Bar Contessa

Contessa Balmain will make my Top 10 Cafe List this year, such a superb venue. A venue that was so incredibly busy but never faulted on service, quality, or attention to detail. And as for Connie, she is the cherry on the cake of this venue, one of the best waitstaff of all time.
Full review is now up on Spooning Australia.

Contessa Balmain has been in Balmain for 24 years and 13 years under the current owner. What I notice first is the incredible friendliness and hospitable nature of the owner and staff. Truly felt welcome and had a fun time! That really makes for a great atmosphere. I'm a rarity at giving a 5 for a cafe, but this deserves it. The place has had a recent reno and styled much like the city cafes with the bronze pipes and hanging lights and little green flowers in vases on the table.
The menu is extensive and has 4 icons to highlight the menu, cocktails, good, coffee. Starting with a cocktail (we are on holidays :), ordering a bloody mary and a bellini mimosa, what an awesome start to the day! Sort of feel like we're in NYC! In regards to food, We took some advice from the staff and went for the nutella brioche, corn fritters and breakfast burrito. Though you could order eggs, burgers, pastas and more if that takes your ...read more

Cutest babycino you will find in any cafe in Sydney, which they have named a frogacino. The cafe has a nice ambience and service is warm and friendly. The ham and cheese croissant we had was on the smaller side for $8.50, otherwise, everything was really enjoyable. Seemingly always busy and for good reason.

With an iconic place like this that has been around for decades, good food is a given! But the real reason to come visit is for the personality brought to the place by Connie and Alessandro! Great job guys!

Contessa Balmain is an experience that you have to be a part of along Darling Street. This place is a mix of New York and Italian - a place to sit back and soak up the atmosphere, enjoy the flavour packed meals, sip on a brunch cocktail and/or enjoy a brilliantly brewed coffee.


This is a brunch spot for us, mainly because when we head there we are stuck trying to the choose between the breakfast and lunch meals. These meals would fill a retired prop from the old Balmain Tigers to those who just want something light before shooting on down for a swim at the Dawn Fraser pools. We had ...read more