[usrlist “Food:4.0” “Price:3.0” “Atmosphere:3.5”]
It’s been a long time since I’ve had to queue up to get in to an eatery and I never imagined myself doing it for a café in Wahroonga, but there I found myself one Friday lunchtime, waiting patiently for a table outside the shabby-chic Butcher’s Block.
The man wrangling the tables was very efficient and polite, and he had us sitting in their garden area within ten minutes. The place oozed North Shore confidence and justly so. This café gets its name from the old butcher shop that ran at this location for many years and as you walk in the place is decked-out with butcher knives, aprons and a large butcher’s block (of course!)
The Butcher’s Block is a very popular, busy, lively place, right in the middle of Wahroonga on Redleaf Avenue. All the action happens up the front of the establishment, where they sell their coffees to the never-ending stream of people coming from or going to the railway station nearby. The kitchen was running flat-out with a good professional hum as we walked past it in to the garden courtyard which is small, modern and surrounded by planter boxes full of herbs, fresh chillies and the occasional flower.
The menu is simply presented on A4 paper, but the contents cover a broad range of options from Wagyu Beef Burger, through to pastas and main meals. Hand-held meals run around $17 and the main meals are in the mid-tweny dollars. Additionally, there are several specials of the days. I elected for the Pulled-Pork Quesadilla and the people with me chose a Peri-Peri Chicken Burger, Wagyu Burger and Spring Salad.
The food is fresh. Very fresh. It arrived quickly and was well presented. The burger came with Monterey Jack Cheese, a good quality burger and the usual burger filling of salad all presented in a shiny fresh bun accompanied by good thick chips. The Peri-Peri Chicken Burger came with a similar presentation and a good taste of Peri-Peri although not too spicy. The salad looked like it had been picked fresh from the ground that day and my Pulled-Pork Quesadilla was soft and tasty. There are choices for the vegetarian, people that want fish and the gluten intolerant but, as its name suggests, this place is for the meat eater. Absolutely delicious.
I found the service to be very professional, efficient and despite the café being completely full, our meals arrived quickly and the service was polite and prompt. The price was a little of the high side, just for lunch, but you get what you pay for. In our case, it was good fresh food, well presented.
