A few months ago, J and I stayed with friends who live in Marrickville, Sydney, and they took us to brunch at a cafe down the road called West Juliett. By the time we go there, around 11am on a Saturday morning, the place was packed and there was already a list at the door for tables. We put our name down and waited. Meanwhile, I had a look inside to find simple decor – timber floorboards and whitewashed walls. It is a wide area filled with tables, cakes and pastries at the front counter (which were nearly all sold out) and plenty of wait staff. The space used to be hold an old corner store which gives it a charming quiet neighbourhood feel.
We were seated outside but found the table far too small for the four of us and for what we were about to order. We started off with 1 litre carafe ($9) of house made soda – the rose, hibiscus and orange peel. I really enjoyed this great summer drink. The rose flavour was dominant and I loved that it was fizzy.
I also ordered the hot chocolate of steamed milk over callebaut chocolate ($4.50). A bit bitter but still very chocolatey.
J ordered the double espresso shake ($8) which he said was pretty average and served in a small glass.
I was the only person in the group to order an actual breakfast item. I couldn’t go past the french toast with vanilla strawberries, ricotta and salted caramel ($16.90). The cafe was super busy both inside and outside so I was expecting at least a half hour wait, but was pleasantly surprised when ALL of our food came out at once in about 20 minutes. This mountain of french toast was placed in front of me. This was made up of four half slices stacked up on top of each other covered in an extremely thick and luscious salted caramel. The french toast alone tasted great. I forgot to ask where they get their bread from but it was good quality thickly cut bread. The salted caramel was THICK. Not a gooey liquid like at most places. This was more of salted caramel cream and there was so much of it! I had to wipe some of it on the edge of the plate as it was a bit too much for me (plus I did not want to think about how much butter was in it). The ricotta on the side was actually sweet too, but lighter than the salted caramel. Together it made one food blogger very happy and a little sick from all the sweetness. I also had the hot chocolate to finish! My bad for ordering a sweet breakfast AND drink.
The two boys ordered the lamb shoulder salad with broccolini, freekeh, burnt chilli, cashews and green goddess ($19.90). They were both really happy with the dish. The lamb shoulder was soft and pulled apart easily.
Another friend ordered the 12 hour pork salad with fennel, sharp cabbage, apple kohl rabi and parmesan ($17.90). She thought the pork was too dry but otherwise, the salad was good.
I was told that hand cut royal blue chips with crisp herbs ($7.90) were a must try at West Juliett so we ordered a bowl of that to share. This came with regular aioli or chilli aioli, so we chose the chilli. The chips were thickly cut and crunchy, seasoned well, and moreish especially with the chilli aioli. Yum!
I found the service at West Juliett friendly and quick, the food came out fast considering it was a busy lunch time period, and we were all satisfied with the food except for the dry pork. The cafe is very busy on weekends but the wait is only about 20 minutes. We found the table very small for 4 people and had to place a few items, such as the bottle of water and salt and pepper shakers on the floor, to fit all the food and drink ordered. As we were seated outside, it wasn’t noisy at all but it does get much louder indoors.
West Juliett is open for breakfast and lunch Mondays to Saturdays. It’s located on 30 Llewellyn Street in Marrickville, NSW.
Foodgasm 8/10
Value for money 7.5/10
Service 8/10
FPJ score 23.5/30
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