cavalier 2.0

went here for brunch and we ordered basically everything on the brunch menu to share. best dishes: mac and cheese (we added truffle on top, yum!), beef cheeks, tiramisu french toast and the crab dish. beautiful presentation, great flavours and balance of textures. i also ordered the truffle mocha which was sweet and salty with a hint of truffle (and topped with truffle), i thought it worked really well and it complemented the tiramisu french toast, i loved it!

customer service was also so lovely. will definitely return and recommend to all foodie friends!

i love this place! just like all the reviews below, the signature dish here at cavalier (oldskool newskool salmon) was no surprise to me having been shared on instagram many many times as was the price. however they have just removed it from the menu and made up the new spanner crab brunch as a replacement, which i do like it a lot, but not as much as the old one with salmon and caviar.

the truffles here are so-so, i know i shouldn't say this but i like it better at devon on danks.

cavalier provides much cheaper foods (almost half the price) compared to other fancy cafes, if you don't add extra truffles (+$10). unless it's a mocha or a hot chocolate. you must try them truffle milk!

with only a few tables in this narrow cafe, it’s no wonder our wait for brunch ended up being lunch by the time we were seated! plus it might have had something to do with it being truffle season at the moment..

best coffee and breakfast in crows nest. cant say enough about the  quality of the food. the cold drip coffee is one of the best i've had in sydney.

great coffee, friendly and professional service, and really really nice food. we had a tradie roll and the tiramisu french toast, it was definitely one of the best cafe food we ever had in sydney! small and a quite down to earth deco but has a good vibe to it, doesn't have high chairs which is expected as it's probably not catering for young kids considering its space. however, highly recommend it if you want a nice brunch with great coffee and service in crows nest.

cute small place that seats about 20ppl.

we went on a weekday so we had no issues with being seated.

we ordered the oldskool newskool salmon and english trifle fenchtoast.

the salmon dish is plated very pretty, something you would normally only see in fine dining restaurants. it was nice but not as wow as i had hoped.

the frenchtoast was nice, not to sweet. it looks like a heavy dish but shared between 2 is fine.

i have to say the service was very good.

definitely worth trying.

pretty nice cafe and the coffee is excellent

the salmon with caviar is a bit pricy and nice to look at. however taste wise its not extraordinary and pretty standard

the ham benny is really good though and love the hollandaise sauce

a bit of a long line so come early and service is a bit slow but quite good in terms of politeness

gosh, a tiny place this is. waited 40 min for a table. be sure to 'flag' a staff to put your name down as there is no discernible q, just peeps milling about. wonder why they dont approach new arrivals.

another 30 for breaky. admittedly we ordered quite a lot 😜 after reading how small the portions are from other reviewers, thanks guys 😄. what we ordered was,

(see posted pics)
cheeky jaffle, nothing special but good pressed sandwich 3/5.
sweet potato on rye, add eggs, good quality toasted rye, spread works with the sprinkle of water cress. 3.25/5
2 oldskool salmon, toasted rye was wafer thin, mind you 😆, salmon no more than 50-60g, arranged in semi fine dining manner. standout taste was the beetroot yoghurt, in 5-6 half teaspoon dollops 🤔. 3.25/5
tiramisu french toast. now this is good, the mascarpone cheese, choco n coffee cream with the brioche bun surprisingly doesnt overpower us with its richness or sweetness. marry it with an expresso.. hmm.. 3.75/5
table side brew + expressos. smooth drip coffee (table side brew), a little runny but still ok, probably not worth 10bucks.
rasberry, glazed and cinnamon cronuts 4/5. excellent flaky cronuts! 😃

it is understandable how the order taker would try to upsell, to order say the table side brew ($10 vs $3.5 for expresso) or get customers to add eggs add caviar etc since the joint is small and it is one of the ways to maximize dollars per head. their prices are above average and portions small to begin with, so depending on the size of your stomach and wallet, this can either be a good thing or not so good thing 😏.

worth a visit if you havent been i guess.

the last time i experienced a swanky breakfast was at the grand harbour hotel in hong kong where their inclusive breakfast incredibly included lobster benedict and fluffy french toast with a thin coating of toffee. bring on the view of hong kong harbour as the backdrop and it was pretty hard to top. cavalier comes awfully close.

being a specialist coffee cafe, we were recommended the special brew experience where the waiter would bring out a special variety of single origin beans and describe the product all while being filtered and weighed on a scale at the table. they pride themselves on beans from marvel street coffee roasters from byron bay where its all about the best variety of beans at the time of year over anything else. the rowandan coffee was described as a light coffee with a cherry finish of the back palate perfect for the afternoon. true to form, the coffee served black, was smooth and reflected a cherry aftertaste and something different to your run of the mill bean. 

the signature dish here at cavalier (oldskool newskool salmon) was no surprise to me having been shared on instagram many many times as was the price. a visit was just a matter of time like many sydneysiders who have them on their 'to do list' but figured the expectation was never going to be exceeded after so much has been said about them or this dish. the dish really cannot be faulted as every element had a purpose and so meticulously crafted it tasted as good as it looked. you almost felt that your tastebuds were not ready for such a refined experience at that time of day. there is no doubt this is fine dining material with an insane price to match ($20) but whether it has its place as a regular breakfast item i would go back for is questionable as its not very filling for $20 (yes i sound ungrateful). 

there was a new autumn salad with cous cous garden greens on a bed of white sweet potato puree with some sort of crispy grains to add that crunch contrast. we added an extra of poached chicken and the course was complete.

we sat on the table closest to the opened french doors and really the only complaint was the dreaded fly who wouldn't leave me alone. the service was excellent and the food impeccable. with the well deserved recognition it has earned, i think they should really seek out a bigger and more comfortable establishment to showcase the chefs talent and potential.

cute little cafe with exceptional food. the menu list was limited but the food was good. we both ordered the oldskool newskool salmon. it was a pretty dish and had a range of textures and tastes to it. we had to order an additional dish as we were still hungry after that dish. definitely visit if you're in the area.

just amazing. detailed, delicious food presented beautifully in a simple way. each component of the dish was done meticulously. the coffee was excellent - especially the manual brew. staff were friendly, knowledgable and passionate. a very focused restaurant - please don't change.

9/10. would come again with 1-2 friends/family members, but not more given limited sitting. nb: be prepared to wait for sitting.

ok, so there i am, in crow's nest - i don't work there, i don't live there, so i probs won't find much reason to go back - except for maybe the chia pudding that these guys have on their menu. i ordered this delight and out it comes, with tiny flowers made of joy and fluffy coconut-somethings and actual juicy raspberries. you know when you order a breakfast fruit thing at a cafe and you think, here we go, here comes the soggy rockmelon and apple salad filler and half a red grape. nope. this thing brought tears to my eyes and saliva to my under-tongue area. delicious. i felt the joy of discovery, not unlike howard carter discovering the tomb of tutankhamun. definitely as significant. 

and it was served by a lovely waiter, kind eyes and generous with coffee. i don't know if these guys are new or something, but i wish them all the best. doing great stuff. 

p.s. i took off half a point, for general business-y surroundings which were a bit grim. cafe has an industrial cool vibe but not necessarily where i'd take my besties for weekend breakfast. more of a surprisingly awesome pre-work day brekkie or lunch vibe.

we arrived on sunday morning at 11:15am and asked how long the wait will be - the waiter said she couldn't say. after waiting 40 minutes, we asked again and was told it was at least another 20 minutes because there were 2 groups ahead of us.

the most infuriating thing is the waiter not telling us initially how long the wait might be, nor how many groups were ahead of us. if we had that information, we would not have wasted our time achieving nothing but aiding the hype surrounding this cafe.

we decided to leave since waiting another 20 minutes and another 30 minutes for the food (based on our observations of 2 tables whilst waiting there) - is simply not worth it.

in summary - if you want to wait 1.5 hours before you can eat a brunch at a cafe by all means come - we hear that it is supposed to be good.

i really enjoy coming to this nook of a cafe. nestled near the sports centre, being willoughby rd, the food is absolutely fantastic. the cafe has this newtown industrial feel to it. that small, innocuous, dining place where you only know about it through word of mouth. the stuff they serve and the price they charge for it, it's incredible. though it is a little far from where i live but it's worth the drive over the bridge.
the coffee, oh the coffee! this place is the bomb for their coffee. big shout out to alberto, the awesome barista who makes the coffee there! he really knows his coffee and is always enthusiastic about it.
so worth the drive for a weekend brunch. highly recommend it!

great little hole-in-the-wall with an amazing approach to breakfast! loved my cured salmon with caviar and poached eggs (with some colorful and textural trimmings) and the coffee and service was great! highly recommend!