blackbird cafe

It feels like it was an age ago (and perhaps that's because it was). A party of four, zipping from Eveleigh Markets (where we collected the effervescent Suze) and into the city. A spot in a car park. A walk down Park Street. FFichiban visited an ATM. Suze got distracted by TimTams and disappeared down the aisles. Karen & I chased her and FFichiban couldn't find us. And all of this before we'd even decided where to have lunch.

We were walking down to Cockle Bay, or thereabouts. This much we knew. Because the sole purpose of the trip into the city was waffles. Well, that was my purpose anyway. But a lunch before that (and, for some, a breakfast) was mandatory. Gluten free pastries, apple pie, ice cream & focaccia are nice, but they do not a lunch make. "Maybe we can go to James Squire?" said FFichiban. But we didn't feel like meat. And driving would have precluded the consumption of beery beverages. And so Blackbird it was.

pink lemonade $4

I hadn't been to Blackbird Cafe in, oh, seven years - the last foray being a "dinner date" with a would-be-suitor. Hm. But on arrival, we are offered a selection of tables. And then a selection of drinks. "OH! Pink Lemonade!" I exclaim, to the amusement of the rest. It is ordered with a sheepish grin and served with a raised eyebrow. Nothing too fancy, its just a shot of raspberry cordial in lemonade, but enough to thrill my socks off. I am, after all, a six year old girl in pigtails and a flouncy dress at heart.

fish & chips $19.90

I also order the fish & chips. Two large serves of crispy battered fish arrive on a bed of half-crunchy-half-not-so-much chips. Tartare and lemon accompany the deep fried tangle and I cut the fish open for inspection. "I'm probably going to have Mister Trout for dinner" I had said when deciding on my meal "But he's a pink fish. And this will be white fish. So it's not like I'm having two meals of the same thing. Not really." At this point Suze laughed and yanked a little notebook out from her bag. "You're kinda crazy" she said.

The fish (barramundi) is firm and cooked well. And the serve is too big for me to finish, and half of the second piece of fish is snuck onto FFichiban's plate for him to finish. "Heyyy that wasn't there before" he says, as I look around faux-innocently.

classic caesar salad with cajun prawns $19.90

Karen has ordered a Caesar Salad. With cajun prawns. "Something light" she explains when we all look at her. "A salad?" we were thinking, and our thoughts were duly voiced. But the salad was large and the prawns were spicy. "Oh!" said Karen, after chomping down on the first one "Ahhhhh!" The cheese (which she had forgotten to non-request) was scooped from the salad and dumped on Suze's pizza. "Five cheese pizza!" she exclaimed.

quattro formaggi $22.90 (plus pumpkin)

It had originally been a four cheese pizza. Bocconcini, mozzerella, gorgonzola & ricotta. And then "Can I also have pumpkin on it?" so two and a bit slices of pumpkin, judiciously sliced into quarters had been added. Truth be told, the pumpkin looked a little sad and lonely, and we had expected maybe a scattering of cubed roast pumpkin, but it would do. I had a slice and found it cheesy. And once I got past the cheesy, I found the base dry and nicely textured and the oil a little much by the end of the slice. Suze was happy enough with it, making cheesy pizza strings and grinning as she munched.

fishermans platter $24.90

FFichiban had originally thought to get the fish & chips. But I was ordering that, and so in the interests of different meals, he picked its upsize. A piece of battered barra, prawns, squid & mussels arrived on a plate with chips and two dipping sauces (an aioli and a "ginger sauce" says the menu). It is all, and I mean all, deep fried into golden crunchiness. It's a lot of food for one person if that person is me. And from memory, it is a just-right amount of food for one person if that person is a boy who likes to eat.

So eat we did. And when we were done (and when Suze's Strongbow was down to its final semi-lukewarm drops) we headed off, trying to push the food we'd just eaten aside in our stomachs for just down the windy, windy stairs were waffles.

Blackbird Cafe
Balcony Level, Cockle Bay Wharf
Darling Harbour NSW 2000
ph (02) 9283 7385