Rachel and I went to The Grounds last week and we had a pretty great time, chatting about food and snapping pictures and dreaming up ways we can keep bringing you our take on sydney's food culture through the internet. For more images, check out Rachel's post, and here is my review, and leave a comment to let us know what you think about these reviews and whether you'd like to see more. Bon apetit!
Some places (and people, and things) really are overwhelming. You finally make it there after an epic 30 minute walk during which you are sure you went around in at least two circles and you barely get a moment to stop and take in the place around you before you are thrust right into the madness. Servers rushing around with plates of steaming egg-and-bacon rolls, hoardes - and I really mean hoardes, there was an hours wait for a table at 10.30 in the morning and a good 20 or so people lining up for takeaway - of people peering into the windows of pastries lined up for purchase, from danishes with sour cherries and rich, oozing custard to a distinctly un-breakfast like carrot cake with a potent hit of ginger, and then there are the children. What can you expect with a jumping castle and a wide outdoor "grounds" area with herb bushes and home-made sheds just begging to made into a hide-and-seek battleground. Everywhere you looked something was happening: those beautiful green cups, those doubled-up coffee counters, that open kitchen with the wide granite benches and the coffee roaster and that tantalising view onto your future breakfast, lunch, tea. There simply was too much to see.
I'm saying this not to deter you from going. You should go. Often and regularly and with us, preferably. The madness of The Grounds is all part of the experience. It's the flavour of the month - and rightly so, rightly so - and that means that everything that makes it good (delicious food at incredibly reasonable prices, an impeccably well-designed interior, open spaces, fantastic coffee) also makes it very, very popular. And it should be popular, because it's bloody good. Any place that can render us completely speechless, despite being very hungry and very cold has got to be doing something right. And trust me, between that bacon and egg roll ($7.50 and pretty damn good) and a buzzing atmosphere that is one part coffee, two parts children, three parts unadulterated brilliance, there's not a lot that The Grounds are doing wrong.
The Grounds, 2A Huntley Street, Alexandria
X
You have read this article cooking /
food /
sydney
with the title the grounds. You can bookmark this page URL http://startthefire-cafagesta.blogspot.com/2012/05/the-grounds.html. Thanks!
