Review: Bad Manner Cafe, Chatswood

With the multitude of Chinese, Japanese and Malaysian eateries around Chatswood, it’s hard to muster up enthusiasm for something as simple as a neighborhood cafe. Why have a flat white when you can have a kopi o, or an omelette when you can have ramen?

Yet, there are days when you can’t go past simplicity…and for us, this was one morning where K was feeling a little worse for the wear after a big night out. When we walked past the Badmanner Cafe in Chatswood opposite Chatswood Chase, their big signboard of “bacon and egg roll” called to him in his post-drunken haze.

I knew I had to wait for K to finish his first cappuccino before I could even attempt to start a conversation with him – he was just not in the right state! Luckily the rich full-bodied coffee helped to give him a bit of a jumpstart.

With a coffee, the bacon and egg roll was only $8 – a real bargain. Filled with crispy bacon and drippy yolky fried eggs, and offset with a subtle spread of barbecue sauce, the toasted Turkish roll fulfilled K’s need for a semi-greasy recovery breakfast perfectly. Influenced by an occasional grunt of satisfaction, I found myself wishing that I had ordered it myself!

My honey roasted pumpkin chicken salad had the most wonderful blend of flavours and textures. From the saccharine honeyed pumpkin, chilli grilled chicken, and smokey almonds, the salad was definitely kept interesting. If there was to be one complaint, it would be that the rocket and salad leaves were overdressed – almost drenched in some places. Some people might like that, but I found it a bit much.

While we probably won’t go back to Badmanner Cafe for a full meal any time soon, I did note that they stock Brewtown Newtown’s cronuts and cruffins – for the next time I get a cronut craving! I’ll have to get in early though, as they had run out of cruffins by the time we arrived, and only had the regular glazed cronuts left!