The Pigeonhole Cafe occupies a literal pigeonhole of a space off Wattle St, the only tell tale sign being a laser cut metal pigeon poking out from the wall. There’s very little seating, although we manage to find a table at 1pm. Most customers seemed to drop in for takeaway.
They have a permanent menu as well as a specials menu that’s on clip boards hanging from the wall.
I go for the Eggplant Parma Sandwich ($12.00). I love eggplant, I love melty cheese, and I love tomato-y foods, so what’s not to love? Absolutely nothing! Together, it was one tasty sandwich, with the ‘patty’ of thinly sliced and grilled eggplant smothered in melted cheese and tomato relish. Yum!
And with this sandwich, I learned something new: The original (Italian) parmigiana is an eggplant based dish, not, as Australians would have you believe, a chicken or veal schnitzel based dish! According to Wikipedia: ‘Parmigiana is an Italian dish made with a shallow or deep-fried sliced aubergine filling, layered with cheese and tomato sauce, then baked. Parmigiana made with a filling of eggplant (also called aubergine) is the earliest and still unique Italian version.’
The next time I go for the Huevos Rancheros ($14.00). This second visit was a bit disappointing – what I got is not what was described. The eggs were beautifully oozy, the tomato was fresh, and I opted out of sriracha sauce due to my sensitive tongue, but WHERE IS MY TORTILLA?! Unfortunately, I only noticed this afterwards – at the time, I was just thinking it was rather boring food. The sourdough that replaced it was a tad too toasted and the black beans and ricotta cheese didn’t add much flavour to the dish, other than textural mush.
And an Iced Latte ($4.00) to finish off both times. It’s a good coffee, although I’d have appreciated sugar syrup for sweetening rather than brown sugar, which doesn’t dissolve fully in cold liquids.
The tasty sandwich means I’ll have to revisit The Pigeonhole Cafe soon to try out the rest of their menu!
The Pigeonhole Cafe is located at 458 Wattle St, Ultimo NSW 2007.