Let’s take a trip out west in Sydney for this post. Well, really, I commute out west five a days, so this wasn’t anything special. But there are some special places in Parramatta that we haven’t blogged out. As the up and coming secondary CBD of metropolitan Sydney, Parramatta is increasingly trafficked by office workers looking for their coffee hit or a bit of lunch.
Let’s go to the breakfast stop:
Three Ropes Expresso
- Web: https://www.facebook.com/ThreeRopesEspresso and http://www.threeropes.com.au/
- Address: 10a, Darcy Street, Parramatta (very close to the train station, not on the side of Westfield)
- Open: M – F (7 – 3pm)
- Seating: not that much, a lot outdoor in the alley, so best when it doesn’t rain
Three Ropes Expresso (TRE) has made great use of what is otherwise a rather dodgy alleyway that leads towards Parramatta Library and Town Hall.
It’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do – and they’ve really glammed it up here with some cool street art with crate type chairs/tables next to their coffee bar.
We get there at 9am before D2D has a meeting and there’s quite a few people enjoying their morning coffee or paper out in the open. This guy in red was giving us a few weird looks because we were taking photos, lol.
Here they serve food and coffees. They’ve got things like cookies and cakes etc, as well as some hot food. The foods are written on brown sandwich bags stuck on the top there.
D2D orders a coffee and gozleme for breakfast. I grab a bite or two even though I’ve had breakfast already and it’s quite good – not too oily. They do both takeaway and eat in (or out) for foods.
Next stop, we have lunch at:
Circa Expresso
- Web: http://circaespresso.com.au/
- Address: 21 Wentworth Street, Parramatta
- Open: M-F (7 – 4pm), Sat (8-3pm) – note, kitchen closes at 2pm all days
On the other side of the tracks (the Westfield side) and next to an Indonesian restaurant called Pondok is a garage style cafe called Circa Expresso. It is run by the same guys as Three Ropes Expresso.
And yes, it’s basically a garage that goes far back inside!
You can see some more street art on the wall, plus a guy waiting outside. We’ve come at around 12.30pm and because of the slight rain, the outdoor seats are wet. So there’s a 5-10 min wait for a table for two.
As you can see, Circa Expresso is a specialty tea and coffee cafe. They have a lot of coffee and tea apparatus.
We get seated and given table water and menus quickly. There’s a nice flower and tin of sugar on the table already.
I think ‘garage’ is a good way to explain this place, because that is how it’s decked out. There’s a random assortment of things decorating the walls and ceiling – kind of like what you would find in someone’s garage of collected junk or at a garage sale.
The kitchen is in, and further behind that are even more tables/seats!
After a while our food arrives:
D2D’s salmon dish looks a bit small in this picture but it was actually a regular size. I’m not sure if he was satisfied though, because he was very happy to help me eat half my sandwich, which was really big!
Apple slaw is very yummy! The sourdough was a big hard and with such a large filling for the sandwich, I knew, before I even took a bite, that I would struggle to eat this neatly or finish it.
This was really yummy! But you have stir it and break the ice cream down a bit.
D2D’s iced mocha was “good”. It’s served in a cocktail type glas
On the way out to pay (best to pay at the counter), there’s a tray of pastries. Yum!
It’s refreshing to find more places like this in Parramatta, hidden in alleys and corners, despite there being a massive Westfield in the place.
I think the owners of both places have certainly found a good market here in Parramatta, rather than opening yet another hipster cafe in Surry Hills.
What else is around?
- Sweet Street Bakery – great pies and other pastries
- Lots of other restaurants along Church Street – Thai and Italian cuisines
- Parramatta Park – lots of grass and tracks for cycling and running
A Food Fable 