Elbow Room Espresso

Oh my god, hang on to your lens-less glasses frames people – Chatswood’s gone hipster!

Serving 5 Senses coffee as well as pastries and organic sourdough from Luxe Bakery, alongside housemade muffins and other treats, Elbow Room is a recent addition to Chatswood’s (to-date, very ordinary) café scene located close to one of Westfield’s entrances. Run by friendly Korean staff, iced water automatically appears on your table and the coffee menu refreshingly offers choices of different blends versus the usual different styles of macchiato, flat white, caffe latte, etc.

The Husband appears to have defected from his usual local coffee choice and has been getting his weekend fix from here instead. Indeed his caffe latte looks excellent with its thin layer of coffee-coloured milk foam, and made that little bit caramel-y with the addition of Raw Goods’ panela for those who take sugar. (I may or may not have tasted a spoonful of the sugar on its own...*ahem*) For those wanting something else the smoothies are good value at $6, served in ample-sized Mason jar mugs, without the usual $7-$8.50 price tag.

I’ve had the Eggs Benedict twice now, both times with smoked salmon though there is also the option of bacon. This is by far the tallest and most sexily-presented Benedict I’ve had – 2 slices of toasted brioche layered with wilted spinach and smoked salmon, topped with 2 perfectly-poached eggs and draped with creamy Hollandaise all for $16.

Husband tried the “Wild mushrooms, rosemary and poached eggs on sourdough toast” to which he added a side of bacon. On the menu it doesn’t sound like anything spectacular but the selection of mushrooms including enoki and oyster varieties impresses us. The bacon is grilled with prominent bar marks and is not at all oily.

I rarely order sweet breakfasts but couldn’t go past the ricotta pancakes on one of our visits, with its mention of “housemade honeycomb ice-cream”. The pancakes aren’t as fluffy as at bills, but you receive a generous serve of thick and fluffy pancakes topped with honeycomb ice-cream AND a chunk of honeycomb. Sour cherries aren’t usually my thing but are the perfect contrast to all the honeycomb sweetness. Sadly, a seasonal change has meant that these pancakes no longer on the menu – I say bring them back, please!

I’d also had my eye on trying the brioche French toast with strawberries prior to their menu change. This has now morphed into “French toast with grilled banana on brioche” served with “house cinnamon ricotta & maple syrup”. It’s eggy and it has berries and it’s brioche and I don’t even like banana but, damn, it’s really good.

All this, from a café with a poky hole-in-the-wall kitchen. in an ultra-commercial area in Chatswood. Who would have guessed?

Elbow Room Espresso

6a Spring St (near cnr Victoria Ave), Chatswood  NSW

Tel: (02) 7900 9833

Opening Hours:  Mon-Thurs  6am-4pm
                        Fri  6am-2pm

                        Sat & Sun  7:30am-4pm

Cake Bake & Sweets Show winner

Thank you to those who took the time to enter this competition. Monsieur Poisson had the pleasure of reading all of your responses and has chosen the following as the lucky winner:

michelle said...

Maccas ice cream cake! I remember in the old days when having a birthday party at Maccas was the cool thing to do. The best part of the party was of course the ice cream cake with all the colourful sprinkles and rainbow flavours. I remember myself and all the kids would scream and jump up and down with excitement when Ronald McDonald brought it out with the sparklers and candles. When it was placed in front of me, all the kids would try and blow the candles out before I did. I remember as I was standing up to slap the kid who blew out my candles, I accidentally knocked over some fries onto the cake. That was when I discovered the wonderful taste of ice cream with fries which I still enjoy today.

12 March 2014 22:56

Michelle, I have sent you an email notifying you as the winner and a National Media representative will be contacting you soon to arrange delivery of your tickets. The Husband has a soft spot for Macca’s soft-serve with fries so chose you as the winner! Congratulations, and I hope you enjoy attending the show.

Thanks once again to Cake Bake & Sweets Show and National Media for the double-pass.

happy eating!