Brickfields, Chippendale

Nestled along busy bustling Cleveland Street you'll find Brickfields - a new(ish) bakery come cafe that has the locals all a tither. It's the joining together of the forces behind Newtown's Luxe Bakery and Mecca Coffee that has people so excited.

I'm not in the mood for coffee on my first visit by the housemade Mint Soda ($5.00 for a small carafe) catches my eye. I'm always interested to see what people are doing with herbs like mint - if I could figure out how to make soda this would be a great use for my balcony garden mint. The mint soda isn't overly sweet - it has a nice freshness to it and tastes very..."natural".

With good bread comes good sandwiches and Brickfields is tuning out nourishing and filling sambos with interesting innards. These sambos are not cheap at $13.00 (or thereabouts) a pop but I guess they are not your boring, run of the mill sangers as the fillings are all something a little bit different to your regular cafe fare .

On my first lunchtime visit I REALLY wanted to try the beef brisket sandwich but it's off the menu so I go for the next best thing, Shultz beef with guyere cheese, pickles and mustard ($13.00). It's a good, tasty sandwich although I'm not sure it's worth $13.00 especially as it's not very...hefty. I'm not actually sure what would justify a $13 sandwich to be honest - if it was served to me by Brad Pitt THEN I'd pay $13! The corned beef is tender and a little salty. I love the sour pickle that helps cut through some of the guilt from consuming layers of rich, oozy guyere cheese. I believe the pickles are made on site which is a big plus. 

On my next visit I decide to try their vegetarian offering, the white bean sandwich with calvero nero, rocket and salsa agresto ($11.00). Again, not a cheap sandwich but I enjoyed this...a lot.  The white bean had been made into a smooth, creamy spread, and the agresto was fantastic - similar to a a pesto with grapes and almonds. What is calvero nero (serious question)?  It looks and tastes a lot like spinach and it had been wilted with a good drizzle of oil. Two thumbs up.

Because I had my sandwich without meat I think it justifies dessert, right? Brickfields front display cabinet is crammed with all sorts of tempting treats by I decide to keep things simple and choose a healthy looking cookie ($3.50). This cookie is super chunky and really moist and is packed with oatmeal, dates, orange, sesame and just one little unhealthy ingredient...big fat choc chips.

Brickfields is at 206 Cleveland St, Chippendale.