Brickfields

I came here once for the coffee and stumbled upon a cake called Persian Love cake. I bought the cake because of its unusual name. It tastes beautiful. It’s moist with a hint of rosewater and some exotic spice, topped with chopped pistachios. The coffee wasn’t bad either!

The fanciest ham and cheese croissant I ever have in Sydney. Great coffee. Cute place. Will be back if I’m in the area again.

I ordered (and ate!) that fruit and walnut sourdough you see in the picture. $ 8 and it’s yours. Actually the menu forgot to mention the honey on it. Wow, honey drizzle! Plus, you’ll notice that I don’t photograph my food very often. I already took a bite when it dawned to me that this could be a worthy addition to Unilocal imagery. Anyway, just mentioning this in case you were wondering if their breads come with a bite off, or if the chef (do chefs actually prepare sandwiches?) might have suddenly felt hungry. While I can’t answer the latter, I can assure you both slices were intact when I got them. Enough slice yarn from this side of the counter.
Coffee is mellow and a bit too soft for my gusto. But for the visually delighted, it did come with a well done free pouring art.
Items on the menu range from $ 4.5 for the sourdough toast or the $ 5 for the ham & cheese croissant to the $ 14 bonito sandwich. Somehow a two digit figure and a sandwich doesn’t mix well with me (most items are in that range). Unless it’s a sandwich that puts all on it that’s humanly possible — while I haven’t seen the bonito, I doubt it’s one of those.
That’s not to say the food isn’t nice and tasty. Fennel had definitely sown the seeds of taste onto my slice, but would I return soon? Probably be a while.

Boy was I sad when I moved out of my flat across from Mecca, only to discover I had
moved right next to their baker, Brickfields! I was baffled by the comments about the rude service. I found the staff to be extremely down to earth, and they always seem to be super cheery and helpful.
The coffee here is amazing. Sorry to all the whingers who want chocolate sprinkles on their caps or watered down milk in their lattes. This place, as is mecca, is serious about their coffee. If i was a barista I wouldn’t want to taint a coffee with those ingredients anyway.
The menu is small and simple, and delicious. I feel the small menu has enabled them to focus on the few items they do make and use higher quality ingredients in them.
The sourdough is seriously addictive, as is the fresh, made in house jam.
The bacon sandwhich was brilliant, and the pastries are seriously addictive.
The stand out was the smoked trout plate. I was nervous at first having trout for breakfast, but this dish was perfect. Fresh ingredients, not oily or fatty or dense that makes you feel sickly full afterwards. The ingredients all worked amazingly together.
A real stand out both food and coffee wise.

I like their coffee, but it is a bit overpriced. The first two times i went there i experienced what everyone else seems to be talking about, the snobbish service. The last time i went though, the girl that took our order was very nice and friendly. The other two that my mate and i had a brief interaction with seemed to have no interest in even glancing at us. Maybe i will try something for jess or the house instead next time… (thanks Pete F.)
Added note: one of the few places in Sydney (from my experience) that not only doesn’t charge to use your card, there is also no minimum amount for cards!

The food and coffee here is really good. Ideal for a quick lunch takeaway sandwich with nutritious ingredients and funky music playing in the background while you wait.

I went twice to this place, trying to figure out the fuss about it. Didn’t like the people who work there I don’t know maybe it wasn’t a good day. Food and coffee about average.

Pretentious twatland, population Brickfields.
That sounded personal. And I’m sorry peeps but that’s just how I feel.
We are surrounded by what you’d easily call hipster café joints (as much as I don’t love using that phrase, it communicates what they are pretty successfully if you don’t read any cynicism into it) and this place really rammed it home what it is that people mean when they DO mean «hipster» as derogatory.
I visited twice before I wrote this review to ensure they weren’t just having a bad day the first time, but nope.
Their food is average (maybe their bread is great? They are a bakery after all, please excuse my un-​thorough review) and over-​priced. Their coffee isn’t good (so I’m told by my bf, I don’t drink coffee and they don’t serve tea — another strike). But my main beef with these guys is the wait-​staffs’ attitude. It’s this etherial cloud of judgement that sneers over you with an apathetic distaste that is really impressive. I really did not feel welcome.
If you want cute guys with beards, chicks with charmingly large glasses and décor that is eclectic and super neato go three blocks away to Something For Jess. Or if you want the chilled out stoner types wearing sexy shirts that are a size too big go to The House. They’re both just a few minutes walk away, they’re both charmingly hipster and the staff are rad and lovely peeps. And that makes them both totally unlike Brickfields.
/​end of angry rant review

Really good coffee but the pastries are the highlight, after all this is a bakery café. The banana bread is hard to go past whilst some of my friends swear by the croissants.

Despite the cold of winter bearing down on us, we sat outside and downed some excellent coffees and breakfast. None of the traditional breakfasts here so don’t look for a scrap of bacon and eggs, however quinoa cereal and muesli did fill to the brim, while others partook of a more traditional croissant filled with cheese and ham. I really liked the service, the fact that it’s a bakery and the coffee; some blankets or heaters for outside in winter would be nice.

Chippendale’s café scene is thriving …
Everywhere you turn there’s a new café boasting the best latte, or a cute street-​side shop discretely hiding the area’s most delicious sourdough. It can be difficult to decipher between which will be worth going to, and which you wish you’d have never entered.
Brickfields is one of those that deserves a visit — if you’re in immediate vicinity, that is.
I definitely didn’t beam at the sights of it’s high ceilings, minimal décor, or all too sterile assembly line of coffee churning and pastry puffing. For a bakery, the open-​air appearance is unique, but my favorite thing about bakeries is the authenticity. Call me old-​fashioned, but I want to smell baked goods and see someone’s hands covered in flour! I don’t want to feel like I’m buying groceries from a shelf, which is what Brickfields makes me feel like I’m doing.
The staff also don’t seem to share the «love» of baked goods that the owners must have. While kind, their lack of enthusiasm for what’s been quoted as the best sourdough in Sydney doesn’t sit well with me. OH. And most recently when I went, the girl who was working was wearing filthy jeans. I’m talking you just came from a four-​day-​festival in the woods filthy. And you’re the one serving our food? Ew.
The coffee, however, is delicious. I wouldn’t rank it among the «best» in Sydney, but if you’re in the area, I’d recommend here or The House. HOWEVER, they DO NOT SELL SKIM — only full cream and soy, which irritated my partner who really doesn’t prefer either. AND there is no chocolate on a cappuccino… Are they trying to re-​write the business?!
While Brickfields is a stand-​out bakery for Chippendale, I can’t say it deserves all the street cred. Stop in if you love soy — steer clear if you’re a skim’er through and through.

I just don’t get it. After three visits I still don’t understand the popularity of this place. Surely being new could only last so long, surely, the long queues, meager menu, and ho-​hum service would put a dint in patronage. Apparently not.
Maybe I’m missing something. After all, Brickfields is a bakery. Maybe it’s all about the bread. Yet the small menu offers limited opportunities to find out. There seems to be sourdough and not much else. The standout of my fig and walnut toast ($ 5) was the syrupy marmalade that accompanied it, while my friend’s poached fruit and muesli ($ 10.50) came with a garnish of pear and not much more.
Perhaps it’s all about appearance. Brickfields looks amazing. It’s open and airy and the crockery gorgeous, except it doesn’t look like a bakery. There are no cabinets overflowing with freshly baked goods; there’s one small display case filled with pre-​sliced and pre-​packaged tarts. What bread they have is stacked up in the window like a display, rather than for sale. The overall effect is a tasteful interpretation of what an ideal bakery should look like, rather than the real thing.
All of this could be forgiven if the service was excellent. I’ve visited three times and each time it’s been brusque to the point of disinterest. Refusing to offer skim milk and non-​soy alternatives never speaks well, especially when the coffees were merely okay. How there could be such a queue with so many staff — not to mention so little for sale — is a bit of a mystery. Again, It’s possible I’m missing something, or maybe it’s just finding it’s feet in straddling the line between pure bakery and bakery-​café, but for now Brickfield’s isn’t worth the effort.

Consistently best coffee in Chippendale for sure!
FYI — no skim, (they only serve organic full cream & soy)… And no choc on top of your cappuccino for you chocolate lovers.
The ham & cheese croissant wouldn’t be something I would usually order but man they use amazing ingredients. The stand out is definitely boiled egg on sourdough with eggplant, tahini and almost like a salsa verde on top, but I cannot remember the exact name they use for it.
Friendly staff, great coffee, delicious food & cold water outta a beer style tap which is kinda funky. I rate this place! Give it a try if you’re in the area!

Hey, Brickfields is open! These guys have been baking on this corner for a while now, but it’s only recently that they’ve turned their operation into a proper café. And it’s delightful.
Before they formally opened it was kind of fun, you could still stop by and grab a loaf, every now and then. Sometimes, walking past here at 4.30 in the afternoon, there’d be some nice chappy standing outside offering bead to everyone that passed. I probably shouldn’t say that, it might breach some kind of health license. Authorities: don’t worry, the bread was f*ing amazing, and some homeless people ate dinner. And they don’t do that any more, now that they’re all proper like.
This site has also been the Mecca Espresso roastery for a while, I think. From what I understand, Brickfields is a collaboration between Paul from Mecca, and Simon from Luxe bakery. Sounds like a damn good combination.
They’ve also figured out that less is more: all you need to do to make a bakery look attractive is put bread in the window. The rest happens through scent. Their breakfast menu is rustic and good quality — sourdough or fig & walnut toast, breakfast plates, croissants, bruschetta, that sort of thing. Baked on site, and in plain view.
They make great use of this high-​ceiling corner space — it’s relatively unadorned, but they have revitalised the old tiles, added some high shelving, and used wooden countertops, wooden outdoor tables, and wooden stools. Actually the stools along the window are worth remarking upon in two sentences: they’re marvellously engineered, but you’d really have to go there to see what I mean.
It’s a fabulous addition to a rather quiet, eccentric part of Chippo. The sourdough is subtle and tasty, and, of course, the coffee does not disappoint. Smooth and creamy, not at all bitter. They don’t do skim — just full cream and soy.
Good job fellas.