LOCATIONOn the corner of the Pacific Highway and Bruce Street in Crows Nest, in Sydney’s Lower North Shore.
PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIAEvery suburb needs one – a decent cafe/restaurant that turns out big breakfasts, lunches and dinners with a smile and your wallet still in tact. This is what Cafe Belle in Crows Nest does. Don’t expect supremely innovative food or for connoisseurs to throw hats around, but you can bring your friends here without the need to hide behind your menu – the food is tasty and portions are large. Cafe Belle resides within a house, with the dining area divided between three bright rooms. This means that not only is the restaurant larger than it first appears, but that your gathering can find more than one corner to bunker down in and that each will be as bright and happy as your group. So nab one of the tables with patterns louder than a Hawaiian shirt store, gaze at the yellow and mauve walls and begin your selection.
The range of options on the menu is so vast that it might render you speechless. Spanning from cafe-style entrees and snacks to traditional and gourmet pizzas, pastas, risottos, steaks and main meals, Cafe Belle doesn’t mess about with your freedom of choice. You can start with herb bread or, if the yellow walls have inspired you with boldness, opt for garlic prawns. For mains the pizzas take the limelight – there are 36 of them, including three calzones. They range from old favourites like supreme and Hawaiian to “gourmet” selections like “garlic prawn”, “Mongolian lamb” and “smoked salmon”. Of course you can snub the pizzas and order something meatier from the mains or steaks menu – perhaps some barbecue ribs, a veal schnitzel or a T-bone steak? Then again you might just want to nibble on a mezza or seafood plate. Drink your selection down with a soft drink or one of the cocktails.
Agnes Gajewska, April 2010