Newly opened on Devonshire Street is Sly Cafe. Not just another cafe to add to our incredulously long list of Surry Hills cafes, Sly specialises in jaffles and toasties; but with a twist (aahhh); with pairings so delicate in some and flamboyant in others that even the adults would be intrigued.
It was regular Thursday afternoon in all of Sunny Sydney (maybe just a tad too hot for an Autumn's day); seated at one of the few ancient sewing machine retrofitted modern wooden tops; I watched curiously as customers cruise in to a tidal wave of action; with smoking hot deliveries of jaffles, toasties and soups (#saywhat) careening past my nose from the kitchen.
The coffee offers another respite for the tired taste buds. Snow Queen, a special blend made courtesy of Roastworks Coffee Co. in Artarmon, just for Sly, you can't beat that. Robust with complex fruit notes, this made for a Skim Latte ($3.50 for a regular) with a kick.
The menu is a breezy affair, easily navigable and steers the diners straight to the dishes they want. I made a quick leap for the Jamon and Manchego Toastie ($10) whilst my friend fixed her sights on the Porchetta/ applecrack sauce/ fennel Toastie ($10).
The Kingston Milkshake ($7) comes stuffed in a gorgeous mason jar (with a punched out lid on!) with all manner of good things. A luscious thick chocolate milkshake studded with curious bits of crushed up Kingston crackers; this brought me back to my earlier days and my unfortunate interactions with Horlicks (I only discovered I was a borderline lactose-intolerant case much later in life). Comfort foods such as the Kingston Milkshake keeps things snugly familiar.
The toasties arrive swiftly at the table, bathing my senses in lust and the scent of butter. The upscale ham and cheese toastie may have been buttered a little too gregariously, the brown toasts turning a pale shade of yellow; but the medley of manchego cheese with savoury slices of jamon on pressed crisp toast evokes a powerful sensation. Basically, one that entails lots of possessed-like eyeball rolling back action and silent chomping. The porchetta toastie was off-the-charts innovative but fell short with its mismanaged proportion of fillings, too much sweet applecrack sauce to porchetta (which was delicious by the way).
In all honesty, I rarely use the word 'hipster' in my reviews because of its recent mis-use in the raging cafe scene back home in Singapore. But, with interior decor like this (fyi, love the pharmaceutical bottles as lamp shades) and a simple yet extravagant menu of grown up jaffles and toasties, Sly cafe certainly breathes life into the definition of 'hipster'.
SLY
212 Devonshire Street,
Surry Hills
mon-sat 7am - 4pm
Website: facebook.com/SLYSurryHills
mmm slys jaffles are the bomb but now im dying to try that milkshake!
ReplyDeletei know you have a things for milkshakes chocolatesuze. hehe... so up your alley.
DeleteOooohhhh I wanna hit on the milkshake so bad.
ReplyDeleteIrene! Go for it. I assure you that milkshake tends to sore emotions better than a boyfriend would. Hehe
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