Henry Lee's

I wanted to try out this cafe mainly for the drinks, since they looked and sounded good on paper. Weather was perfect for trying out this courtyard style cafe, loved the vibes here. It wasn't really busy on a Thursday morning.

food spread

   

courtyard

Pleasantly surprised when I walked into this cafe, and to be honest, wasn't expecting it from a cafe in Redfern. It's set in a courtyard which has some covering so even when it rains, most tables won't get wet, but also has natural lighting which comes through. Although if you do sit on a table in the sun, those dots on the ceiling are going to cast heaps of 'dot' shadows over your table...

cute menu

Apparently they don't really have a popular dish since everything is popular. A lot of the dishes though are sourdough topped with something, or have similar ingredients but in a salad form/different presentation. I guess it really depends on what you feel like on the day.

White Lavender Hot Chocolate: white Belgium chocolate infused w/ lavender & served w/ your choice of milk-$6

I just decided to go with normal milk, since I wanted to try the 'og' version, well more like try the actual hot choc without the milk flavour altering the taste. Really loved this drink since you can taste the lavender without it being too overpowering. I love floral flavours in drinks. I'm not a big fan of white choc, but luckily it wasn't too sweet here. 

Aztec Chili Iced Chocolate: Dark Belgium chocolate infused w/ cayenne pepper & served w/ vanilla bean ice cream & your choice of milk-$7

Went with coconut milk in this one (50c extra). I don't think I could really taste the coconut in it, but I could actually appreciate the chilli in this drink which gave it a nice kick, then balanced but the smoothness of the dark choc. Again, this drink isn't on the sweet side either cause of the chilli. 

super big wooden square board

Tangier: Tagine baked soft eggs in mild spicy rancheros sauce w/ pumpkin topped w/ crispy kale, Mexican guacamole, Persian feta & served w/ crispy tortillas-$21

I actually didn't have any baked eggs during winter, which is normally one of my fav go to brunch winter dishes. Then again, I wasn't here much this winter, and when I was here it wasn't even that cold...The main difference in this one is that the yolk was still quite runny compared to others which are generally cooked through. They also added bits of pumpkin which helped reduce the amount of sauce in the dish, so it wasn't too salty or spicy. I could actually tolerate the spice, so pretty much wasn't spicy at all. Wished there was more tortilla to mop up the sauce, since they only gave one pieces (and on the menu it's plural lol).

Henry’s Dream: Sourdough topped w/ nasturtium & pine nut pesto, avocado, heirloom tomatoes, radish, lemon zest & whipped ricotta then sprinkled w/ za’atar w/ poached egg-$21

#yolkporn

I actually try to avoid having avocado toast at cafes (because I'm trying to save for a house deposit-jks). It's cause I can make avo toast at home, but just nowhere as pretty. I did cut into an unripe avo since I had a sudden avo craving the day before, so thank goodness for ripe avo on this toast. Loved how they added edible flowers to the dish. Wished there was more pesto in it, since I couldn't really taste it. Same with the za'atar since I found the herb/spice was quite subtle even though you could see it. I couldn't figure out what the black smear/sauce is...some slightly acidic/tangy sort of sauce..? The sourdough crust was quite hard to cut into even with a sharp knife. Yay for a nice runny yolk to soak up with the toast.

I also liked how they have bigger tables as well, I guess cause their actual plates are quite big. Would recommend to come here even just for the drinks.