Le Monde is a well regarded cafe in the cafe mecca that is Surry Hills. Its baristas have topped and placed in multiple championships, and the place itself was awarded a 3 Cup Rating as well as the Best Food Cafe Award by the Sydney Good Food Guide in 2011. I’m fours years late to the party, but if my experience was anything to go by, the awards were well deserved.
Given their reputation for quality coffee, I cast aside my usual aversion to drinking coffee past mid morning to try their iced latte ($4.00). This is one of the most enjoyable coffees I’ve had. The flavours are full and round, and such a pleasure to drink (as opposed to being merely fuel to keep one awake).
I ordered the Potato Rosti for lunch, which had smoked salmon, baby spinach, feta, poached egg, hollandaise sauce and pistachio ($16.00).
Rostis are my new favourite thing – they’re like hash browns on crack, ie absolutely delicious. And this was no exception. The poached egg sat atop like a scoop of ice cream and was beautifully runny when cut. I really enjoyed the smoked salmon here – sometimes it can be more flaky and pink like cooked salmon than smoked, but this hit the spot. The pistachios added a pleasant crunch and nuttiness to the dish.
While there’s usually something I’d like left out of a dish or replaced, I could not fault this potato rosti (or the coffee!). Le Monde sure knows what it’s doing.
Le Monde Cafe is located at 83 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010.