06 July 2013

The Milk Bar By Cafe Ish: Cafe, Redfern (3 Jan 2013)

105 Regent Street, Redfern NSW 2016


Shaking up the neighbourhood

When Cafe Ish was in Surry Hills they were famous for their crab omelette so it's good to see they've kept it on the menu after their relocation to Redfern and renaming. A push for sustainable burgers and shakes seems to now be their passion at a price that won't break the bank. You could opt for the Triple bacon cheese burger or include a Korean style topping with kim chi, chilli paste and pickled daikon but I just tried the basic Cheeseburger ($5) which comes with a beef pattie, cheese, pickles, ketchup and grilled onion. The meat is free range pasture fed, the cheese organic free range and the bun house made. It was smallish but deceptively more filling than expected and pretty tasty. The main thing I was after was to try Ais freaking awesome chicken wings ($13) using free range chicken. It had about three wings cut into nine pieces including wing tips. The vinegar and shallot sauce was very tasty but also very messy due to the abundance of sticky sauce so make sure you have plenty of napkins on hand. A finger bowl would have been handy but don't expect one. BYO moist wipes would be my recommendation. Chef and owner Josh Nicholls has been known to freely speak his mind on twitter and in person so tread lightly and don't poke the bear so to speak.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:
PROS: Reasonably priced menu, Free range meat, eggs, cheese and bacon, Arcade games including Pac-Man, Galaga and Donkey Kong, Lolly jars for a sugar hit, Interesting shakes and sundaes on menu
CONS: Not the easiest area to find parking, Chef's bark is as fierce as his twitter feed
MUST TRY: Ais freaking awesome chicken wings with lots of napkins, The crab omelette (signature dish)
VERDICT: A place to rekindle your child memories of burgers, shakes, arcade games and a lolly bag for the road
Cheeseburger: beef pattie, cheese, pickles, ketchup, grilled onion ($5) — free range pasture fed meat, organic free range cheese, house made buns, small but more filling than expected

Ais freaking awesome chicken wings: basket of free range crisp fried free range chicken wings with vinegar and shallot sauce ($13) — about 3 wings, 9 pieces including wing tips, tasty, best to share, very messy to eat makes it finger licking good
WORTH TRYING :-)









Chef and owner Josh Nicholls
Table setting 
Nice spacious wooden seating and tables at the front 


Old school bag of lollies to be had

Arcade games honour board — I was addicted to Galaga as a kid

Sugar fix assured
Retro jukebox
I bit of wayfinding signage would be handy to the toilet although I'm suspecting it might be that folded over piece of paper on the wall? 
Toilet kept tidy although has seen better days in terms of its style 
I'm suspecting these crates won't be the most comfortable seating for a long stay 


Smack bang in the middle of a major intersection


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Milk Bar By Cafe Ish on Urbanspoon

6 comments:

Christine @ Cooking Crusade said...

I haven't been to The Milk Bar by Cafe Ish before but I have been dyiiing for a visit forever! Have heard so many great things about it. The milkshakes, chicken and burgers sound amazing and such a bargain for $5 for that burger!

Simon Leong said...

hi christine, hope you get to visit one day to try all of it :-)

The Jugernauts said...

I had a great time here. Great burger, stonkingly good milkshakes - and I discovered headguy's twitter which is a hoot. I wish it was open later though - I've been to DOCKS+ARCADIA and this was shut! :( still. I think I'm due for a revisit.

Milktea Eats said...

i loved ai's freakin amazing chicken wings! and the cheeseburgerr is simply to die for!

Michael Shen @ I'm Still Hungry said...

The cheese on that burger...looks like a huge amount of it! I thought it was an egg buried under there for a sec :O

Simon Leong said...

hi roberts, glad you like it

hi amy, chicken wings are the bomb :-)

hi michael, it does look like an egg to me too hehe

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