One of four locations around Sydney's central suburbs, Kurtosh goes on to make an eclectic setting and experience that is worth travelling to town to try. It is part-coffee shop, part-bakery, and full-on social hub which is what made it so perfect to fit in with how I came to here.
It was in between some hectic hours sandwiched from having the celebratory lunch for her engagement, and the party that night to commemorate it. Cramming into an already hectic schedule, two items off the checklist managed to be crossed off simultaneously: first was meeting my old friend from all the way back in middle school, and second was my dining buddy and I finding a new place to have coffee.
After a bit of hullabaloo, toing and froing to arrange a place to meet with my old friend going here was going to work out for a number of reasons. It was close by where he lives, my big sister had some people see needed to see, and it was also nearby my sister-in-law's apartment, so my dining buddy naturally was able to duck out quickly for a quick coffee. For this brief stop-over, a few things were possible from the hectic chaos: this place turned out to be really good, I got to meet up with my friend, everybody enjoyed themselves and, well, it turned out to be a fantastic find.
One of the major aspects is how both the service and aesthetic are laid back. No one seems to be in any sort of rush, either with the staff nor with the customers. This is needed, as each on of their signature items takes about 10 or so minutes to bake and they are made to be eaten piece by piece over a long break. It also makes a mutual friendly atmosphere. The structure of service is basically, go up and order your items, pay and take a number. They find you, and you enjoy. Simple.
What also helps is the design, or maybe the lack thereof. Stripping the shop area bare, there is heaps of exposed bricks and natural lighting giving it an ironically distinct felling and look in forgoing that avenue. The layout of the store is quite good with fusing two rooms together - an entrance room where all the sweets are dispalyed as well as the counter to order, and the side room where the tables are (making it not seem cramped in being a small place) and the coffee machine is off into the corner. The ergonomics are something I don't often comment on, but this time I have to give credit that is normally not even considered.
They kept it simple and straightforward with what they serve. First, there is the titular food - kurtosh, which will be described a bit later - then several varieties of loaves and pastries, cakes by the weight (which can additionally be arranged and decorated for special occasions), along with some tea and coffee to enjoy on the side. Just looking at all the choices in the cabinets, it gets the feeling of being back as a kid in a candy store - now a more grown-up kid who can appreciate different flavours. There is something more charming when a place tries less to please everybody, and more attempts to get its own identity into fruition. For that, this is one of the finest places that I have been to in memory and I wish more places existed as such back home.
The first order of business concerned coffee. Kurtosh makes the coffee from Mecca beans, which I have had before up in Brisbane. Not being a Sydney-sider, I don't feel I have so much authority to compare and contrast it other beans or more so that it is not as extensive as some others. Anyways, the way they made it was fantastic - the texture was perfect with no remnants on the bottom, the bean's notes were a combination of syrup and berry and it was strong. This meant an A-grade extraction and cup of coffee.
What really settled the decision to choose here of all places was that it was something slightly distinctive from the range of coffee houses around the suburb, mostly due to seeing pictures online from the sweets that they offered. Or, that was, a certain sweet in particular. The namesake of this place comes from a Hungarian pastry called "Kürtőskalác" or a chimney cake - since it is shaped like a chimney. These are something to be seen, and of course eaten (heck, just let all five senses participate). The pastry is rolled and freshly made, followed up by being wrapped around a rolling pin to make a continuous ribbon before getting cooked in the oven. Then it is rolled in the decorations of choice, making one of the tastiest sweet snacks around. There was no way that this visit was going without one of those. What happened with trying to get a half-half order ended up with two lots of it. One variety was a pistachio and the other was caramelised hazelnut. More means more to share, so look at it that way.
In some ways it is straightforward to describe how a kurtosh is regarding tastes and whatnot, but in others it is perhaps a little tricky since it is only subtly unique - it is definitely a must try for all foodies, and cements itself on the bucket list for those with sweet tooths. The texture is mostly like a croissant on the outside, and a like something really soft on the inside. Wrapping it through all the cinnamon sugar, nuts and what not, the flavour will change depending on the selection. Both of them were fantastic, and the flavour was generally nutty on both; even with the caramlisation, the hazelnut one was not so sweet which is a change of pace from mostly pastries nowadays. Pipping hot, the way to go is to rip bits off at a time and enjoy them. If you can handle one by yourself, by all means however, these are meant to be shared in the middle of a table with a couple of people.
As well as those chimney cakes, a few other sweets were collected to be shared around the table. Three kinds of sweets were gotten, a hazelnut truffle cake, a cream cheese brownie and Pink Cloud - which is a slice made out of coconut mousse with red currants mixed through it. To different extents, all three of them were really good. First of, the hazelnut truffle cake was good and had that similar note that chocolate has (i.e. why some people consider Nutella chocolate) and was soft and crumbly. It was the weakest of the three, but still a fair bit better than average. The pink cloud was a bit unusual, and that is what makes me like so many kinds of food. It was slightly tart with the currants, and it had a great coconut flavour; the combination of the two was fruity and delicious. Saving the best for the last, I seem to be a sucker when it comes to brownies - particularly when the texture resembles butter like it was so here. Just how rich it was with chocolate, plus that texture of cream cheese gave it an edge I did not know was still left in brownies to surprise me with a new variety. Kudos, Kurtosh. Kudos.
When saying how the chimney cakes are the must try items from here, it is said this time around fully understanding just how big the magnitude of temptation when looking at the cake cabinet. Really, down to the bone it is all good here and if I were a local in walking distance (or at the nearby university) the staff will see my face several times a week. That is a testament to its quality.
Well this has to be one of the best places for coffee and cake that I have been to in quite some time. I liked the layout of this place, I liked the mentality of being laid back which lets it settle in, and how can it not be complete without food? I said it in the previous paragraph, but in the condition I was residing in the neighbourhood it would have already seen my return.
An error has occurred! Please try again in a few minutes