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Cafe Zuppa!

Yum! I love this place. This is one of my favourite restaurants. We’d go there more often if it weren’t so far away in Katoomba (then again, the time it takes is the same to church, except westward :p). Keith and I always like to eat here whenever we are in Katoomba.

Cafe Zuppa is situated on the main street of Katoomba towards the train station and has mainly Australian and Italian food. The first thing you may notice when you walk in is the tables – they’re covered in paper and there’s a glass with some crayons inside for you to draw on the table while you’re waiting for your food. The decor is nothing to write home about, but they do have cool pictures on the walls if I remember correctly. It’s a little dark inside and as you look towards the front of the place, the kitchen actually looks really small. But oh, the food that comes out of that kitchen is amazing.

The last 2 times we went, we ordered amatriciana (i think) fettucine (?), garlic bread and chicken parmigiana. The taste? When you put the food in your mouth, it’s not too salty, not too sweet, not too heavy – it’s just right. It was a surreal experience… but a good one. So good, that both Keith and I said to each other at some point – “Hey, this actually tastes really good!” – it’s rather bizarre, I don’t know how many cafes/restaurants you go to randomly and actually be thrown off guard and be satisfied.

We had a similar experience when it came to dessert – once we had the cake where there are 3 layers – chocolate mousse, cheesecake and something else… with 2 scoops of ice cream. I expected this to be ultra-sweet, but it actually all blended in very well together. The other time we went I don’t think they had anything I would usually order (e.g. chocolately stuff, cheesecake) so Keith and I decided to go for a lemon delicious with ice cream which I didn’t have high hopes about – but it actually tasted perfect – not too sweet, and the ice cream blended with it very well. I said to Keith, “Wow, it’s like not too sweet, it’s just right. It tastes really good!” I then proceeded to look at it closer. “It’s got the right texture – it’s not too hard to bite (it’s a tart, and I have braces) and the lemon bit is actually very nice.”

I think the most important thing about this place was that Keith actually liked their iced chocolate!! If you know Keith, he’s very picky about his iced chocolates. He’s a iced chocolate connoisseur. After taking a sip he gave it a good rating I believe, and commented that they had actually chilled the milk which was the right thing to do. I’ll leave Keith to elaborate upon this point if he wants to…

So after my flowering report of this place, I do hope you go and try it. Perhaps we were just like lucky and ordered the nice tasting stuff? hehe you’ll have to try it for yourself. If you want reliably good tasting food, and you’re in Katoomba, pay Cafe Zuppa a visit.

Food: 10/10

Atmosphere: 7/10

Service: 7/10 – I think the waitresses were pretty polite and helpful when needed (if I remember correctly)

Cost: 6/10 – standard cafe pricing I think, $15-20 for a pasta I think, maybe $18-25+ for a main? You’ll have to check. I’m still a poor student.