Concrete Jungle Cafe is located in the centre of Sydney city in Chippendale. Their focus is to create food that “makes you feel good from the inside out”. During the day, they serve ‘cafe’ food and at night, they transform into a modern restaurant with a bar. As the name suggests, the interior looks like a natural oasis inside a concrete building.
We dined here last Friday. We picked it because we had a 30% off voucher with Groupon.
We dined here last Friday. We picked it because we had a 30% off voucher with Groupon.
Food
To start off, we got the cassava fries with harissa mayo. On their online day menu, it says $8 however on the dinner menu I took a photo of, it was $12. I’m not sure if there is a difference in portion 🤨 but for our serving, we had about 8 fries (2 each).
In terms of taste, it was alright. Just imagine a bland, starchy potato smothered in mayo. It needed a bit of salt. The oils and mayo became a little sickening after a few bites. The coriander helped cut through with hints of earthiness.
In terms of taste, it was alright. Just imagine a bland, starchy potato smothered in mayo. It needed a bit of salt. The oils and mayo became a little sickening after a few bites. The coriander helped cut through with hints of earthiness.
The spicy tuna tartare with crushed edamame, shisho and rice crackers was $18 and fairly decent. The tuna was not as fresh as we would have liked it but still retained its moderately fishy flavour. The lime was necessary to lift the taste of this dish because the bland edamame had little to no salt. I still enjoyed it because I’m a sucker for tuna and tartare 😅.
This was another bland dish, the aged beef tartare with nashi pear, seeds, grains and grilled bread for $18. It was average, just needed a bit more oomf to bring out the beef flavours. The pear and garnishes were refreshing however when everything was scooped on to the thick bread slices, the beef flavours was washed out by the charred taste.
This crab roll with apple, chilli, mayo, soft toasted brioche for $9 each was more rich and sweet. The combination of fattening mayonnaise and thick brioche bun had our tastebuds wanting to hop on a treadmill but this could have been caused by our clean diet 😅. We thought there was not enough crab and not enough seasoning to make the crab pop because it was drowned out by the mayo+brioche combo.
Moving on, this crispy chicken with BO secret sauce, Japanese mayo and coriander was delicious. For $16, there was a good amount of glaze and flavour on the skin of the chicken. Its meat was tender and juicy. The lime cut through all the mayonnaise, making this a balanced dish.
Our last dish was the glazed beef with carrot and ginger puree, pickled carrots and sesame for $32. The beef was moderately flavourful but still lacked a bit of seasoning. It was dominated by the perilla leaves and its strong earthy taste. The carrots were moderately soft and added a hint of sweetness to the bite.
Drink
We were informed this was a special cocktail of the night. It looked like a mix between their ‘blueberry & lavender’ and ‘hibiscus & rose’ cocktail. It was enjoyable, with a moderately fruity taste and a strong kick of alcohol. This was $15.
My butthole clenched when I saw this evil mezcal arrived in front of Mick 😂. For $20, this was crema de mezcal, tequila, fresh lime, chilli, and jalapeno. He said it was alright with a strong aroma of tequila. It was not as spicy as he would have liked.
Service
The service was fairly decent and friendly. There was a weird moment when a man (in regular clothes) approached us and asked us: “are you Italian?”
When we replied with our blank, confused faces, he asked us if there were two more people coming (Mick and J1 hadn’t arrived yet) so we told him yes, we were a table of 4.
After he left, I thought I was fried so I turned to J2 and asked her what she heard. She confirmed she heard the Italian question too. We’re both Asian 😶.
We thought the man was a random but we saw him bring food out and greet Mick and J1 later so it might have been the owner…? 🤷🏻♀️
When we replied with our blank, confused faces, he asked us if there were two more people coming (Mick and J1 hadn’t arrived yet) so we told him yes, we were a table of 4.
After he left, I thought I was fried so I turned to J2 and asked her what she heard. She confirmed she heard the Italian question too. We’re both Asian 😶.
We thought the man was a random but we saw him bring food out and greet Mick and J1 later so it might have been the owner…? 🤷🏻♀️
Review
We thought the dinner options were limited, considering its location was next to bigger restaurants. We had already ordered half the menu and as you can see, there was not that many dishes.
The food was average, at best. I have seen a few reviews regarding their day menu and they appeared to be on the same wavelength of bland food. We do like the decor.
Our final verdict: we would not be returning anytime soon. We also didn’t read the T&C and that our Groupon didn’t apply to our drinks, which was where the bill weighed the most. Whoops 😂
Thanks for reading chumps and happy eating!
The food was average, at best. I have seen a few reviews regarding their day menu and they appeared to be on the same wavelength of bland food. We do like the decor.
Our final verdict: we would not be returning anytime soon. We also didn’t read the T&C and that our Groupon didn’t apply to our drinks, which was where the bill weighed the most. Whoops 😂
Thanks for reading chumps and happy eating!
