Forget the big breakfast or bacon and egg roll. Cafe Baby Finger ditches cookie-cutter menu items in favour of eggplant and charred bush tomato curry and a chicken pot pie that conjures a French countryside bistro.
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In recent times, when a new cafe opens in Sydney, the great drawcard of its vaunted loveliness is heralded by long queues snaking down the footpath. There’s a viral this and a sold-out that and tables are snared like front-row views at the Trevi Fountain. Not so Cafe Baby Finger and it’s all the better for that.
You’ll find it on a corner spot in Camperdown two blocks from Parramatta Road. Three months after opening, the mood is serene and spacious with simple decor, a fine cooling through-breeze and a chef, John Jeong, whose background includes eight years working in French fine-dining restaurants (La Grande Bouffe and Le Bouchon), plus time at Circa Espresso in Parramatta and Two Chaps in Marrickville.
Mixed herbed potato with eggs and garlic labne.Edwina Pickles
He welcomes every customer with a lilting “Helloo” and a menu that – from glazed French toast ladled with plump strawberry coulis, citrus mascarpone and macerated balsamic berries to fried eggplant and charred bush tomato curry topped with a poached egg – is not usual cafe fare.
There’s a salmon potato cake, crunchy, fresh and soft with crispy fennel ribbons and sweet caramelised onion; a fat and tangy prawn focaccia with coriander and aioli; and a chicken, leek and mushroom pot pie that conjures a French countryside bistro with chequered tablecloths.
But we’re in inner-west Sydney, where a man in a pork pie-hat is farewelling Jeong with great praise. “I wouldn’t normally order scrambled eggs, you can just make them at home,” he says. “But here … ”
His voice trails off in admiration.
I get his drift. This is heart-thumpingly good food, simple or fancy. Jeong will make scrambled eggs, if you ask for it. But also excellent sides such as roasted garlic labne, aromatic lemongrass tofu, citrusy celeriac fennel remoulade and some of the best potato skin chips around – salty, dark golden curls you can’t stop eating.
Cured salmon and potato cake. Edwina Pickles
The two most popular dishes are that creamy chicken pot pie (rich, but not too heavy, and topped with a golden pastry lid) and herbed potato with egg, which sounds simple but arrives like a painting. Crunchy, gleamingly dark curry leaves speckled with pale sesame seeds lie atop a swirl of fried egg, which covers roasted potato in black mustard sauce and garlic labne.
Cafe Baby Finger (named after Jeong’s habit of taking photos accidentally featuring his little finger) is also a top destination for anyone with a pram, leashed dog, or just an innate desire for space. There’s more room between tables than most places.
Big band jazz plays through the speakers and Jeong, who bakes his own focaccia, sourdough and brioche, has dotted the room with his favourite cookbooks to leaf through.“People keep asking, where is the bacon and egg roll?” he says. “Where is something like a big breakfast?
“But I don’t want that. I want to keep our own identity. After working in so many places, I have time to experiment with my food. I want to surprise my customers.”
Three more cafes that go beyond traditional menus
Kurumac
An all-day Japanese comfort food pitstop starting with a fluffy dashi omelette topped with rayu chilli and Kewpie on a potato roll, through to the spicy cod roe melt with chilli powder, melted tasty cheese and baby shiso leaves.
107 Addison Road, Marrickville, instagram.com/kurumaccafe
Algorithm
Husband-and-wife team Beryl Leomongga and Baby Angelina Kartiko’s two cafes balance contrasting decor but equally compelling menus. Dip their roasted butternut pumpkin and sweet potato toasted sandwich – heady with ricotta, sage and pecan nuts – into hot honey between sips of specialty coffee.
26-38 Darlinghurst Road, Potts Point and 109 Marrickville Road, Marrickville, instagram.com/algorithmsydney
Ellen
Come for the cracking fish burger – a paper-wrapped tower of hoki, cucumber pickles, mustard seed, lettuce and American cheddar – and stay for the honeycomb espresso, sipped beside a surprisingly secluded tree-lined mound on the cusp of WestConnex.
153/18 Huntley Street, Alexandria, instagram.com/ellen_cafe
Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.
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