In Short: Great location, urban oasis, simple and tasty food, solid coffee offerings.
If you walk the streets of world’s great food cities, you’ll invariably notice a common thread in what makes them great. It’s the way they use the arteries of the city to allow the people to flow through it at an intimate human scale. That means using laneways, alleys, and the like, to breath life into otherwise neglected city spaces. Pulling up a seat at Cabrito Coffee Traders, nestled in one such laneway, can transport you back to treasured café memories in places like Paris, Milan, or Barcelona.
With that euro-cosmopolitian feeling in the air, we nab the last free table in the laneway in front of Cabrito Coffee Traders and just sit for a minute soaking up the eclectic vibe. The lane buzzes with people enjoying not only Cabrito’s fine fare, but that of the other inviting restaurants that line the funky space. Adding to the euro influence, Cabrito’s is located in a heritage style row house with both indoor and outdoor seating.
It’s that time of day when the “suits” come out for a shot of caffinated inspiration, so there’s no time to waste getting our orders in. Today, our focus is on the coffee, so we order up a filter coffee from Kenya called Noocha. Presented in a glass decanter with a delightfully decorated tumbler style cup, the coffee has definite smoky notes that are accented with the ideal level of acidity. It’s a perfect sip for this pleasant Sydney winter’s day and fits right in with the culinary mosaic of this foodie retreat in the heart on the CBD.
From one end of the coffee spectrum, with the filter coffee, we head to the other and see what Cabrito has up its sleeve with a good old cappuccino. A rich and creamy froth greets the lips and is followed by a coffee that will please those who like their caps more on the subtle and milky side.
The superb coffee being slowly nursed, we can’t ignore a light and tasty snack to nibble on between sips. We’re lucky enough to grab one of the last sandwiches to come out of the kitchen for the day, and it’s a matter of “last, but not least…”. The Bresaola chutney dill slaw sandwich is a deceptively simple, yet subtly scrumptious creation that draws in a world of flavours. Layers of thinly sliced cured meat provide a salty contrast to the chutney’s sweetness and freshness of the dill. To bring it all together, delicious, tangy melted cheese oozes throughout the seeded bread sandwich. It all adds up to a perfect accompaniment to our coffee pursuits.
Cabrito Coffee Traders is that café find that makes you want to take your friends to whenever you’re near. Combine the amazing coffee with great food in a space that transports you away from the hectic bustle of the city, and you’ve discovered an oasis for foodies to flock to.
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