Paper Plane Cafe, Parramatta
I admit, I have been sitting on this post for a couple of weeks now. Partly because I didn’t want my secret cafe to be so inundated that I wouldn’t get a seat but also because I wanted to try so many things off their menu which meant multiple visits to Paper Plane Cafe (5/2 Horwood Pl, Parramatta). Open since Feb, the cafe is located opposite the Roxy in the old Ma’Leisia Cafe cafe and isn’t affiliated with the Bondi Paper Planes.
The serve of French Toast ($8), is pretty generous, the 3 slices are fluffy and light and topped with a tangy rhubarb compote, a dollop of creamy french vanilla custard, crushed pistachios and lightly sprinkled with cinnamon and icing sugar. I may have ordered a side of bacon ($2) because it’s bacon week 😛
The Jalapeño Popper Burger ($12) is amazing. The beef patty is flavourful and has the perfect charred edges to super juicy innards ratio. At first I wasn’t sure if I liked the schmear of cream cheese but somehow it went well with the spicy jalapeños stuffed inside with the tomato and lettuce on Brasserie Bread’s brioche bun. The side of ‘bad boys’ turns out to be mega fat, golden potato chips that are ridiculously tasty.
The BIG Brekkie ($16.95) is massive and could probably feed 2 people. Or one hungry Noods. There were fat rashers of bacon and sunny side up eggs on sourdough toast x 2, a whole mountain of sautéed mushrooms, spicy chorizo, grilled tomatoes, hash brown and a pile of rocket in case you needed some greens.
I was having a mad craving for scrambled eggs that day so ordered the Truffled Eggs ($11). The pile of fluffy scrambled eggs were perfect and creamy with just a dash of truffle oil. I loved the juicy mushrooms but had to nick some of Noods’ bacon because well, I don’t feel right eating eggs without any bacon for brekkie… They go hand in hand ya know?
The Paper Plane Burger ($12.90) was a must order the second we spotted it on the menu because it had bacon AND peanut butter! It was a pretty damn tasty burger, I would say it’s very close to my fave burger ever! Our burger came with cheese although the menu didn’t say it had any but I was grateful because I’m of the ‘every burger should have cheese’ faction. It was super juicy, bordering on that uhoh gonna explode ledge but the brioche buns held up their end of the deal and we finished it without burger juices going everywhere.
The Reuben ($14.50) was sadly not my fave of the bunch. The silverside beef was unfortunately not tender and biting into the sandwich resulted in the whole piece escaping from its breadlike hug as I tried to gnaw off a piece. It was a shame because I loved everything else about that sandwich from the crusty rye bread and sliced pickles, to the swiss cheese, sauerkraut and thousand island dressing. Ah wells.
Drinks come in the standard hipster glasses and swirly paper straws. I must be the only one in the world that hates those paper straws because I take forever in drinking and my straw starts melting… But ANYWAYS the freshly squeezed Orange Juice ($5) ticks all my vitamin needs and while the milkshakes take a while to arrive the double espresso and strawberry ($6) are pretty delicious.
The staff are still in their early learning stages so timing can be a bit wonky so don’t go there if you’re in a rush but I’m glad there’s a new addition to the hood that is serving tops food and open for weekends too (kitchen closes 2pm)!
