Brewtown, Newtown

When I first heard that Berkolouw books in Newtown was shutting down I have to say I was more than a little sad. It was a great bookshop in an amazing warehouse type space made even more amazing by the Ramen Bar that was open on the ground floor for a brief period a few years ago.

I am pleased to say that Berkolouw has been replaced by an equally great café, Brewtown.

For me it is the staff that make this place one of my favourite new cafes in Sydney.

Don’t get me wrong, the food is awesome and the coffee is second to none but EVERY SINGLE staff member I have interacted with on my various visits here could easily win an award for the Nicest Person in Sydney. Working in a super-busy café with customers galore streaming in the door all day must be hard work, tiring and frustrating at times. I know I dream of opening a little hole-in-wall café but in reality I just couldn’t do it. I’d be grumpy and tired. Not the crew here…as friendly as can be and they always seem to have a smile on their face.

Recently I paid Brewtown a visit with my buddies Ms Chicken and Mr Shawn – they were busting out of their Street Food world for some proper café fare.

Whilst I waited for them to arrive one of the lovely waiters sat down with my and explained the Cold Brew Coffee method as I was curious about it (which I’ve totally forgotten already - derp). I wasn’t convinced so he offered to get me a sample to try. See! NICE! I have to say this was a great drop – the flavour was quite mild, and nutty with a lovely mellow aftertaste. It is almost like tea with its subtly.

All that aside, I just HAD to have an iced-coffee. Old habits die hard.

Because I'm on a diet (ahem) I decide to try and order something "light n easy" and the poached chicken salad is the perfect order. The salad comes with quinoa and roasted cauliflower that is nutty in flavour and moreishly crunchy. You'll also find some pistachios and ribbons of zucchini hidden in there. All in all a good salad that feels really healthy to eat...so good I've had it twice already.

Ms Chicken decides to have breakfast for lunch, always a good option. I was too busy scoffing my salad to pay attention to the menu but I did notice some delicious looking field mushrooms and crispy polenta sticks on the plate. And of course the perfect, oozy yolk-porn worthy poached egg.

Mr Shawn ordered the veggie burger that he said was pretty good but a bit more of something saucy/juicy on the bun would've been great. Perhaps a beef patty...kidding, kidding!

Because I'm always thinking about what I'm going to eat next  I decide it's prudent to order a cronut for dessert before we're even ready to contemplate what to eat for lunch. It's a wise decision as by the time we're ready for our cronut they've all sold out and ours is the sole cronut in the dessert cabinet...just waiting for us.

I've tried a few Zumbo cronuts and I wasn't a fan of his interpretation of the half doughnut half croissant. It was too oily and I didn't get a sense of the croissant half of things. I am happy to report that the Brewtown cronut is great -- light and fluffy with a great croissant texture and cinnamon doughnut flavour.

Brewtown Newtown is at 6-8 O'Connell Street, Newtown.