Bayswiss, Cnr George & Margaret Sts, Sydney

Bayswiss, George & Margaret Sts, Sydney
Wednesday 1 February, 2006

I love browsing through the homewares on display at Bayswiss. Even though it's sale time at the moment I was surprised at how few bargains were available. I can't say I would think of Bayswiss as a lunch destination or even a coffee spot, especially with the amount of cafes in the city. But, today I caved.

The MetCentre store is divided in parts - product and food. The product spills from the main store into another store just outside. The food is on display within the main store behind a massive counter where you can view the food offerings. There's a wide variety of bread rolls, salads, pastas and curries.

It's survival of the fittest as there is no order to how the staff serve you. Staff just wander down the counter and ask 'can I help anyone?' The first person that steps up and calls out their order wins. I selected the thai chicken rissole with salad. The rissole was placed on a plate and shoved into a microwave. I paid and just stood around waiting for the microwave to finish. Surely, it would have been more efficient to give me a table number and bring it to the table rather than wait around for several minutes at the counter blocking other patrons from ordering. I moved back a little, eyes firmly on the microwave. After several minutes it finished but no-one raced over to retrieve my lunch. I waited, then waited and finally someone, not the person that took my order, took my lunch & placed the salad in a side dish. I stepped up in anticipation.

Plate in hand, the next challenge was to find a table for two. The seating arrangements at Bayswiss are largely big share tables. We found some seats and started to eat. My thai chicken rissole was luke warm but still edible (the prospect of taking it back to be re-heated didn't appeal to me). For the life of me I couldn't taste any chicken, just potato. Anyway, it was pleasant enough and the salad was a nice accompaniment. For $7.50 I wouldn't order it again.
Later on I tried one of their mango surprises (kind of like a mango smoothie but more icy). It was sensational & I would return for this reason alone.

Bayswiss - George & Margaret Sts, Sydney - (02) 92474040

http://www.bayswiss.com.au/index.php