Alchemy Cafe Restaurant

Pelmeni? Pierogi? Borsch? Yes, yes and yes. Alchemy Cafe Restaurant is a Polish joint of distinction, unlike anything else in the area. In Surry Hills, this unpretentious cafe-restaurant brings the warming and fragrant flavours of classic Polish food to Sydney’s sunny shores. Crown Street is home to a number of interesting international cuisines, and in Alchemy, diners are introduced to a little-known European cuisine; an interesting and unique cuisine for these sun-baked streets.

Alchemy Cafe Restaurant is a laidback place, as you’d expect from a Polish restaurant in Sydney’s Surry Hills, but there’s a distinctly mamma’s kitchen feel to the place anyway. The restaurant is decked out with dollies (yes, dollies) and the food is presented in the way your gran might put a plate together if the vicar was coming round. None of this is criticism, in fact, this is one of the Crown Street restaurant's biggest draws – no one is trying to be cool here.

The menu at Alchemy Cafe Restaurant blends the best in Polish cooking with one or two concessions to the contemporary Sydney palate. Open day and night, breakfast offers both pancakes (Aussie style) and Polish breakfasts: sausages, onions, lashings of mustard and cucumber galore. Lunch is a choice between soup, salad and sandwiches (but for us, the only way to go is the gross sounding but delicious cabbage parcels – just do it). Dinner offers classic marysienka (beef sirloin with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes) and kulawiak (pork roulade with mushrooms) as well as a killer goulash. The Crown Street cafe isn’t exactly vegetarian-friendly, although there are a handful of dishes that tick the boxes, but then classic Polish food generally isn’t. Head over to Surry Hills and find out for yourself.