Petty Cash Cafe, Marrickville

Massive props to Big Brother for letting his sisters wheel him out for brunch within moments of him stepping off a long-haul, overnight, international flight. I think he was so delirious from lack of sleep that he really couldn't say no - even though I'm sure he'd rather have been heading to bed. I knew that we could not go anywhere that required waiting...Big Brother was needing to sit down ASAP.

Marrickville seems to be a suburb on the move in terms of great little cafes with Ground Roasters, Cornersmith  and Vesbar all hitting the 'hood recently.  Petty Cash Cafe has been in the neighbourhood for quite awhile however and somewhere I'd been wanting to try for ages. Luckily it wasn't too busy and we got a seat within about 5 minutes.

The cafe is adorable - I love it! It's quirky (vintage spoon collection anyone) with a retro/rockabilly vibe going on.  I love the mismatched furniture and tableware - both make this little corner of Marrickivlle feel comfortable, homely and cozy.  The place is quite small - only two prams allowed inside at a time...but they do provide blankets so you can take your food across the road to Enmore Park (if we ever have a sunny weekend that is) and picnic.

The Boy and I share a HUGE pot of Chai Tea ($5.00).  It's a pretty good Chai though I forgot to ask for Soy milk which was a bit of a failure on my part.

The menu at Petty Cash is HUGE...with everything tempting the taste buds.  That said, The Boy went straight for his favourite of breakfast choices - The Big Breakfast ($16.90) and this really was BIG!  Free-range eggs, toast, bacon, chipolatas, house-made beans, mushrooms and rosti. Phew - that was a mouthful! Big Sister chose the Petty Cash Breakie ($14.90), a more petite version of the Big Breakfast. 

Left: The Boy's Big Breafkast. Right: Big Sister's Petty Cash Breakfast.

I have to say that everything on the menu looked good to me (homemade brioche ice-cream and chocolate ganche sandwich - OMG, talk about temptation)! Big Brother had his heart set on Pea and Ham Soup but they had just sold out, so he had the Lamb Burger instead.  Paralysed with indecision I um-ed and ah-ed for an eternity, but ended up with a great choice - Rosti with sour cream, smoked salmon and salad ($15.90, and probably healthier than the ice-cream sambo).  I was thrilled that my salad had a generous scattering of flash-fried capers, something I LOVE to death, but you don't really see around that often.

Left: Big Brother's Lamb Sambo. Right: My smoked salmon and rosti salad.

Writing this post has made me really excited to go back to Petty Cash Cafe and try some more of their yummy menu on this days we do our meat shopping at Urban Food Market.  Knowing that you can grab a picnic blanket and sit in the park means you don't need to queue for ages waiting for that most coveted of prizes...a table at an inner-city cafe.

Petty Cash Cafe is at 68 Victoria Road, Marrickville.