Hyde Park Barracks Cafe

Hyde Park Barracks Cafe

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Posted 2011-11-01 by Samantha Singerfollow
As the Sydney Good Food Month came to an end, I squeezed in one last brunch and Sydney's Hyde Park Barracks.



The cafe here has been around for quite some time and as they also serve high tea, I thought it would be quite pretty and serve a great brunch. Unfortunately not so.

The weather seemed to be holding up but we thought we'd sit inside as it was a little cool. We were taken over to a table in the corner with a white table cloth (the only table in the entire restaurant with a table cloth). Well, we felt quite special. I later lifted the side of the cloth to see that the table was an outdoor table that had been brought inside (hence the need for the table cloth). It seemed we weren't that special after all.

Our vivacious waiter came over and described how the "Let's Do Brunch" menu worked and gave us the option of taking that or choosing from the regular cafe menu. We were here for the special so stuck with it.

The three course brunch consisted of home-made granola, natural yoghurt and poached fruit; eggs three ways: egg, chorizo and roast tomato tart, capsicum, caramelised onion and fetta frittata and ham eggs Benedict; finishing with Belgian chocolate waffles, cherry compote and coconut gelato.

The coffee included was percolated but "real" coffee or champagne could be substituted for $5.

The granola was lovely and light with a creamy yoghurt, served in a big bowl. We polished this off quickly and it was on to course two.



The second course came out on a rectangular plate and was presented beautifully.



My enjoyment of the dish ended there. The tart was flakey with a strange consistency and was dry. The frittata was average - no complaints or praise for it. The eggs benedict looked great and the egg oozed nicely when I sliced into it. However, when I sliced into the muffin, sliding the topping as I moved my knife, it revealed two large spots of mould. This would have been difficult for the chef to miss when assembling the dish.



I called over the waitress who failed to apologise but instead repeatedly told me how she didn't know how this could have happened. I was offered a replacement but had lost my appetite for it after seeing the mould. I was then offered a glass of champagne.

The last course, the Belgian waffles came out quickly and the waffles were a chocolate flavour, thin and quite soggy. The dish was below average but the coconut gelato was nice.



As we waited for the bill, my poor boyfriend, who had eaten the eggs benedict on his own plate before seeing the mould on mine, started to feel quite ill. He soon after ran the bathroom and game back puffy and red in the face. Needless to say, we were not enjoying our experience at the Hyde Park Barracks cafe.

It took a further 10 minutes to finally gain someone's attention for the bill. Notably, no discount was offered despite us sending the dish back and refusing a replacement. Eventually the staff did agree to a 15% discount - but then only took $4 off from the $50 bill.

Has anyone else had a shocking cafe/restaurant experience?

#cafes
#city
#cbd
%wnsydney
170309 - 2023-06-15 06:48:10

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