Badde Manors
37 Glebe Point Rd
Glebe
Ph (02) 9660 3797
A mere two nights in the great city finds me in a bus on Broadway that steps me down at the start of Glebe Point Road. I must confess to a love of Sydney and its inner locale—Glebe, Rozelle, Balmain, Redfern, Potts Point, Paddington, Newtown. I am pulled, inevitably, to one or the other.
I wander until I reach the corner at Francis St, and the cafe that etches itself here. I enter, and find a nest of little wooden booths, some with single seats, solid parquet hardwood floor (yes I like hardwood floors and the gain of timber), soft off-red walls and wide windows out to Glebe Point Road and Francis St. Service is excellent—genuine friendly people—and efficient. Music comes at correct vol—never disturbing of talk but softly loud enough to listen to if in the mood. This is the type of place where it can be difficult (between the hours of 6 to 7.30) to find a table. Portions are large; coffee is good. Example: antipasto platter of hummus dips, olives, greens, feta, bread, tomato and dill pickle @ $13.50 is enough for two. This applies to most of the meals. I eat here two nights and on both I notice the presence of cops who come in to order takeaway coffee; must be a good sign.
The crowd could be loosely termed ‘university’. Books and notebooks are present. There are many sole patrons.
Opening hours? Seems to be open all day and most of the evening (i.e. eating hours). Highly recommended.
Badde Manors’ service is excellent? That surprises me. A mainstay of Badde Manors was always its appalling service. I moved to Sydney from Melbourne in ‘95 and lived around the corner from Badde Manors then. The service was probably the worst I’d encountered in a cafe. Sydney cafes were poor full stop. I left to return to Melbourne in ‘99, and returned to Sydney to live in 2005. In the interim, Sydney cafes had improved out-of-sight. At Badde Manors, nothing seemed to have changed; extraordinarily slow and often rude service. But for one or two times over the next 5 years, I tended to avoid it. The times that I did go to Badde Manors only confirmed my reasons for not. One major gripe of mine used to be the opening hours in Sydney. I could never find a cafe open before 9.30am on a Saturday. Coming from the Fitzroy cafe belt, I was unimpressed. During my second period of living in Sydney, this changed. The changes in Sydney’s cafes weren’t enough to sustain me. I returned to Melbourne last week.