Spoon, fork & Chopsticks: St Malo Bakery & Bean Drinking

You know you’re in love with a place when you keep going back again and again. You tell your friends about it. You even make a time to take them there so you’re certain they get to try all that you’ve been raving about. And where's the joy in good food if it isn’t shared around?

St Malo is an artisan organic bakery situated not in any of the trendy inner city suburbs, but along the cafe strip in Crows Nest. Our first visit saw us enjoying a ‘Club Sandwich’ on toasted sourdough with an unmistakeable chewy crust and which is packed with bacon and easily as big as my face. We also try a ‘Beef Stoganoff pie’ (side salad is an added extra) which leaves us covered in flakes of pastry and marvelling at the tender shreds of beef within.

The husband’s caffe latte is robust and dark but unfortunately my chocolate almond croissant has none of the flakiness of the Stroganoff pie.

Our most recent visit finally gives us a chance to try the ‘Buttermilk panackes’ served with lemon ricotta and raspberry compote as recommended by one little penguin. These fluffy pancakes are great for soaking up the drizzled maple syrup and the light texture is complemented perfectly by the ricotta. The berry compote also scores points with me as I love red berry anything. The husband has the creamy scrambled eggs on toast with a (generous) side of bacon.

Visit number two has us dragging friends along for brunch where all males in attendance order the ‘Breakfast of Kings’ – a generous serving of bacon once again, chopped sausage, tomato, mushrooms, eggs, onion jam and sourdough toast. And despite the early-ish hour of the day, we try the ‘Snickers’ and “Espresso’ shakes – my mind having been on trying the ‘Snickers’ shake since the first visit. While being thinner in consistency than expected, .the ‘Snickers’ shake is obviously peanutty and caramel in flavour. All this balanced by my choice of the ‘Breakfast Salad’ laden with baby spinach leaves, grilled haloumi, bacon bits and topped with a poached egg.

But there is room for more coffee and conversation, so around the corner we go to award-winning Bean Drinking where friends order various coffees from their SLAYER espresso machine and the husband tries the ‘Japanese Syphon’. This coffee has the colour of strong tea and we are instructed to let it rest and cool a little prior to consuming. While the initial taste is of coffee, it intriguingly gives way to an aftertaste of tea and completely confuses the mind and tastebuds! Make sure you try this specialty coffee bar if you’re in the area.

St Malo Bakery

83 Willoughby Rd (btwn Holtermann & Albany St), Crows Nest NSW

Tel: (02) 9906 6256

Opening Hours: Mon CLOSED)

Tues-Fri 7am-4:30pm

Sat & Sun 7am-4pm