A neat little cafe, Tucked away into the back streets of north ryde. 

food was decently priced + some nice different dishes on the menu compared to other standard cafes 

the corn fritters are a must try, there coated in this amazing crunchy cereal 

the coffee is on point all the time, always a great standard set by the barista & owner Peter 

Would definitely recommend as the location is tranquil and quiet.

These guys could have easily scored higher if it wasn’t for their haphazard service. I love what they’re going for – no nonsense, hearty, well priced food. A lot of familiar dishes done the Fox and Bird way, making it a great place for breakfast. They do also have a couple of “trendy” dishes such as the Gangnam Style burger, but I do think this was more because the owner appeared to be Korean rather than to fit in with all the fusion creations cafes seem to be coming up with these days.

We ordered the Peggy Sager ($15) and shakshuka ($16) and both were delicious. A little similar tasting but good nonetheless. And the portions were perfect! After some long thought I think I can conclude breakfast is my favourite meal of the day, so to be fed well AND until you’re full without breaking the bank, are huge pluses in my eyes. I can muster up quite an appetite in the morning (actually… probably at any time of the day to be honest) and Fox and Bird do a good job in this department unlike many other cafes where I am bound to complain about the serving sizes.

They have a little note on the front of their menu saying their purpose is to serve food that we would find on our own dining room table and the dishes are family favourites and cooked just as they would be at home. I could really see that and probably why I took such a liking to them in the first place. Hearty food does that to you. They also say they are more than happy to share the recipes so all you need to do is ask!

Onto the reason why points were cut – the service. Not in the mean, unfriendly way, but just really really disorganised. Although the female employee was a little cold and seemed to be over it. A bit of eye rolling and sighing going on, but thankfully not to customers. Anyway, upon entering there was no clear indication of whether we sit down or order first, so naturally we gravitated towards the menu and sat down. It didn’t look as if anyone was going to come over so we figured we should order and pay at the counter first. The Peggy Sager comes with poached egg, button mushrooms, sautéed spinach, shredded bacon with tomatoes on toasted sourdough with mixed salad, and I had asked to replace the bacon with hash browns to which the order had successfully gone through. After a while, a staff appeared out of the kitchen with two dishes which vaguely looked to be ours. However, he had no idea who they belonged to. Looking puzzled, and standing right at our table dangling the food in front of us, I wanted to say it was ours but in fear that another table might’ve ordered the same or that was in fact NOT how a Peggy Sager looked like, I refrained. There was a lot of back and forth between the employees, to which we finally chimed in and said what we ordered in hopes that would solve the confusion. After agreeing that it probably did belong to us, he placed the dishes down but alas my plate had bacon in it, despite the order being placed with hash brown replacement. I brought this to the attention of the staff and then there was more confusion and again back and forth between each other. They of course took it back and went to make another one, but I feel all this confusion could have easily been avoided with proper communication. They did however try and redeem themselves with a big serving of hash browns and a chocolate dessert as an apology.

Even without these gestures I would still return as the food was right up my alley, but still good to see they were trying to keep customers happy. Hope it’s not so chaotic next time!