Review Shenkin Erskineville

Paula Batalha

Angelita’s special was sooo good! I loved the puff pastry and spicy coriander. My partner got the Shakshuka and it was very good as well. Also recommend their fresh orange juice ☺️ calm and bright venue, with friendly staff

Jaycey Park

Found this cozy cafe when I had just transferred to Erko for work. It immediately made me feel welcome to this unique suburb. The staff are always friendly and the coffee is always consistent in quality and flavour. I've tried the pastries here before and they're lovely! I hope to be on a later shift sometime to have some brekky.

Mendel Bernardino

Stumbled upon this cafe in Erskinville and it was a very pleasant experience from being greeted by the very friendly staff to the amazing food they have. I ordered the Telaviv Brekkie while my wife had the Shakshuka. Both were crowd pleasers for sure. :)

Triston Farmer

Best coffee I’ve ever had in Sydney (visiting from Melbourne). The Shakshuka with eggplant and halloumi was awesome. The lemon and mint frappe was perfect accompaniment to the SHakshuka. Even the tune selection was on point. Forgot to take photo it was so good.

Terence Tse

Absolutely lovely place, stopped by for a bite, staff was friendly and the food was great. Had the Shakshuka which was an abundant amount of food

Vincent

The staff have always been friendly, helpful and punctual by being ready at or sometimes even before the official opening time of 7am on Saturdays and Sundays. The food and coffee is delicious. All in all worth checking out if you're after a tasty take-away breakfast!

Mollie Gleeson

Beautiful simple food and great coffee. Only downside is the loud music in the morning. Struggled relaxing and talking to my friend due to the noise. I would recommend to the manager to just put some ambient background music.

Adam Farah

I’ve had the best shashouka at this place in a while, the coffee taste so good. definitely recommended!

Igal Burdo

The central hub to getting my day started - from the best coffee Sydney has to offer to unparalleled service and finally to some of the finest soul food one can find Shenkin will set you right for a day worth pursuing.

Sue Dellagiacoma

The vegan dinner at Shenkin Erskineville last night was superb! Food was plentiful and so delicious. Service was great - thanks Pedro. Highly recommend a visit to Shenkin.

Shehadeh Fahel

Beautiful shop, Beautiful food, and Beautiful people running this great little cafe!

Justine Jones

The food was just perfect .. a lot of love had been invested and you can feel it in the room and taste it in the food .. thank you ..

Ashley Mannino

Loved the food, definite win for brunch with the girls when you're choosing the café! Healthy but so tasty!

Mark Sarif

Still great value and great food. Wraps at $15 ... enough for 2 people.. excellent. .. coffee quite ordinary.. only lukewarm

Gail Stuckey

Great brunch here yesterday, 'The Bite' was delicious sooo yum Lovely atmosphere and vibe 😊

Geoffrey Chalmers

For an excellent contemporary cafe, I'm surprised they use plastic straws.

Cristina Nascimento

Always a great meal and a great service. I'm so glad to have a Shenkin close to my house in Randwick.

Lisa Sinclair

Delicious food! Welcome to the Balmain neighbourhood

Natalia Belen

Great food, great coffee, great service! Thank you for an overall great experience!

Victoria Rose

Coffee....always delicious. Staff...always delightful.

Juanita Schultz

Fantastic food, service and atmosphere! Loved it!

Tegan Cone

Shenkin makes me happy <3

Ruby Tuesday

Best coffee in Sydney.

Bronte Hogarth

amazing coffee! :)

JeFf Rey

Amazing coffee :)

Dominic Svensson

First time having a breakfast dish here and it just seemed like a standard egg breakfast at a higher price. This might have been because they forgot to put any allenby sauce on it. The sabih pastry though was great. The portion seemed smaller than meals from other Shenkins but it did have the great flavours that I expect from Shenkin.

Hungriestsam - Samantha

I got the shashushka with two poached eggs, 7 hour slow cooked tomato and chorizo. It was very warm and nice but I wish it came with more pita. The Napoleon was really good, except I didn't get a photo. It's like two squares of pastry with custard in the middle. It was really sweet so I enjoyed it and it tasted a bit like meringue too. Would probably go again for this if I want a sugar kick.

Jenny

The shakshuka with pita was super filling, I couldn't finish all of it and that's saying a lot HAHHAH. I chose to top it with the Marguez chorizo, which was quite watery and I didn't like it that much. I tried my friend's shakshuka but with eggplant and halmouni which was really good! The vegetarian alternative was nicer than the chorizo and much thicker.

Nancy Li

ISRAELI INFLUENCES One of my weekend pleasures is discovering a new sun-filled brunch spot. I was pretty pleased with my avocado falafel and a dip in my friend's eggplant & haloumi shashuska. Highly recommended 👌

Chey_ct

Went there as a big group for a birthday. I really like the setting at the back. It was private and created such a great ambience for our group. Was my first Israeli cuisine experience so I was very excited! We ordered a few plates to share. The food was good and tasted fresh and healthy but to be honest, none of the dishes blew me away.

Carly (@tippleandfodder)

My first “Shenkin experience” was here at the Erskineville cafe. It was a stinking hot day, but we arrived early and got a seat in the air conditioning. Staff were really lovely, while the coffee and food was fantastic too. My craving for a good Shakshuka was satisfied with their Eggplant and Halloumi version. Super yum.

Khosrow Vaziri Jnr

I had a great feeling when I tried the falafel roll here with tahini sauce. It tasted like the real falafel made in the oldest country in the world Iran. The owners are intelligent Jewish people like my friend Gene mean. It was a great feeling to know the Jewish people can make good food instead of being cheap like my friend Nikolai who wouldn't give the homeless man two dollar. Thank you and have a good day cafe shenkin

Will Choi

Waoh what can I said. Really please t brunch and really friendly staffs here. Love the food and the healthy menu, actually kind of surprise of what them turn out.

HurryDaFoodup

Been here many times!! Love this place for their coffee and food BUT from the first time I went here a few years ago to now it seems like the popularity has gone to their head. Their falafels have gotten smaller and their prices larger!! By atleast $7-8 more per item. It’s really disappointing because this is a local favourite and it doesn’t seem like they’re upping the flavours or variety. Just the prices. I also wish they would bring back the hommus plate with mince lamb. That was such a winner. This is now not a regular for us for a nice breakfast. It’s an occasional place to go. Although we do drop by for coffee. Hope they go back to how it was.

Jadeholly36

Beautiful Family! Beautiful Food ! 💜 Get the Bite !!! It’s amazing Falafel Avocado Poached Egg Ball with fresh Salad. Really nice to go for breakfast also for your quick on the go morning coffee. ☕️🍴

Taylan Sadıkoğlu

Came for breakfast. Good coffee and service but probably the worst Rueben (if you can even call it) sandwich ever. Soggy bread with mustard and two slices of meat and loads of lettuce as filler.

Bigeaterintown

Went here for the first time this morning and ordered an avocado sandwich and a cup of mocha. The food is good but not cheap. Coffee is good too. It's great to have a seat without waiting.

Manz

Since I've never had Israeli food before I had no idea what to expect. I was a bit hungry wanted to have some meat (bacon!) for brunch, however most of the seems to be vegetarian, very few meat options. I ordered the Israeli big breakfast which was eggs with labanne, avocado, Israeli salad, smoked salmon & pita. Hoping "big" will compensate for my meat craving. The plate arrived looking rather "healthy", and it tasted quite good, particularly the pita bread was soft & fluffy inside, a bit like a soft dumper. The salad was light & refreshing. The labanne is a yogurt like soft cheese, I'm not a fan of yogurt so this was left untouched on my plate. My friend's tried the potato & mushroom burekas (pastry) & the King's Meal. Both enjoyed their meals. Overall a great healthy brunch cafe.

I Ate My Way Through

Israeli restaurant chain, Shenkin, are launching a new menu in March 2017 and invited us along to try some of their new items. A homegrown business, the first Shenkin restaurant opened in Erskineville in 2007 by Arie Haikin and his wife Bosmat. Their four boys also helped the cafe grow to what it is today, along with the starting up and success of their three other stores. Their aim is to normalise Israeli food on the Australian palate, which I believe is quite possible with the dishes I was shown.

Jane H.

Shenkin is crazy overpriced but oh so delicious! Eggplant and Haloumi Shakshuka is my once a blue moon treat (crazy expensive, oh so good) coffee is always good, make the prices more reasonable and I'd be here every weekend!

Crystal Pettit

the Oreo cookie monster was delicious with the waffle and the pancakes. On the waffles you could taste the cinnamon which was delicious. The pancake taste like banana which was not bad. The service was pretty good

Eatwithmyfoodsafari

Nice spot in Erskineville to enjoy a coffee. Had an affogato and cappuccino. The affogato seemed a bit light on in the coffee department. On the plus side, service was quick and efficient.

Orange_tree

I fondly remember my first few visits to Shenkin with its amazing coffee, delicious food and the best damn pita bread. Returned a couple of weeks ago...what happened?? While the coffee was still good, the food is below average and worse still, cleanliness seems to have flown out the window. Our glasses and cutlery had remnants of food stuck to it. Requests for new ones were futile as those were stained too. Shenkin needs to stem their declining standards, competition in this part of town isn't easy. -----02 Oct, 2010----- Unique menu. We'd heard good things about Shenkin so decided to pop in for a quick feed even though we'd had brekky at another cafe literally 5 minutes before. The mocha is delicious - creamy and smooth, the chocolate aftertaste lingers on the palate. It had none of that sickly artificial syrup taste that a lot of other mochas have. Had the chocolate-banana babka and the vanilla slice. I really liked the babka...it had generous chunks of banana and dark chocolate. It also wasn't too sweet which meant I could (almost) convince myself that it was a legitimate breakfast item and not dessert...lol. The vanilla slice must've been at least an inch thick with strong vanilla notes in the custard - while the first few forkfuls were great, we struggled to finish it as it was too rich and too sweet for us. Overall, great cafe with some unique menu items - shakshuka and the borekka are high on my to-try list!

LindyGraice

The lovely staff are the only good bit. Over priced museli and they stuck jam on it. Had to ask for milk as extra and it was warm. $16 for museli is outrageous. We went for breakfast and the pastry came smothered in icing sugar. Music was loud and droning. Really disappointed and won't be back 😢

Con Suma

We had breakfast here a couple of weeks ago. My wife had the mushroom burekas and I had the Israeli breakfast. Both were absolutely delicious and full of a mixture of flavors. The is definitely not your standard cafe fare. Shenkin is now a regular. ...when we can get a table.

Race Brunch Repeat

Cafe Shekin shares the same excellent brunch genetics of its Enmore-based mother; Middle-Eastern tilt, massive serves. Honestly, the main difference is amusement over the local clientele. Erskinville is weird. I observe marauding zombies sucking disposable cups whilst dragging squealing beasts on chains. False alarm - it's just a young demographic of coffee-addicts where ownership of a designer dog is mandatory.

Stephanie Angelica

1/4 places we visited on a long fun filled foodie adventure today. Firstly. This place is wow. Not only did we start here for breakfast (my fav meal of the day) but it was middle eastern inspired and had cold Drip available. Instant perfection. Now I recently went to "Grandma's" in Rosebery for my first shakshuka experience which was terrible. So I was eager to try the shakshuka from here as it was recommended. We were seated right away. Water brought to our table. Menus presented and asked if we wanted coffee. Awesome service. We looked over the menu. SO MANY OPTIONS. I saw online they had omelettes but it wasn't on the menu at the cafe. No issues they were happy to make it anyway. We ordered 2 shakshukas. Made a ton of changes and add ons. Not a problem!! Food took a little long but assuming that's due to the specials requests we had made. Food presentation was amazing and the smell. WOW. Servings were huge and the flavours. Delicious. We had cold Drip. It was very good! Overall experience was fantastic and we'll priced. $80 for 3 people. I will definitely be coming back. 😊😊😊😊

The Lisa Marie Foodie Adventures

So my sister and I travelled all the way from Parramatta to try this talked about cafe ! All I can say is sensational. I can't tell you how refreshing it is to go to a cafe and be served by someone with such passion, we were served by Gigi, who was funny, light and informative, when we asked for something that was off the menu, she accommodated with no dispute, she is an asset to cafe Shenkin, well done ! I ordered the shakshuka with halloumi and grilled eggplant, the serving was large, with so much tomato richness, the halloumi was salty and deep fried, which was unusual to me, but worked ! The meal was absolutely delicious ! I would come back for it again and again. Can I just mention, the pita bread was so so satisfying. Homemade. I can't believe I have never had this before. When you tore it open, steam came out as if it just came out of the oven. The mix of the tomato richness with the soft goodness of the pita bread made me feel all sorts of emotions. I'll quote some eat pray love for my foodies: "Im having a relationship with my shashuka" Okay maybe she didn't say it just like that ;) but you get what i mean. ;)

Thuy-Vi Truong

We ordered the Bite, the Stack, the Shakshuka and the Ziva and we're all very happy about our choices. Then shared four desserts (Wagon Wheel, apple crumble, pistachio ball, pyramid) which were absolutely mouthwatering. I'd definitely come back here!

Kevin Yong

Popped in for an early afternoon tea and had a delicious Babka - the rolls spread out when cut and was infused with just the right taste, not over sugary and with hints of spice. This Shenkin has back room and outdoor seating so it is not asa tight as in the Newtown Shenkin. Staff remain enthusiastic despite a weekend crowd.

Wendy Le

DELICIOUS! Had the dip board and the dips were to die for! Had the bite and it made my morning! Cute little place. Easy to find and great customer service!

Kathleen Ooi

Cafe Shenkin is bigger and better than what you would think upon first glance - in terms of both cafe and portion sizes. The shopfront appears small but follow the narrow side passage and it opens up to a roomy, quaintly furnished and sunlit back room. We're told that the array of pastries (from lemon tarts, chocolate truffles, croissants, double baked cheesecakes and much more!) in the two glass cabinets are freshly baked daily and we believe them - its hard to not follow our stomachs straight to dessert. We order a roast beef wrap and a pulled beef shakshuka (baked eggs). While waiting, we see the table next to us receiving two dishes of what possibly are the biggest salads I've ever seen. We knew then that we'd love this place! The baked eggs were perfectly cooked with runny golden centers and sat in a spiced tomato and capsicum sauce, with chunky nubbins of pulled beef. They were accompanied with two warm pita breads, which we used as edible ladles to scoop the sauce with. However, the wrap stole the show with the juicy juicy roast beef packed with flavour, wrapped in ultra soft Lebanese bread and served with a side of pickles and olives for extra crunch. We finished off with a banana babka - a delicious brioche-scroll hybrid. Apparently an Israeli traditional pastry and damn it was good - served warm with oozy chocolate, a moist center and a crustier outside. Great service and a great cafe.

Avocado

Pleasantly surprised by the food. The service staff was friendly despite the peak lunch hour. Would go back there agn. Shashuka w pulled beef - The home made pita bread was just right soft on the inside and slightly chewy on the outside perfect for moping up the glorious flavourful sauce. The pulled beef was tender and married well with the tomato based sauce. The pouched eggs were slightly over cooked though. Would be perfect if it was done properly. If u are going for the original Shashuka, make sure you remind the staff to go easy on the spice. Found that it was spicier than the one w pulled beef. Sabih - The eggplant was nicely smoked and the right amount of hummus and spicy coriander which was least bit over powering.

Quincesandkale

On day two of our Sydney visit we caught up with some friends for breakfast. After some fruitless searching for vegan friendly breakfast/brunch places, we resigned ourselves to the vegan breakfast fallback of toast with some sides. Come on Sydney, you can do better! We decided to go to Cafe Shenkin in Erskineville on the strength of its coffee reputation. Being from Melbourne I’m pretty particular about my coffee. To be honest I am a coffee snob.

Dan_l

Rude service, bad coffee. The coffee was burnt and how arrogant is the staff

Sophia Phan

Shakshuka. Doesn’t that just sound fun Shakshuka. This wasn’t similar to the sort of breakfasts we usually consume. The menu, so vibrant and colourful, is of Israeli style. Named after the famous street in Tel Aviv, Shenkin opened in 2007 and has since branched to three locations: the cafe in Erskineville, kitchen in Enmore and espresso bar in Newtown. The lovely space in Erskineville has a window which opens up to the street so that customers are able to order coffee on the run. It’s a cute little establishment with friendly service, with tables out the back. I ordered the shakshuka. Oh, my. You can tell when something tastes authentic and the soft, pillowy pita breads combined with the runny yolk from the baked eggs made for a heavenly match. Though the coffee was agreeable, I can’t say the mango smoothie was. It was mostly smoothie, no mango. But nonetheless I’d go back to try out the other exotic offerings. The labanne plate and Israeli big breakfast are next on the list. This entr

May

I barely had five hours of sleep and caffeine was HIGH on that list. So to have had the smooth skinny latte provided by the barista and the good aroma of coffee beans, I survived the day better...

THEJUGERNAUTS

Replacing the OLD FISH Cafe (sigh), is Cafe Shenkin expresso bar… an odd moniker considering there’s only enough seats for 2 so you won’t be bar lounging anywhere near here anytime soon. An offshoot of the Shenkin Cafe in Erskineville, this place opened to an already crowded cafe scene in King Street; and a prime location at that. I was wondering what it was going to be like when it opened… so when it did; I can’t help but feel a little disappointed. The fitout loses all the seats that OLD fish used to have in lieu of 2x pastry cabinets a barista/coffee making machine. You won’t be sitting at the corner drinking coffee and watching the scene go by.

Eloise Jaksic

I purchased my standard latte and was happy to find that it was as creamy and smooth as its big brother 'Shenkin'. I couldn't leave without one of their vanilla slices. I am not usually a fan of them but these are an exception. Delicate pastry, creamy inside and very light. If you haven't had one I advise you to purchase one ASAP!

Ming

I had heard that Café Shenkin made one of the best coffees in Sydney and Mumma and I were needing our coffee hit for the day, however I was slightly disappointed as it didn’t live up to my favourite flavour punch from Toby’s Estate or my staple Azzuri Café at USYD.

Charn Tangson

It was very rich in tomato sauce, had fantastic spices and there was a lot of variety of ingredients in it. Accompanied with the huge pieces of bread, this is definitely worth the price (approx $19). I only wished I didn’t have to share some with Mr C!

Robert_hs

The drink’s aroma is as what you would hope from a Darkhorse. It’s quite a sweet smell and with milk (my last review was a long black) and instead of the fruitiness I found more of a caramel.

Clairelrichard

Bad coffee, bad service. Worst coffee I ever had. Ordered a coffee, I was waiting for ages and they got it wrong twice. staff to busy chatting.

Woz Ray

Visitor the King street outlet last Saturday morning. Sat in the window and ate the B&E roll and the breakfast stack. Both good and priced well. Staff friendly and welcoming. Makes a nice change from other places. Coffee ok but Campos isn't threatened.

Elle Formica

Love it. Boys( and girls!) here are always super friendly and make my coffee with no hassles. It's always exactly what I ask for and delicious!

Tom

Fast friendly service with ok food and good coffee but it was overpriced in my opinion. $15 for a bacon egg wrap and a coffee is too much!

TrickyK2

I was on the lookout for a different sort of brekkie and I found it here. Really lovely food, Israeli style, tasty, filling and really well made with lovell make your day. The coffee is that good that the locals queue for it:-)

June Bug

Love the new store on King St with double counter - order inside or street side. Delicious coffee with kid friendly options too, like milkshakes.

Kitty

Coffee Kick!. Love Skenkin - service is always good and coffee always lifts me up in the morning. Best pick is a Belgium chocolate mocha - it will certainly sweeten up your coffee kick.

Caffeine Addict 157

Annoyed. Coffee took way too long to arrive. Ordered it when I sat down, got it 3/4 of the way through my big breakfast. Had to ask twice for it: once when meal was served, and again 30 mins later when I was nearly done. Otherwise a nice place, tasty food, friendly staff- but get your priorities right! Not worth the effort to go back there.

Boomstix

Nice coffee at shenkin (which goes deliciously well with warm chocolate bobca I might add..). Friendly, fast service too, and consistently good.

Newtown Diner

New to the strip. Being used to Shenkin Cafe at Erskineville I wondered how the Newtown site would go. Tried it out and happy to say it was just as great. Daily coffee for me and my friends. Mocha is a speciality, made on real Belgium chocolate. YUM!!! Pastries always great and a bit different. Haven't tried the sandwiches as yet. Lack of seats so pretty much always take away. Certainly worth a visit for coffee alone.

Spagblog

Good things come in small packages which Is what Shenkin is. Best for take away but a great people watching spot if you can get a seat. Good coffee.

Coffee_dude

Excellent coffee and good (shop baked) pastries. Had a piccolo with a vegetarian burek and both were great.

Zoe Is Hungry

Lukewarm response. Maybe the staff had a big Saturday night out, but we were underwhelmed by Sunday brunch. Eggs and omelettes were lukewarm at best, had to ask for one drink three times and had a 20 minute wait. I'm amazed the Herald could give this five out of five stars. It's a 2.5 at best. And it ain't cheap.

Olliemac

Good addition to the strip just need to encourage seating

THEJUGERNAUTS

Good coffees. Coffees here is great. Pastries- small bites at. $3. Disappointed with the lack of seating. You kind of have no choice but to takeaway? That said, quite good. nutella donuts. Nice eats too.

Willem McGregor-Immig

Good Addition. Cafe Shenkin is a welcome addition to the King St strip, taking over from where Old Fish Cafe let go. Open early (and open on time, a hard thing to ask in Newtown), well staffed and quick service. Still finding it's feet with more and more offerings as each day passes. The coconut hot choc. is not to be missed, and the masses of samples always out help make up your mind on what treat will be the one for the day. Wraps are good too, but at $15 are on the costly side for the drag. Making them, or one each week $9.99 would be a welcome change... and lead to many more being sold. There is a fine line between well priced eats, and overpriced king. Cafe Shenkin is walking this line now, let's just hope they stick to the right side. Opening in the colder months is always hard, but it looks like sunny days ahead for this one.

Review Shenkin Erskineville - Sydney