Location and Ambience
Palomino Espresso is not the usual ‘hole in the wall’ laneway café, as it’s on the main road but you can walk straight past it as it’s not obvious at all. The establishment’s tables and seats look like recycled wood. One table on the outside looks like an ironing board made of wood. American vintage photos are sparsely dispersed on the wall. The menu is written on a chalkboard. You will hear the buzz of office workers that are churned through this establishment, the up tempo music in the background and the English accents of the wait staff. Once you know what you want from the chalkboard menu, you order and pay at the counter and take a seat…if you can find one. Once you finish, you can just eat and run.
With all CBD establishments like this one, you need to know when to go. Forget about going at 1pm and forget about 10.30am. You won’t get a seat. Also, during peak times, if you do find a seat, it can get a bit noisy, making it a little bit strained to have a good conversation. If you are by yourself then that’s fine.
Food & Coffee
For breakfast, I was toying between Superfood breakkie with quinoa and egg and the Ranch Sambo with scrambled egg, avocado and mayonnaise and bacon (both $13). When I asked whether there was any meat in the superfood breakkie, the waitstaff said “No, its’ vegetarian”. I passed on that one and went for the ‘Ranch Sambo’ – exotic name for what is essentially Palomino Espresso’s version of bacon and eggs on toast.
The ‘Ranch Sambo’ had bacon (not crispy but nicely done with little fat), scrambled eggs and avocado in between two pieces of freshly baked sour dough. The mayonnaise was served on the side, which was good as I like to control my own quantity of mayo. Quite filling and ensured I could skip lunch.
The latte was exceptional. It had it all – the right temperature, milk to coffee ratio, taste not bitter.
The chalkboard menu also does highlight daily specials: bacon and egg pie or spanakopita was on offer when I was there.
Service
Service was good. I waited a little while for my latte only to realise sometime later the girl did not take my order because she had not heard me…probably because of the noise from talkative office workers and the background music. But when the wait staff realised my order wasn’t taken, they served one straightaway.
Overall
A small rustic busy café situated inconspicuously on a main road in the heart of the Sydney CBD. It’s just another great little place to get breakfast, lunch and a cup of coffee. Palomino Espresso, you have a new regular!
Where? 61 York Street, Sydney
Phone? 0414 857 818
Opening? Mon to Fri 7:00 am – 4:00 pm
