Two Chaps, Marrickville – Rating: 18.5/25

Two Chaps

Two Chaps in Marrickville is a great example of a place café that could make regulars out of people who aren’t even from the local area. The menu is broad, the staff are friendly and the vibe is fantastic.

The open kitchen can make for a noisy affair if you’re sitting at the counter like we were but that’s overshadowed by watching the cook. Overall it’s just a fun place to eat.

Flat white

English breakfast

The coffee ($4) is done right. You can have it black single origin ($4) or filtered ($5) as well. It’s strong and superb. Organic raw cacao hot chocolate ($4) and beetroot hot chocolate ($4.50) are obvious signs that you aren’t in Kansas anymore but that’s what being in Marrickville, Erskineville and the surrounding suburbs are about. The teas $4.50) bring you back down to earth again.

Hash browns

Everything on the menu is vegetarian and a lot of dishes are vegan. Enough said because I don’t need to dwell on it. The housemade hash browns ($20) were on the pricey side although they did fill my guest. They’re accompanied by sauteed green beans and rainbow chard and sit on green goddess sauce which, try as it might, was not enough to bring the flavour that this dish (or my guest) needed. While everything was prepared and seasoned well, I think that the sauce needed more punch.

Pulled jackfruit cheeseburger

My first experience with this fruit was in this pulled jackfruit cheeseburger ($21). This rendition of a burger is obviously attempting to mimic a pulled burger burger especially considering that it’s laden with smokey BBQ sauce. It almost makes it and I really did enjoy my meal however I regretted not opting for some of the other dishes as there were some amazing-sounding ones on offer. The soft milk bun, not-yet-melted cheese (a sin in my book), pickled habanero aioli and jackfruit with BBQ sauce made for a very wet burger. The cabbage slaw tried its best to add some fresh crunch but I think that a more solid bun would help tremendously as the flavours worked.

Interior

Front counter of deliciousness

While it might sound as though I didn’t enjoy my meal, I’m just being very critical. The plates offered some great flavours and with a menu that changes frequently, it allows the kitchen (which knows its combinations) to experiment and find out what works. Other dishes I’ll be returning to try include the French toast of croissant loaf with figs, fresh curd, whey caramel and almond brittle ($15), fried rice bowl (biodynamic brown rice stir fried with chilli, ginger, soy, chinese broccoli, snake beans and two fried eggs, $20) and blackcurrant crumpets with grilled peach, fresh cream, Kristen’s buttermilk ricotta, candied pecans and lavender syrup ($20).

Drop in and don’t forget to let me know what you thought!

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