Le Comptoir, Annandale – Rating 15.5/25

If you’re hungry and live locally this is a great place to eat. The waiter was friendly and took our orders quickly to ensure our rumbling stomachs were filled promptly. He also took time to talk to as and provided some fun conversations. The tables out the front are located in a draft so we recommend bringing a jumper to keep warm or sit inside during cooler weather.

Skim cappuccino

Flat white

A drinks menu was missing at Le Comptoir however upon asking we were told that we could have anything! We tried the skim cappucino ($?) and flat white ($?) which were made with a Toby’s Estate blend. Both were impressive. The coffee tasted great and was presented well with a friendly smile.

Berry smoothie

Freshly squeezed juices are available but we opted for a berry smoothie ($?). It was pleasing but didn’t blow our socks off. Some more fresh berries would have been good and some strawberries would have complemented the raspberry flavour well. Extra points for the cool glass!

Fruit salad

Le Comptoir is a no frills restaurant that serves the regular breakfast fair. Our table shared a fruit salad ($9) which was served with a side of plain yoghurt. The fruit tasted good, comprising of pear, kiwi fruit, rockmelon and apple. Smaller pieces would have helped us feel less clumsy though as we either had to manouvre them into our mouths or bite them in half first.

Halloumi melt

Halloumi melt with bacon

Two people at our table ordered the halloumi melt ($11), one with a side of bacon ($4). We’re not sure where the ‘melt’ part of the dish comes into play as there wasn’t anything melted on the plate. It was more like an open sandwich with tomato, halloumi, rocket and balasamic vinegar. Three of us ordered halloumi as part of our dishes and we felt it was too salty and overpowered the dish. One guest pointed out that with the variety of halloumi they are using, it should be washed or soaked prior to cooking – this would remove the excess salt. The turkish bread was okay but nowhere near the high standard we are coming to expect of cafes in Sydney. There were good reports of the side order of bacon; non-greasy and tasty the way bacon should be.

Free range poached eggs

Free range eggs ($9) are available poached, scrambled or fried. We opted for sides of spinach and halloumi ($4 each). Another slighly disappointing dish. The presentation was uninspiring and the eggs weren’t cooked quite as well as they could’ve been.

Eggs benedict

The egg benedict ($15) was reasonable but the small amount of hollandaise was disappointing. The eggs needed to be cooked a bit more and we’re unsure whether the tomato was served cold or became cold while it sat on the plate (it was eaten last).

The Annandale village has a thriving cafe culture with many more cafés along Booth Street. This includes one of our old favourites – Bar Sirrocco. We noticed a small garden centre, book store and excellent video store. So no matter what the weather is like, we recommend a stroll around the surrounding streets to help digest that Sunday brunch. Annandale, we’ll be back in the future with our stomachs rumbling!

Taste:
Presentation
Service:
Atmosphere:
Value: