The Chalkboard Café
The Chalkboard Café is fairly new on the block but a burgeoning customer base and food-centric event nights mean that it won’t be going anywhere soon. It’s becoming more and more common to find not just cafés that serve breakfast, lunch and dinner but also host tasting sittings, event nights, live music as well as provide catering either in-house or at your event.
Chalkboard does all of this and does it well, hence their popularity. Before 10am on the weekend you’re probably safe as far as the crowds go but be prepared for a short wait if it’s a brunch or lunch you’re after. The free undercover parking of the pyd Building can sure reduce some of that stress though!
We seated ourselves and were served immediately with chilled water on arrival. In fact throughout our visit, the service was fantastic – full marks!
Cappuccino
Flat white
The barrista allows the Double Roasters coffee (regular $3.50, large $4) to strut its stuff. As usual with this brand,we enjoyed our cups.
Milkshakes are very reasonable priced at $4.50 and you’ll also find iced coffee ($4.50) and a massive selection of herbal and infused teas ($3.50).
Orange and pineapple juice
‘Gee I wish it was summer’ juice
The fresh juices (small $6, large $7) are available to mix and match as you wish or you can choose one of the recommended combinations (which can include extras such as yoghurt or oats). Some of the blends on offer are breakfast vegie to go (carrot, celery, beetrooy and ginger), nice n smooth (orange, apple strawberries and honey) or the liquid breakfast (orange, apple, yoghurt, oats, berries and honey).
My gee I wish it was summer wasn’t short on ingredients either: mango, pineapple, banana, strawberries, yoghurt and honey. Some of the ingredients were hard to pick out but the overall flavour was enjoyable. While it was smooth, I would have preferred this as a frappe instead of the smoothie it had become.
Brioche French toast
The brioche French toast ($16) arrived as a very generous portion but despite its size, it was also extremely well presented. The brioche melts in your mouth and as my guest had requested, the bacon arrived crispy. The banana was promised to be caramelised which I thought would have meant that it was panfried. Instead it has the sugar crystals sprinkled on top of the banana and then caramelised with a blowtorch. An unusual idea which results in a sweet, crunchy coating!
Chalkboard Benedict with bacon
The ‘hollandaise dishes’ are available with bacon or smoked salmon. Both versions cost $17 and are served on a potato cake with two poached eggs and chive hollandaise. While each person has their different preferences on the consistency and ‘lemonyness’ of hollandaise, this rendition for me was one of the best I have sampled. Not too runny and definitely a flavour that I couldn’t get enough of. I sampled the Chalkboard Benedict with bacon and can highly recommend it.
So yes, you will have a great experience at Chalkboard Café thanks to professional staff, extraordinary food and a delicious cup of coffee… but keep an eye on the Chalkboard website for information on their food and music evenings.
Taste: 
Presentation:
Service:
Atmosphere:
Value:
Overall Rating: 21/25
Website: http://www.thechalkboardcafe.com/
Phone: 9698 2553
Address: pyd Building, 197 Young Street, Waterloo, 2017
Payment Options: Credit card, EFTPOS, cash
Sydney on Sunday 