Vesbar Espresso, Marrickville

Following on from our fun brunch trip to Cornersmith in Marrickville last time, we headed back one Sunday to try another trendy cafe called Vesbar Espresso on the recommendation of my friend. It’s easy to find since its close to the train station, but is a bit cramped for bigger groups as the cafe only has some small tables inside. Luckily there are some bigger tables outside on the sidewalk where we decide to sit. In terms of decor, the walls of the cafe have colourful graffiti including a street art interpretation of the Colosseum in a nod to its Italian menu to give it some edginess.

It also has some interesting items on its menu which I haven’t seen before – like the Freddo  Cappuccino which is listed under Vesbar’s European Frappes category on the menu. It’s not your typical iced coffee – served in a tall, slender glass with expertly created layers starting with foam at the top, followed by a shot of Campos coffee and lastly a clear layer of sugar syrup. Our waiter kindly instructed us to stir it up to get maximum satisfaction from the drink. Once the layers were combined you were left with a wonderful, perfectly chilled coffee without too much dilution of the flavour from melting ice cubes. Genius.

Freddo Cappuccino, $5

Luckily for the boy, Vesbar serves up breakfast until 3pm so even though we were having a late lunch he could still indulge in their Salmon Benedict from the breakfast menu. The two poached eggs weren’t as runny as he would’ve liked them to be, but this was made up by the ultra fresh Norwegian salmon used in the dish. They were generous in the amount of hollandaise sauce for the Benedict, and on the first bite I found that it was more sour than other hollandaise sauces I’ve had before but it was quite refreshingly zesty after awhile and kept the dish tasty.

Salmon Benedict, $16

DK and I had opted for the burgers instead as we were feeling particularly ravenous after a run and we were not let down by their Italian Beef and Chicken Burgers. Both were served on the now standard wooden boards that are commonly seen in Sydney cafes these days, but we were surprised to see a small mound of crinkle cut potato chips (yes the ones from a foil packet!) on each of the boards too. Not that this was a bad thing – the original flavoured chips provided a welcome crunch to complement the juicy burgers and there was also a small bowl of coleslaw to balance out all the oil. I enjoyed the flavours of both the Beef and the Chicken Burgers, and loved the sweet brioche bun used for both burgers. The delicious Beef Burger had come with provolone cheese, crispy bacon and spicy tomato relish which gave it a good hit of flavour and I also really liked the spicy mayo in the Chicken Burger which was served with rocket and avocado. As both burgers were crammed full of meat, vegies and sauce, they were quite messy to eat but that is pretty inevitable with gourmet burgers these days anyway.

Italian Beef Burger, $14

Italian Chicken Burger, $14

There was more to come even after I polished off as much of the Beef Burger as I could, with our local friend coming by and deciding that we needed to try the Nutella Donut. She was very right – it was a glorious little ball of Nutella goodness both inside and out, sprinkled with sugar and oozing ribbons of melty hazelnut sauce when sliced open. Needless to say, it was a guilty indulgence which capped off a lovely afternoon of good food and company. We will be back for more.

Nutella Donut, $4

Vesbar Espresso
1 Warburton Street, Marrickville, NSW 2204
Phone: (02) 9558 2642

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