woods...

It’s not often I’ve been to Villawood and I ventured out today specifically to visit The Woods Pantry. I didn’t have a car on this day, but it was super close to the train station so that’s perfect for transportation. In an area with entertainment such as rock climbing, Bowling and laser skirmish, it’s the perfect cafe to stop and refuel.

A spacious cafe that receives natural light and there’s also outdoor seating if you want some sunshine.

The cafe owner Hanny is passionate about the cafe and he’s involved in all aspects, working the floor and greeting customers. Staff we’re all lovely, welcoming and extremely efficient, always checking up to see if everything is alright.

Modern Australian cafe/brunch menu with a Lebanese influence, you taste buds will be thanking you for visiting. They also have gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options so you dan pick a dish to suit.

Ancient Grain and super berry granola with Greek Yoghurt, house made compote, fresh fruit and honey. This was a lovely combination of ingredients and will certainly be the perfect choice going into Summer!

We were also keen for an egg dish, so tried the Baked eggs with lindseed sourdough: mild beef sujuk, fire roasted peppers, tomatoes, feta cheese and herbs. These eggs were perfectly cooked and the flavor certainly hit the mark.

Whilst this would be plenty for two, we really also were keen to try the beautiful looking mezza plate. Arriving at our table on a wooden platter, there were small bowls of various ingredients: tomato, cucumber, mushrooms, tzatziki, Lebanese beef sausages, halloumi, olives and pita bread. This is a huge feast and highly recommended to order!

On the drinks menu, grab yourself a shake, smoothie or cup or campos coffee to...

Dine’d in with my 6 girlfriends & had a really great experience. We didn’t have to wait long for a table & were updated regularly during the process, once seated we got our menus & they were so easy to read. 2 chefs specials were at the beginning of the menu & something like that catches my eye immediately. They also partnered with Mr Yum, a company I have worked with before & is a platform I highly recommend to use. So easy to read & pictures were great quality... though there was one item we wanted to see a photo of that wasn’t there but not something I would complain about. I ordered the Salmon Simmit from the specials & the rest of the girls ordered both breakfast & lunch ... from experience in hospitality I understand it is difficult to produce 2 menus at the same time & I believe they did it perfectly. All our food came together & so did our drinks. Campos is great ... I worked with that company previously & their production of coffee was to the tee. Only issue I had was that not even 5 minutes after we received our meals we were asked how it was going & to be honest I hadn’t even touched my meal yet , was uploading a photo to my instagram of the food ... like you do. The Maitre’d was wondering & did check up on us a few times out of his own time instead of our waiter. Jacob was great with us & quite patient even though there was so many of us & was so wonderful ... made the experience all the better.

9/10 experience & I will highly recommend to anyone who’s looking for...