Le Monde Cafe, Surry Hills

Brunch with an Asian twist

Located 83 Foveaux St, Surry Hills NSW 2010

Le Monde Cafe is conveniently located near Central station. It is a small and quaint cafe, quite unassuming in its appearance, especially with respect to its location almost immediately adjacent to a construction site. The interior is furnished in a vein similar to other cafes. Its menu is rather simplistic, but quite elegant in its execution, with very interesting Asian twists on a number of its breakfast, brunch and lunch items. The present owners, of Vietnamese extraction, have really brought new life into a cafe that has been around for over a decade.

As we were seated, we decided to order from Le Monde Cafe’s signature dish menu — what better way to measure a cafe by its most boastful dishes. Unfortunately, it didn’t occur to us to order the Vietnamese style coffee — a highly reputable style of coffee with the smoothness and sweetness of condensed milk. Regardless, the latte that we ordered was still good, and not too bitter (again, a rather Asian style of serving coffee). The Detox Juice was very nice too; the kale and celery made for an interesting combination, because kale doesn’t really have a strong flavour whilst celery does. Interestingly, they were both drowned out by the cucumber and lime, the latter which provided a strong hit of acidity to the drink. Overall, incredibly refreshing.

The Confit Pork Belly was fantastic — easily one of the best pork belly dishes that we have tasted in a cafe in Sydney. The portion size was very reasonable for its price. The pork belly came apart at its seams: a sign of great pork belly which has been cooked slowly and carefully for a very long time. The Asian influence was very strong here, and the rest of the components of the dish provided a stark contrast with their more Australian roots — in particular, the beetroot puree was smooth and sweet, and really shone as an active contrast to the pork belly. We only wish that there was more of the puree — it was just so good! The toast, eggs, pickles and avo really completed it as a breakfast dish, but really, the pork belly was the undisputed star on the plate.

“Le Monde Cafe’s offerings are interesting, presenting traditional brunch dishes with an Asian twist.”

The Matcha Hot Cake with Mascarpone cream, fresh fruits, toasted grains & coconut espresso was yet another breakfast dish with a heavy Asian influence. The mascarpone cream helped to bring out the sweetness of the fresh fruits. There was a kind of ordered chaos on the plate, with a number of pretty neat creative decisions made in the cakes. It just didn’t occur to us that a “hot” cake would be combined with fruits and cream — traditionally served cold, but ended up being pretty cool! The most surprising element was the coconut espresso, which gave it a hidden punch. It was good to have the additional bitterness on top of matcha, which is also typically quite bitter in large amounts, which all paired very well with rest of the dish’s sweetness.