The next place I went to was pretty small. If you were sitting at the counter seats by the window and fell backwards, you would hit your head on the other side of the cafe and land heavily on someone else’s table, sending bits of banana bread and broken coffee cup shards everywhere. If you decided to walk down the middle of the place with your arms out wide, you would probably slap a few heads and quickly get crash tackled by someone who had had enough of your jerk-like behaviour. If you wanted to go to this place with more than three of your closest friends…well actually I don’t think that’s physically possible.
The next place this man squeezed into was…
Wedge Espresso
If you’re wondering how thin this place is, have a look at the picture.
Wedge Espresso Interior. Photo by Simon Food Favourites. Simonfoodfavourites.blogspot.com.au
Thankfully with the large open windows on one side, the place doesn’t feel cramped at all so I guess this place is approved by Agoraphobics Anonymous.
Wedge Espresso Menu
I liked the quality of the paper they used for the menu as it had a nice card stock feel and texture. As you can see from the photo, it’s been through many hands and coffee cups before (real or fake, who knows), just look at the clipboard complete with dents, so the heavier paper was certainly required in order to maintain its overall structural integrity. Another bonus point, possibly because USyd is just around the corner and because uni students are notoriously broke, is that everything is cheap. It’s a good place to go if those packets of mie goreng are blocking up the intestines too much, you need to eat a little fancier and Maccas is just not fancy enough.
The Henry with smashed egg, double smoked ham, avocado, gruyere, smoked chipotle mayo, basil and rocket on a panini
The Henry was a filling affair, jam packed with everything you can read on the menu and see in the picture. Whilst a sandwich always draws a fine line between “I’ll pay money for this” and “I could make this at home”, the quality and the number of ingredients in this sandwich elevates it from the latter to the former. Also they put salt on top of the bread, something that I would have never thought of. As you can see, I can be easily impressed. 7.5/10.
Banana Bread with dulce de leche peanut butter and sea salt flakes
Although a mite expensive for some, this banana bread could almost pass as a meal itself and when you coat it with the peanut butter and salt flakes, you instantly forget about the price and wonder why more places don’t serve banana bread like this. I mean banana bread is pretty much established as one of the unhealthiest things you can eat for breakfast anyway so why not go all out and coat it with some more sugar and salt? 9/10. A highly recommended addition to your meal if you can share it or if you’re a lone diner and have the appetite of Molly Schuyler. Seriously, look her up. She ate a 2kg steak and all sides in less than 15 mins and she’s skinnier than me. God Bless America.
Double Smoked Ham Toastie with tomato chutney and cheese
I came back another day because I was suitably impressed by the place and the menu and the price and needing a late afternoon light lunch, I got the toastie. This thing fit the bill perfectly and was suitably parts crispy, cheesy, hammy and chutney. Whilst this was pretty good and worthy of a 7.5/10 (lower the price by a dollar and they’d probably sell out of this stuff), the coffee I got this time wasn’t quite right. Simply put, it was sour. After getting it changed, the next cup of coffee was just as sour so I decided to just let it go. However I did see a guy with the most awesome/terrible haircut getting takeaway and he seemed to like his cup so I’m willing to write it off as a freak of nature, both the coffee and his haircut.
Business in the front, party out the back!
Wedge Espresso squeezed these metrics out:
Three People Group Max: 5/5. Unless you happen to like waiting for the only 4 seater table.
Cheap Menu: 5/5. On price alone, this place is cheaper than most other city and near city locations.
Double Feature: 5/5. Go on a weekend and you can cross the road and go to the Glebe Markets after brunch and stroll through other people’s second hand clothes and home made knick knacks and paddy wacks. There will also be at least one dog though I can’t guarantee that it’ll have a bone.
Dates of visit: 31 May 14 and 5 Jun 14. Times of visit: 11am and 2pm.
Man Goes To Eat 