14 February 2020

Valentine's Day Romance at Woolies Town Hall Cafe

This year for Valentines Day we venture outside our inner west bubble, head up the escalators and into the Met2 Cafe at Woolworths Town Hall. It's all gravy, jelly and romance.




What is probably the last remaining department store cafeteria in Sydney is the Woolworths Met2 Cafe. It has been up on the second floor for years, morphed many times over but still remains as a place for a cup of tea and scones, a steak and chips or a romantic place for a Valentines Day dinner.


Orange vinyl booths line the L shaped room, twisting around the corner and changing into a vibrant red. Half of the floor is closed off, a shame considering the size of the space and the view out of the large glass windows.


The menu runs the full club style gamut, from fish mornay, pastas, a beef or lamb roast, steak in every cut but wagyu, full breakfast and coffee and a stunning array of dumplings, dimmies and pork buns. The bain-marie-of-love is silent when we visit, but signs for butter chicken give away other food dimensions. It has a tray system which operates more fully at lunch.


We hit the dessert selections early, with only one serving of jelly and custard and lemon roll, we needed to secure our choice before the hungry hoards got away with the best options. We let them sit on the table carefully protected by cling film until we were ready for dessert.


Our dinner selections come cooked fresh from the a la carte menu. Does anything say romance more than a chicken and vegetable filled vol au vent ($14.80), not seen on a trendy menu since 1983 but destined somehow for a comeback. We can feel the revival approaching, Peter Gilmore is concocting one for Bennelong as we write. Chose your four vegetables from the ready prepared choices at the counter, we picked peas, carrots, pumpkin and a mashed potato that looked and tasted like it was made from roasted potatoes. And that wasn't a bad thing.


Also not seen as a counter meal since before Hoges had a facelift is the mixed grill ($15.80). A small piece of steak, chicken fillet and a sausage helpfully pre-cut in half and all smothered in a mushroom gravy. Same vegetables selection, peas and mash mixed into the gravy at the end is a spoonful of goodness.


The orange jelly, custard and cream had to be cut in half to make a fair portion for two. Orange jelly would not be a first choice as a favourite flavour, but the intense orangeness of this one could twist us away from raspberry. Mixing the lemon roll in almost made trifle.


The view from the second floor cafe booth seats are worth fighting off a granny to get.

The Met2 Cafe is at Woolworths, Level 2, 532-540 Corner Park St and George St.

2 comments:

  1. Omg you guys are hilarious. And orange is my favourite fruity flavour, how dare you!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comment joy - please keep your musings happy - if you want to complain about a restaurant please do it on a restaurant review site (or your own blog) - we're all about celebrating cultural diversity and the great eats that come along with it :-)

Our ethics: We pay for all our own meals and travel (though sometimes Mum shouts us).