Le Monde, Surry Hills

There has been much hype around Le Monde regarding its breakfasts, and though I entered the premises with the intention of selecting a breakfast item, I found out that I was too late for breakfast (which finishes at 12pm). At least they serve coffee at all hours. The decor is simple and clean, while the journey to the toilets requires a toilet key and sends you on a quest through a small carpark, up a flight of stairs, and into a quiet building. Thankfully this was during the day, or I would have been quite disturbed by the isolation - so, for the ladies, you might want to visit Le Monde in a group of a minimum of 3 so that one person can mind the table. In any case, I've gone on a tangent and this isn't why I cringe at the thought of this visit.

The coffee is aromatic and beautifully presented but I don't understand the hype around it. At times, my flat white tasted quite bitter, to the extent that I questioned whether it was burnt (probably not, but the sensation was somewhat unpleasant). I think Mad Spuds' coffee was lovelier.

Flat white ($3.50)

For lunch, I ordered the prawn linguine off of their specials board. This pasta dish came with cherry tomatoes, spinach, chilli, lemon and grana padano cheese. There was so much potential for a great hearty dish - the prawns were cooked to the point of being springy yet still moist, the texture of the pasta was firm, and the mild chilli made the pasta quite tangy. Sadly, they went overboard with the lemon juice. Each mouthful of pasta was overpowered by sour lemon, which made it difficult to make good progress on the meal.

Prawn linguine ($16.00)

All in all, the bitter coffee and sour pasta sauce are discouraging me from coming back. However, in all fairness, their strengths have been purported to lie in their breakfast menu, which I have not had the chance to sample yet. Hopefully my next visit will be a lot more enjoyable than this one.