If you ever find yourself in the rolling hills of Dural, stop by the lovely Wild Pear Cafe for a surprisingly gourmet feed. Wild Pear is a laidback cafe attached to a nursery, surrounded by huge homesteads and lots of leafy greenery – you could be forgiven for thinking that you were in a rural town outside of Sydney, as the area has a bit of a country vibe. The good news is that you don’t even need to leave Sydney, it’s about an hour’s drive from the CBD and located in the northwest in the Hills District.
Parking is out the back for cafe patrons and the cafe itself is bustling and cosy, with both indoor and outdoor tables, looking onto the rows of plants in the nursery out the back. We’re seated inside on a warm spring’s day and it does get a bit stuffy when they don’t put on the aircon – it would’ve been more pleasant outdoors but all the tables were taken already at noon!
Our lunch takes a while to come out as the cafe filled to capacity quite quickly, but it was worth the wait. The Linguine with Australian king prawns is the standout hit, coated with a well-executed classic sauce of chilli, garlic, parmesan and tomato sugo. There were quite a few succulent prawns thrown in there and overall it was a pretty generous serving size.
Linguine with Australian King Prawns, $25.90
I ordered the Pan Fried Gnocchi which had a similar sauce to the Linguine, but it was more sour as it featured cherry tomatoes with the tomato sugo. The gnocchi were as expected, soft, chewy pillows and lightly panfried with a hint of char, paired protein in the form of king prawns again and some big, salty slices of chorizo.
Pan Fried Gnocchi, $24.90
For a more brunch-like dish, we also ordered the Smoked Salmon Stack, which was light and fresh, with generous amounts of everything – a mound of smoked salmon, lots of avocado, plenty of cucumber and baby leaves, onion, ricotta and aioli all sitting on top of a slice of woodfired bread. There’s also some capers scattered throughout for a sour hit.
Smoked Salmon Stack, $21.90
The prices at Wild Pear Cafe are on par with some city cafes, but in an area where there’s not much choice, Wild Pear Cafe stands out as a nice spot for a weekend lunch and the locals seem to agree.
Wild Pear Cafe
658 Old Northern Road, Dural NSW 2158
Phone:(02) 9651 6600
