Grace Cafe, York St, Sydney

Grace Cafe, York St, Sydney
Monday 19 March, 2007

Don't laugh...for the past 6 weeks my China buddy and I have attended Mandarin lessons every Monday night. We have two more classes to go. This has all been in preparation for an upcoming trip to China.

To psyche ourselves up beforehand we have been catching up at the Grace Cafe. We have been using this time to remind ourselves what we learnt the week before and grab a quick bite to eat. The Grace Hotel is on the way so is a good place to park ourselves.

The Grace Cafe is located on street level on the corner of York & King Sts. The cafe promotional blurb states,

"Experience the newly refurbished, contemporary Grace Café. Enjoy our fresh menu with daily specials in a stress-free dining atmosphere, right in the heart of the CBD."

The decor is simple, clean and accessible and attracts a range of CBD workers, tourists and hotel guests. The staff mean well however they are not on top of things - they are just going through the motions and there is no spark or indication that they are enjoying what they do.

I've sampled a range of food here, usually depending on my mood and have tried a coffee or two and:

- Club Sandwich with chicken, bacon, egg, lettuce and tomato and served with fries $15
- Banana bread $4
- White and dark chocolate charlotte - white velvety chocolate and bittersweet chocolate mousse with jaconde biscuit and orange glaze $9


The Club Sandwich was enormous and made to order. It was absolutely delicious but my eyes were bigger than my belly and I couldn't finish it. The filling was mainly chicken with a lean amount of the other ingredients. The Banana bread was served thick and warm with plastic packets of butter - should have been real butter served in a dish - but it was freshly baked and yum. The White & dark chocolate charlotte was decadent and satisfied my need for chocolate for a month!

The food is reasonably priced for a CBD hotel and has always been good. The cafe is usually half full with suits having meetings and visiting families catching an early dinner.

Grace Cafe - 77 York St, Sydney - (02) 9272 6888

http://www.gracehotel.com.au/