The phrase “Kansas City Shuffle”, made popular by the movie “Lucky Number Slevin”, is used to describe a deception move characterised by causing the victim to look one way as you attack the other way.  What kind of deception should we expect in a cafe that takes on this phrase as its name?

The cafe is located near The Rocks area.  You may expect the area to be full of tourists or workers, but if you think this is the case, you have been deceived.  The cafe is actually located in a quiet street, with the closest office buildings being a block or two away.  It is housed in the former Cadbury Chocolate factory, where the space is divided into two, with the cafe and an open kitchen to the left, and a function area to the right (which is close to completion).  There are also two open windows in the front to allow people to order take away food or coffee.

The interior incorporates some of the old items from the factory, including the door from the factory.  This pairs well with the simple furnishing in the cafe.  However, the interior is actually quite stuffy as there seems to be a lack of air flow inside.  It was more comfortable for us to sit on the smaller tables outside on the street.

The menu is also deceptive at first.  We came to the cafe for breakfast, and was presented with a menu that included items such as Fried Chicken Sandwich and KCS Cuban Sandwich, items which we would expect to see in a lunch menu.  It turns out that the menu is correct, and that they offer their full range of item menus for breakfast and lunch.  This is a great initiative, as on some mornings, especially after a big night out, people would actually want a heavier breakfast than most cafes would offer.

Cold Drip ($5)

The cold drip came in a small bottle, and we expected it to be subtle in flavour.  However, this was again a deception, as the sweetness of the coffee was quite pronounced, and not as subtle or clean as we would expect.

Pancake, Lemon Curd, Blueberries, Cream Cheese Parfait & Smoked Almonds ($17.50)

The use of the word “Pancake” for this dish in the menu is a deception.  To us, pancake is either a English style pancake, which resembles more like a “crepe”, or an American style pancake, which resembles more like a “hot cake”.  However the pancake in this dish is very dense and thick, and resembles more like a large donut without the hole in the middle.

We did not enjoy the pancake.  Although it was crispy on the outside, the inside was dry and crumbly.  There was too much lemon curd on the pancake, and the flavour from the lemon curd overpowered the other more delicate elements of the dish, and we were not able to taste the freshness of the berries.  The addition of the cheese parfait (which deceptively looked like ice-cream) and the smoked almonds was thoughtful though, and they gave a level of depth and complexity to the dish.

Toasted Pumpkin Bread, Avo, Whipped Feta, Heirloom Tomato and Toasted Seeds ($18.50)

This dish screamed “freshness”.  The flavours of this dish were well integrated and each element was complimentary to each other.  The sweetness of the bread contrasted well with the sourness from the tomato and the saltiness from the feta, while the addition of the avocado and the seeds provided some contrast in texture.  However, the big drawback of this dish was the pumpkin bread – it was way too dry for our liking.

The dishes were all presented very beautifully, and looked very delicious and mouth-watering.  However, the presentation may be the ultimate deception of this cafe as the dishes still needed more improvement.  Overall, this place has potential, and if minor tweaks are made to the dishes, our experience here would have been vastly different.

Kansas City Shuffle

Website: https://www.facebook.com/kansascityshufflesyd/

Address: 195 Gloucester Street, Sydney

Phone: 0415 362 038

Opening hours: Mon to Sat 7am to 4pm

Accepts all major credit cards