7. Retro

Embedded in the grand facade of the State Theater is Retro, cafe bar brasserie et al. Open for breakfast lunch and dinner, they seem to be covering all bases including Saturday opening hours catering for hungry retail therapists. Being fully licensed means you can also indulge yourself with a sambuca to accompany your espresso, which is taken for granted in the rest of the world but strangely absent in most Sydney cafes. It's a small but elegant shop front hiding a true art deco interior, leaded glass mirrors and original plaster molded ceiling with plain wooden tables and chairs. The recent uninspired refurbishment of the counter and kitchen area has resulted in some out-of-character stackstone-clad walls and a pointless plasma screen providing chewing gum for bored eyeballs. The staff’s choice of chillout music provided a good alternative to a more décor appropriate Noel Coward, which I had expected to hear in these surroundings. Breakfast options follow the traditional line with heavy emphasis on eggs: Eggs Benedict, Eggs Florentine, bacon & eggs, open omelet, Spanish omelet and protein omelet; made with just the egg whites. If you like eggs you have found your Sydney mecca. All of the above are reasonably priced with not much above $8; you can also supplement your choice with a whole load of extras which are all priced around the $2 mark. Prompt service returned my choice of poached eggs, bacon, sautéed button mushrooms and grilled tomatoes, with leaf tea amusingly served in a cafetiere instead of a teapot. All were cooked to perfection, the mushrooms a lovely golden brown and cooked in butter, the tomato just right, bacon crisp but not dehydrated and lovely toasted bloomer bread. The eggs were slightly overcooked and not as runny as I would have liked, I suspect mise en place and the chaud font being the culprit there. The French waitress was very helpful all along; providing a newspaper, grinding black pepper onto my breakfast and offering towels when a particularly flustered corporate warrior managed to pour most of his americano coffee down my leg.