The Grounds Coffee Factory is the newest café and roastery from the team at The Grounds. Located at the South Eveleigh precinct it a very Insta-worthy cafe with a Willy Wonka-esque vibe. Apart from the roastery business they serve breakfast and lunch with some special surprises. But before you go, there are some thing that you should know!
There are some things I wish I had known before going to The Grounds Coffee Factory. The first is that you can book a table there and I definitely recommend doing this to avoid disappointment. The other thing is that the takeaway menu is different from the eat in menu and honestly it sounds a lot better than the eat in menu (eg chicken schnitzel focaccia or a pressed Cubano baguette). Also The Grounds Coffee Factory is only open on Saturdays and is closed Sundays.
Also parking on weekdays at South Eveleigh is going to be a challenge but there is also a dog friendly area. And then last but not least, there's the cake trolley. Make sure to leave room for that.
Sophia and I arrive at The Grounds Coffee Factory at 11:45am on a Wednesday and it is busy. It's a little confusing when you first arrive because the line for a table at the cafe intertmingles with the line for takeaway food but we make our way to the front with a reservation in hand. The space is enormous with high ceilings, tall palm trees and it's absolutely gorgeous. The vibe for the waitstaff and menu is retro chic with a shade of brown and yellow straight from the 1970's. There is a food and drink menu as well as a separate tea and coffee menu.
I'm not usually a big coffee drinker but it seems de rigeur, especially when at a coffee factory. Someone hits a button and coffee beans pass through the tubes above creating a sound that reminds you that it is also a factory (and you can also get a factory tour). I order a Choux Cream which is an espresso with creamy milk, salted caramel syrup, custard cream and rose petals. I figure if I'm going to have coffee, I may as well have the richest sounding one. It doesn't disappoint, it's creamy and sweet and almost a meal in itself. Sophia only drinks tea so she goes for the Seasonal Iced Tea which is a grapefruit tea. The price of this tea is marked as Market Price but don't worry it's not crazy, it's $7 for this tea.
Sophia's fish finger sandwich comes out first. I actually think that this was meant for another table because it literally comes out 5 minutes after we ordered and the waiter mentioned that the food order wouldn't go through until 12pm. As a result the fish could be hotter, it's lukewarm but it's still crunchy and comes on a semi wholewheat bread with cocktail sauce, gem lettuce, pickles, grated parmesan and a bowl of two enormous potato scallops and an extra pot of cocktail sauce. It's nice although I do think switching out the bread for a white would be nice and again, hotter would be better.
We also order a serve of hash browns because we didn't realise that the potato scallops would be so enormous. These are ok although although they're quite soft in the centre. I like hash browns to have a crunch that you can hear.
The night before I lay in bed perusing the menu under my blanket like an absolute goblin. So I knew that I was getting the mortadella and honey focaccia sandwich layered with red onion, pistachio, stracciatella cheese, endive and chilli. This actually went AWOL and we had to ask for a few times for it to come out as we had finished the fish sandwich (we were sharing). It comes with salted potato chips and it was worth the wait because it is divine. The focaccia is really nice and crisp and the filling balances flavours and textures so well. It's also a good sized sandwich as it is a double decker one.
There is a dessert menu including some very retro items like a banana split but these cake trolley is the thing that everyone talks about. They slide open each drawer to reveal a range of cakes, tarts, macarons and a lot of sweets containing coffee.
When presented with so many choices we aren't sure what to choose so we go for the waiter's recommendation of chocolate and hazelnut cake. It comes in a square with moist chocolate cake sandwiched with ganache with hazelnuts on top. It's rich, dense and moist and as expected, a great cake to have with coffee.
So tell me Dear Reader, what do you think of the decor? And are you a tea or coffee drinker?
This meal was independently paid for.
The Grounds Coffee Factory
Bay, 4a/2 Locomotive St, Eveleigh NSW 2015
Open Monday to Saturday 7:30am-4pm
https://thegrounds.com.au/coffee-factory-reservations/
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