The Sydney Mint Café is at 10 Macquarie Street in the CBD - right opposite my office, as it happens, so it's pretty handy for lunch, although unfortunately the service is somewhat slow. I met a paddling friend there, Geoff, on Friday at lunchtime. There was no time to take pictures of the place, so this post is all about the food, with the best part first: wonderful crème brulée, with just the right amount of sharpness in the topping to contrast with the rich, creamy filling; chicken with lentils, which was apparently very good; and a slightly odd combination of orecchiette ("little ears") with chunks of raw tuna (a kind of marriage of pasta and sushi), which worked, just. My question about the provenance of the tuna (ie whether it was sustainably caught) was met with bafflement, but someone in the kitchen answered in the affirmative. If the service had been faster (and comments on Urbanspoon suggest that this was not a one-off experience), I would have been able to take some photos of the beautiful old Mint building and its gracefully redecorated café.
