Cafe Sopra, Waterloo Street

This week I am heading out of Surry Hills comfort and into a closeby suburb, Waterloo. It is approximately twenty minutes walk from our place and it is interesting to note the difference in changes from one suburb to another and then another. We move from hipster land to something rough and then to something more new? Waterloo has lot more apartments and new developments. Dank Street itself seems pretty hip as well and is dotted with few nice cafes and bakeries. However, I am keen to check out St. Jude in Redfern next. Have you been?

Anyway, Cafe Sopra is highly recommended by many Sydney twerps and especially by @adamgdunn. It needed no persuasion from him when he asked if we like to head to Cafe Sopra for brunch. It is interesting how this place is set up. It is part of Fratelli Fresh which is a providore that is open to public and also supply to restaurants. Cafe Sopra sits upstairs and most of the fresh produce on the menu (not the meat) can be found around the providore downstairs and at the side of the cafe.

Fratelli Fresh

And more goodies upstairs that is just next to the cafe. I love their selection of pasta and olive oils. Delicious!

Fratelli Fresh

I started the meal with a order of Sopra juice ($6.50). It is a blend of different fruits so it changes everyday. I reckon there was some grapefruit and watermelon and I can’t figure out the rest.

Sopra juice

There was little resistance when @adamgdunn suggested that we shared a plate of moorish arancini. It was easy to keep eating these thin layered crunchy gooey rice balls. It came sprinkled with grated Parmesan, wedges of lemon and a generous dose of aioli.

arancini

Mister seems to be on a one meal diet that day and ordered a very simple but delicious salad of avocado, cherry bocconcini, kumatoes and green leaves. It was refreshing and well balanced. Just a salad but then I really don’t like this sort of salad. Mister likes it but he also have an arancini.

salad of avocado, cherry bocconcini, kumatoes and green leaves

I ordered myself a delicious smoked trout fishcake with soft-boiled eggs and caper mayo. The fishcake was packed with so much flavour. The slight smokiness of the troutand the capers mayo worked a treat. It was perfection to me. I wish food like that and was delighted to find nostalgia flavour in this fishcake. By the way, the egg was perfect and acted as another sauce for the fishcake.

smoked trout fishcake with soft-boiled eggs and caper mayo

Our brunch buddy ordered a very rich mushroom gnocchi. It definitely whetted his poor appetite that he had been suffering from being ill. From afar, the gnocchi looked dense but I tried a small mouthful and thought it was quite beautiful. The simple rich mushroom and sauce worked a treat. Very rich dish and will be perfect in winter.

mushroom gnocchi

Three of us share a tiramisu. Mister liked it, @adamgunn politely said that he liked it and I am ok with it. Maybe I am not fond of the overpowering of the cream. I know it is tiramisu but I wanted slightly more coffee flavour to come through and did not get that. Nice dessert but can be better. Personal preference.

tirimisu

We visited Cafe Sopra again with our friends from Melbourne was in town. They had indulged on Bourke Street Bakery prior to meeting us so we kept lunch quite light again this time. We got one cheese stuffed deep fried zucchini flower to share. The batter was nice and light. Inside was just oozing with three different types of cheeses. It was fatty but awesome. Yes. We ordered just one.

cheese stuffed deep fried zucchini flower

They ordered a simple salad to share. This time it is a little more interesting. Nice oily and fatty pancetta with a salad of greens, figs and soft but mild goat cheese. It was actually really yum! Still a salad though.

pancetta with a salad of greens, figs and soft but mild goat cheese

It was quite a nice and warm day but I decided to go for Osso busco bianca with gremolata and chats. It was still nice and light. The osso busco was rather tender. The sauce was rather sweet and filled with a zesty and herby taste of the gremolata. I wish I was given some bread to mop up the sauce. But I guess with bread, it would have tipped me over. Nice portion size.

Osso busco bianca with gremolata and chats

This time Mister has chosen a dish that is more fulfilling in flavour. He got himself the very simple spaghetti carbonara. It was done the right way and not heavy with cream sauce. The sauce is made from egg yolk and studded throughout with cubes of bacon and nicely chopped parsley. Simple and delicious.

spaghetti carbonara

No indulgence in dessert. Just a order of the infamous banofee pie. Not sure why such an American diner type dessert is served in a rather Italian influenced cafe. It tastes really good though. The level of sweetness was perfect. The base is a little like slice base. Very dense and needed a little strength to break it. The dulce de leche was surprising not too sweet or maybe it is even out by the piped cream. I like this. I like it very much.

banofee pie

I like this place very much. The menu is quite extensive but it serves good and decent food. Little fuss and well balanced. This is the type of food that I like and the type of cafes that I will keep returning. Of course my search does not stop here. I need to find my perfect little cafe with soulful food and delicious coffee. The search continues.