Taste Baguette - North Sydney (27th September 2012)

I've always wanted to try Taste Baguette - each morning, I would walk to work from North Sydney train station, passing by this cafe on the way. And each morning without fail, there would be a hoard of customers standing around the counter waiting for their morning orders of takeaway coffee and breakfast. Crowds at a cafe to me tends to be an indication that the coffee and food here is pretty good, and with Greenwood Plaza's recent EAT YOUR HEART OUT! promotion (the promo girls at the plaza have been handing out a booklet filled with offers from the food retailers on site), there was no excuse not to use the $9 chicken baguette and water offer to check out the cafe.

Around 12.30pm, Julie-Ann and I headed over to the Taste Baguette located on the Metro Level of Greenwood Plaza (next to Diva accessories store) for our regular fortnightly girls' lunch. I was surprised to find there was no queue during the lunch rush hour but what was even more surprising was the customer service provided by the male staff/barista at the counter - he didn't take the slightest interest in us or even offered assistance as we stood by the counter looking through the menu on the boards. "Could I get a coffee if I paid more and not get the water?" I asked politely when I handed my voucher and got a flat out no with a 'hurry-up-I'm-busy' look of irritation from the guy. Okay...frankly, he could have just told me that I had to pay for the coffee separately ($3 for a flat white) - I would be more than happy to do so. And when I asked him if I should be paying him for my meal or at the collection counter, I got a non-responsive grunt which I took it for the latter, only to then get a fixated hostile look from the guy as if I was going to run away without paying him. WTF?! I totally didn't expect the service to be this ridiculous - how do customers put up with such attitude like that? Julie-Ann had it equally bad - the guy didn't even bother serving her whilst she was standing at the counter ready to order and purse in hand. Sheesh!

Despite their poor customer service, fortunately the food and coffee made up for the bad experience. My flat white (which I ended up getting Julie-Ann to include in her order) and baguette was pretty good. The Vietnamese Style Lemongrass Chicken I had was one of their signature baguettes - grilled chicken marinated in lemongrass, coral lettuce, tomato and rocket filled the wholemeal baguette (you get a choice of plain or wholemeal baguette). I love how the wholemeal baguette was nicely crusted on the outside but still soft on the inside - the cafe bakes baguettes fresh on site every 15 minutes during lunchtime and I believe this is the reason why they do so well selling their baguette sandwiches. Nothing beats freshly baked bread! Both Julie-Ann and I thought the serving was a bit too much for us - we only managed to eat two-thirds of the baguette (and that was with some effort too!). Photos taken at Taste Baguette:

Taste Baguette in the Metro Level of Greenwood Plaza

Dine-in customers sit at the tables located nearby

My takeaway Vietnamese Style Lemongrass Chicken
- grilled chicken marinated in lemongrass served with coral lettuce,
tomato and rocket in a freshly baked baguette