Danks Street Depot, 26 Aug 2009

Danks Street Depot is one of those places that I had wanted to visit for over a year but had just not got around to. For my birthday Monsieur Poisson took the day off work so we could eat and spend some time together. It’s funny because he had taken the day off the year previous and we had done much the same. Exactly a year to the day, we had been on the same street but across the road at Fratelli Fresh, after having had brunch at Two Good Eggs in Surry Hills.

This year we start off the day at Jared Ingersoll’s Danks Street Depot instead. Parking is easy to find along Young Street and we wander in around 1pm. The high ceilings are a continuation of the arts block’s design and the open kitchen is very much a part of the dining area. A partition conceals the doors to the bathrooms and creates a narrow ‘hallway’ along which a couple of fridges can be found playing home to cheeses, sausages and deli meats. I spend a little too long on my way back from the ladies’ admiring the contents of said fridges.

We are shown to a table and appear to have just caught the tail end of the lunchtime rush. Monsieur Poisson orders a sparkling mango and orange juice while I go for a blood orange juice. Soon after ordering these, the waitress returns to apologise that they have run out of their usual blood orange juice and asks if I would mind receiving a freshly-squeezed one as a substitute. And being the lovely person that I am, of course I don’t mind! Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve had fresh blood orange juice prior to this and am surprised that it is less bitter than I expect as well as being a lovely shade of muted fuchsia.

As multiple breakfast items reappear on the lunch menu, Monsieur Poisson and I opt to choose one breakfast offering and one that is a bit more lunch. We end up with ‘Creamed eggs with roasted mushroom, roasted tomato and truffle oil’ which contains copious amounts of cream in the eggs than I would care to be made aware of, but it results in an oh-so light and creamy texture which is wonderful with the scattering of snipped chives. The roasted mushroom is large and meaty and this dish is a vegetarian’s delight.

We have also ordered the ‘Zucchini, herb and parmesan fritters with pickled balsamic onions and tomato and cucumber salsa’ with a side of smoked salmon. The fritters contain nubbly bits of zucchini and are not at all oily, but need a sprinkling over of salt as so often zucchini requires. The balsamic onions balance mellow and tart flavours whilst being located under a mound of rocket salad. I end up eating the bulk of the refreshing salsa as Monsieur Poisson doesn’t like cucumber. The side of smoked salmon is not skimped upon and the whole dish looks and tastes like early spring on a plate.

We finish up our lunch with a shared bowl of coffee the size of a bulbous sundae cup and a densely fudgy chocolate brownie studded with walnuts. I spot the dusting of cocoa over the top and, once again, need to remind myself not to inhale as I eat it.

Danks Street Depot

2 Danks St (cnr Young St), Waterloo NSW

Tel: (02) 9698 2201

Opening Hours:  Mon-Wed  7:30am-4pm

Tues-Sat  7:30pm-10pm

Sun  9:30am-3pm

happy eating!