Profiled by de Groots MediaA lot has been written about Strangers with Candy, almost all of it good. My experience of it was positive though not excessively so. It is an unfortunate truism that when everything is as it should be, you tend not to notice it. I did not notice the service (much lauded in the Sydney Morning Herald) from which I conclude that it was as it should be: friendly, efficient, non-invasive. The decor was quirky, reminding me of cafes along Glebe Point Road: not new or nice, but clean and comfortable. I can’t pretend a maroon colour scheme does much for the Kepos Street landscape, but it makes the building easy to find, and I suspect it engenders some kind of affection among the residents for their quirky little local.
The coffee was good (this coming from someone who chucks out a takeaway that’s not up to par) although didn’t have me groaning over my cup the way nearby Danks Street Depot does. The comparison ends there, though, because Veronica Stute and Jared Ingersoll are aiming at different targets. Stute’s food has a homemade, comforting element to it. Her house relish is smoky and dark, toast comes country-thick and filling (in stark contrast to Danks’ measly bread-to-egg ratio). Strangers with Candy now opens for dinner so you can see a real extending and flexing of that lunch menu muscle with items like prawn wontons in Asian broth or duck confit with apple and ginger agrodolce. Always make room for dessert at Strangers as you’ll want to sample lemongrass, ginger and chilli pannacotta and meringue with spiced red wine jelly and berries.
Sarah Theeboom