"Let's do brunch" at Cafe Ish

Karaage Soft Shell Crab Omelette

A few days ago I came across a tweet by @atablefortwo via RTs about Cafe Ish and Shoot The Chef competition that is part of the Sydney International Food Festival (SIFF) [click here for official website]. When I opened the link and saw the photo of Cafe Ish's take on eggs benedict with soft shell crab... I got really curious. Then by chance when I was checking out the SIFF website, I found the "Let's Do Brunch" promo (weekend only) at Cafe Ish: A$25 for karaage soft shell crab omelette (their specialty), breakfast triffle - yoghurt with native berry compote and muesli, and a cup of wattle macca-cino (another specialty of theirs). Not a bad deal I'd say. Talking to a friend, it turned out that she was planning a trip for this promo on Sunday and so I tagged along.

I set up my alarm for 8am as my friend as sent me an email reminding me of the time and that daylight saving started Sunday 3rd October. Morning came way too quickly as I had a real long day on Oct 2nd doing a charity fundraising for Youth Off The Streets - check out Race For The Youth on facebook if you're interested. Anyway, we got there early and it was raining. I really couldn't wait for the coffee, alas we were waiting for some people.

As we waited, I took out my camera and my friend told me to be careful and ask permission first before taking any picture as the owners are reputedly quite particular about people taking pictures in their cafe. Hmmm... okay.... Anyway, the next time the waitress was there we asked her if it's ok to take picture and she said yes. So that's done, but still I couldn't shake the weird feeling off. Another friend told me at the table that there has been some arguments between the owners and some Sydney bloggers regarding what the bloggers write on their reviews. Another weirdness..., but then the coffee arrived then the food started to arrive and we were busy taking pictures and stuffing our face.

Wattle Macca-cino with tiny cookie

I loved the wattle macca-cino, I drank it just as is with no sugar added. It tasted just right, balanced - just enough sweetness that compliments the solid coffee taste. I loved the cute cookie too. The waitress informed us that the cafe does all you can eat ribs every Wednesday for A$35 and I have a feeling that I will go back. Oh and maybe another visit to try the crab benedict.

The breakfast triffle - yoghurt, muesli and native berries compote

The native berry that was really sour if you eat it as is... interesting experience though

The breakfast triffle was interesting as well, it came with all these weird shaped dried berries that puzzled me at first. That is till my friend told me that the menu said "native berries". I tried eating one of the interesting looking native berries as is and it was really sours. So word of the wise, if you don't like sourness mix it well.

Salt: pink salt, green tea salt and chilli salt

Tasmanian pepper berries - didn't add any as the sauce delivered interesting flavour as is

Close up of the crab omelette - yum

After that, came the most anticipated dish - crab omelette. I couldn't wait to eat it and see if the raves were true. The chilli sauce on top was interesting. When the waitress told us at first that the omelette comes with a special sauce I was thinking Japanese-ish sauce. However, the chilli sauce tasted like Malaysian sambal belacan - chilli with ebi (dried small shrimps) base and then fried to take off the heat. I like the avocado, soft shell crab and shallots combination inside the omelette. It was like eating sushi but have the rice and seaweed replaced with omelette. The sweet and spiciness of the sambal belacan-like sauce went well with the sushi-like omelette. Halfway through the dish, however I started to feel that it was getting too salty. Overall though, I thought it was really creative to use soft shell crab on a breakfast dish.

Cafe Ish

82 Campbell St

Surry Hills, NSW

+61 2 9281 1688

Opening times varies so please contact the cafe directly