4 /5
Reseña
★
★
★
★
Housed in one of the central courtyards that are popping up in new residential developments across Sydney, Social Hideout makes clever use of this often-difficult type of space. White garden furniture tables are set on bright green AstroTurf. The chair seats are padded with plump, black and white cushions, and draped with brightly coloured blanket throws.There’s a casually parked retro bicycle with its cane basket full of plastic flowers sitting in front of an arbour housing more tables and a long, comfortable banquette. It all adds up to an al-fresco extend-a-lounge room environment, geared at the apartment dwellers living on all four sides.We pull up an outdoor table in these ‘grounds’ of North Parramatta amongst largely female clientele – the widely spaced tables do lend themselves to being friendly to those with prams. The coffee – Campos – is well executed in a Flat White ($3.80). An Iced Matcha Green Tea ($6.50) is a smile-maker, even without a towering cap of frothy, whipped cream. Tea is nicely integrated into the icy, green drink, and set off by a ball of ice cream (also optional).The breakfast menu, served until 2.30pm, is an interesting blend of Insta-worthy sweet indulgences and global fusion dishes appropriate to the ethnic diversity of Parramatta. We opt for the latter in the form of an Arabian Board ($16). It’s a visually exciting mix of poached eggs, Turkish bread, grilled squares of haloumi and a cold assortment of cherry tomatoes, Lebanese cucumbers and black olives. It’s light on the carbohydrates, but still provides plenty of dipping fodder to drag through the accompanying bowl of labneh and za’atar. The only improvement I’d make is using better quality, tangier Kalamata olives.Using similar cultural inspiration, The Habib ($16), gives smashed avocado an Arabic twist by teaming it with za’atar poached eggs, beetroot hummus, pomegranate and a portabello mushroom on toasted sourdough. It’s a tasty collision that can be further accentuated with a side of Bacon ($4) if your carnivorous appetites demand.Social Hideout is yet another example of Parramatta - Sydney’s geographic centre - really coming online, ensuring that local workers and residents have access to everything one can find in the CBD.