Le Village, Hunters Hill – Rating: 15.5/25

Le Village could be seen as V2.0 of La Grande Bouffe which April and I have reviewed twice before (review 1, review 2) and enjoyed both visits.  While retaining that café, the owners have broadened their sights and brought their French influence to Hunters Hill.  The café that was previously here has been expanded both inside and out.  Because of this, you certainly won’t struggle to find a seat.

I’ll get one thing out of the way straight away and that is the points lost due to the service.  We all found the waitstaff to be quite inefficient – one incorrect coffee, one incorrect dish, a replaced menu item which I’ll get to later, two trips to the counter for things that had been overlooked or simply because of lack of interest in our table and a general feeling of indifference shown towards us.

I was expecting something more polished and a bit more personality or friendliness would have been appreciated.

One incorrect coffee order later and we received our cups.  They were well made  and definitely tasted good.  Cups are $4 and bowls are $5.

The table’s veteran hot chocolate ($4) drinker enjoyed her cup but thought it was a bit small.  As with the coffees, we have had better value cups in our exploits.

Freshly squeezed orange juice ($6) or bottled juice (apple, orange or pineapple, $4) is available.  Our fresh orange was ice cold which is a bonus.

The small but high quality fresh fruit salade ($13) was served with chevre yoghurt on top.  Kiwi, strawberry, peach and blueberries, all of which was fresh and ripe.

The bubble & squeak ($16) is complimented by some fantastic-tasting caramelised onion.  A duck egg is usually served on top although today’s guest preferred a ‘regular’ one.  She enjoyed her dish and saw no need to add the accompanying HP sauce.  The potato was fluffy and well seasoned.

It wouldn’t be breakfast in Sydney without baked eggs ($15) at the table!  Le Village’s version is served in a shallow dish and comes based on a fairly thick sauce.  It’s still liquid enough though and is delectable when scooped up with the toast.  The sauce is full of rich tomato & herbs and some pieces of chorizo add more spice to the affair.  I could have eaten two of these because of the small size but that would have made for a pricey breakfast.

The menu doesn’t say what the Le Village big breakfast ($19) includes so we can dispel the myth!  Eggs done any way, bacon, tomato, beef sausage, mushroom and a small amount of thick fries.  My guest said that everything with his dish was to be expected.  Nothing unique but it was exactly what he was after: big.

Despite the caption, you will notice a distinct lack of avocado in the photo.  One of my guests ordered the poached eggs with avocado, fetta and sourdough toast ($15) but received the scrambled eggs, smoked salmon and capers on sourdough ($15).

No matter… we’ll send it back and they can correct the order.  Then out came the above dish.  I carried it back inside to say that the order was wrong again only to be told that it was indeed correct: when Le Village runs out of avocado, they substitute it with salmon!  I’m sure I don’t need to mention that this is a massive assumption for obvious reasons.  Luckily my guest eats salmon but if she hadn’t, she would have been waiting for at least ten minutes while they prepared her new dish.

Having said this, she thoroughly enjoyed her food, especially the abundance of smooth feta and the perfectly poached eggs.

Our bad experience with the service was not over though.  I went inside to order more coffee because of the lack of interest shown in our table and then back to fetch the bill for our table.  While the services left us feeling neglected, we did enjoy the food.  For the sweet tooth, the waffle with cinnamon butter, chantilly creme and marinated saltanas ($14) or one of the many pastries ($4) will definitely hit the spot.

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Overall Rating: 15.5/25

Website:  http://www.facebook.com/levillagehuntershill
Phone: 0409 994 694
Address: 37 Alexandra Street, Hunters Hill, 2110

Payment Options: CC, EFTPOS, cash