Appetitie Cafe, Redfern

Earlier in the week the BFF and I met up for lunch in our half way meeting place, Redfern (fancy name “Waterloo”).  

As we’d already been to the one place in Redfern I know about a quick Google search turned up our next haunt, Appetite Café.

To be honest I didn’t have high hopes about this place and expected a dodgy café with fluro lighting and chicko rolls slowly going cold in a bain-marie. I’m not sure why I thought this, but I just felt it in my waters.

How wrong was I? Very!

I was so pleasantly surprised to find a comfortable, retro looking café with wooden floorboards, groovy lighting, great big wooden tables and these amazing retro kitchen chairs that I covet for my own kitchen.  This place is totally laid-back and as unpretentious as they come.

Groovy Baby

As I ooooh and ahhhh about how groovy this place is the BFF rolls his eyes and shuffles me towards a table. 

A quick squizz at the menu and I’m torn between the Love It Burger ($11.90), which comes topped with Blue Cheese - drool) and the Grilled Haloumi Salad ($14.50).  I don’t know what to order as my two cheese loves are vying for my tummy’s attention.

The BFF, proving he is both a Best Friend Forever and my Best Foodie Friend, suggests we get both and go halves.  This is a stellar idea so I hastily agree.  We also agree that a burger without fries is just sad, so add in a side order of herb fries ($6.00) to the mix. 

The burger arrives and we promptly cut it in half and tuck in.  

Where fore art thou Blue Cheese?

The marinated lamb pattie is juicy and the beetroot relish is wonderfully fresh (lucky neither of us drop any on our work clothes). I’m having trouble tasting any blue cheese however and as I pick apart my half of the burger I can’t see any either. The BFF and I come to the conclusion that the blue cheese must be INSIDE the pattie mix. Strange.  

Next up is the HUGE Grilled Haloumi Salad.

Heavenly Haloumi Salad

In retrospect, it’s funny that I actually order this salad as it has quite a few ingredients that I really loathed as a child. Broad beans (blech) and hard boiled eggs (blech) are foods that I think were personally developed by some evil Mary Poppins to make my childhood an eating misery. And of course I came from a household where you couldn’t leave the table until EVERYTHING was gone from the plate. How I hated you broad beans (but not as much as brussel sprouts)!

I’m pleased to report that this salad was a winner. 

The broad beans plump and fresh, not the soggy frozen kind that my mother used to torture me with.  The asparagus was lovely and crisp, and the egg a nice accompaniment to all of the greens on my plate. The haloumi was AWESOME, but that really goes without saying doesn’t it? The walnuts provided a nice crunchy texture to the salad.  

I would definitely want to order this again, however the $14.90 price tag does make me balk a bit as it’s not a cheap lunch option.

When we go up to pay I ask the cook about the blue cheese.  He says he melts a big hunk of it on top of the pattie so it’s obviously quite a strong flavour.  He then looks off into space and says that maybe he forgot to put it on our burger and gives us both a cheeky grin.

Appetite Café is at 82c Regent Street, Redfern (or Waterloo).