Gnome

I didn’t use to be that fussy about my coffee because ristrettos don’t exist in Oz so the rest didn’t matter.
Well now it does: my coffee was as disappointed and the food was nice and refreshingly original!
I ordered — with a smile — a large strong latte, and I got a warm-​verging-​on-​getting-​cold regular flat white. I didn’t return it because I don’t waste food, it’s like my only life rule. Not even fussed over the wrong order. But I was disappointed the coffee wasn’t nice.
They lost one star because of that!
But then they brought me this little treasure of a brioche bun with hummus, kale, slow cooked pork and a fried egg: a slice of Australia meets Lebanon and they go to bed together in France and geez Louise is that encounter a success. Go for that!
The venue was nice and the girl who served wasn’t overly happy about the socio economic condition of her existence that morning but hey, we all have shit days and she did her job with a very dignifying absence of hate.
A shame for that coffee, I recommend it nonetheless as I could have been unlucky!
(If they fry that egg in duck fat, imagine the gastrogasmic result!!)

One of the best cafes i have found in Sydney, the greatest compliment I can give it, is that it would be at home in Melbourne. Very friendly staff, nice corner location in Surry Hills and the best coffee I have had so far in Sydney. Add the small but focused food selection and you have a winner. Do get there early on weekends to get a seat though.

Gnome remains one of my favourite cafes in Sydney. When I lived here two years ago, I actually based my apartment hunting on proximity to delicious food (and Gnome was just around the corner!).
Great sandwhiches, famous coffee, and friendly staff. This is what the café culture of Sydney is about.

Honestly this place is over rated. It is good coffee but not great coffee. 4 ate 5, which is across the road, had better coffee, food and service.
I think that this comes from my general dislike for Toby Estate’s coffee. But the service here is slightly pretentious which doesn’t add to it.
If you are looking for a good café there are so many in this area, that gnome is good but no where near great.

Fantastic coffee. Probably one of the better ones in the area (and that’s saying a lot given standards are high in Surry Hills). The food was pretty good, though I’ve only eaten there the once. Quaint, little ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ type café. Love the ambiance and the staff are super friendly. Have since popped in for takeaway coffee a few times, and there’s always a queue. The coffee is well worth waiting for though.

Gnome is my kind of café. Why, you might ask? There are plenty of cafes around that area and a lot of them are great, but this is the sort of place where you want to sit at one of the tables outside with your laptop, grab a coffee and do some work on a sunny afternoon.
The place is tiny but it makes up for the smallness in other aspects: simple menu yet delicious food, great coffee, friendly staff.
I had the pesto eggs which is basically green eggs and ham and if they still have that on the special board, I’d definitely recommend it.

Gnome… more like Nom, amiright?
I’ll show myself out…
(coffee is alright, food is fresh and good. Try the meatballs.)

Cosy little place in a converted house on the corner. Simple dishes, salads & sambos, allied to good coffee. Service was friendly and prompt. Worth a stop in if you happen to be passing.

Size lets this place down but everything else about it oozes class and charisma. Coffee was well extracted and presented. The service was friendly and informative. Will visit again

I’ve got plenty of affection for Gnome. Oh Gnomey. Such a cutesy little café that charms me inside almost every time I pass. The sidewalk seats are where you want to read the paper with your morning coffee.
Smokey house beans with fried egg — really good. Hearty, filling and full of smoky paprika and chipotle flavour. I’ve tried a dozen bean breakkys and this ones the best.

Coffee: Toby’s Estate
Passion: ⁷⁄₁₀
Crema: ⁶⁄₁₀
It is really strange visiting this café after so long. It had held up quite well in terms of fond memories of cafes in Surry Hills from the time that I was a scout for Unilocal,but… I can not say I was excited with what I had today.
I started off with a $ 5 aeropress of Costa Rica Granitas de Altura that, being $ 5 a cup, I was quite hopeful for a great experience. Well… it tasted like someone had watered down an espresso they had pulled a with no crema, and no exceptional taste. The only positive was that due to the lack of taste I am unable to say it tasted bad, but is was certainly very average.
To make sure the next coffee had a bit of a kick, I went for a Casablanca House Blend espresso, which had a kick, but certainly didn’t rate close to the coffees I have been luck enough to be drinking. It did seem to be a café filled with latte drinkers and as such, they are probably really happy with the coffee available, but… it didn’t do it for me today.
So I feel a little ripped off, in the same way I feel watching one of my favourite childhood shows Monkey Magic now and seeing how bad the «effects» were. I know the people here can make awesome coffee, they have the right equipment, so I guess I can only blame the Toby’s Estate beans.
With the appearance of so many awesome café options in Sydney, if you end up here you will be fine (and the food looks great), but if it is awesome coffee you want, perhaps you might want to look elsewhere… **sigh**
N.B.
There is #powerwhoring available at multiple tables inside but you will need to keep «paying rent» as space/​tables are quite limited
There is no public WiFi available

The breakfast here didn’t impress me but I keep coming back for the coffee.

My favourite spot in Surry Hills for breakfast. Fantastic coffee and a simple but very tasty menu. Try the Benni roll!

A perfect little spot for weekend brunch and surprisingly… also a pretty chill spot to have a drink in the evening! Gnome checks all the boxes for a Surry Hills café — good food, good coffee, good people watching and drinks.
The cheese plate and the meatballs are some of our favourites.

Gnome Café! Dumb name, great place.
I suppose it’s gnomish in size: a small place, with a bit of outdoor seating and a great aesthetic going. The food is made with care, and while the serving sizes are small, they make up for it in quality and presentation.
Best of all: the AFFOGATOS. Basically when I think of Gnome, I think of Affogato. Can’t seem to disassociate the two concepts. Excellent coffee, excellent ice cream and … Oh My … they’ve put them together.
I know Gnome didn’t invent the affogato as a concept, but whoever invented it ought to be chuffed that Gnome is doing such a great job of it.

I’m really enjoying exploring the Surry Hills area, and Gnome café is a good addition to my growing collection of cafes in the area.
This small little café can be found on crown street amongst a small collection of bars, cafes and boutique shops. The inside area looks a little cramped, the tables are close together and small (gnome-​sized?) — but it doesn’t really seem to matter, in a way it adds to the atmosphere. I wouldn’t come down here with a laptop to get some work done, but I would definitely come for a casual chat with a friend.
The staff are friendly, the banana bread (with ricotta and honey) was great, and I was definitely a fan of the coffee:
Coffee: Double macchiato
Bean: Tobys Estate
Crema: Good, very thick, ⁹⁄₁₀
Overall Taste: ⁹⁄₁₀
Served in: Small glass (+1)
Preparation: Well made, crema came through the milk very strongly, not too much mlik, which was well frothed.

I popped into Gnome on a weekday for lunch and was seated at one of the few outdoor tables (correction: one of the few tables total) and got down to some serious menu browsing. I had only ever ordered coffee from this darling little corner café and now it was time to chew on something. But what?
With a menu that offers a plethora (or, maybe half a plethora… a pleth) of salads, sandwiches and nibbles, it took a while to decide. Finally when I figured I might like to use a fork and not just my two hands like a cave person, I cast my eyes to the salad portion on the menu. In a fit of insensibility and pressure, I ordered the salad with the least amount of comprehensible words in the description. WWWOOOOOWIE aren’t I fancy?!
So my warm pork salad came with «radicchio» and «muscatels» ($ 14). Hum *scratches head.* Am I not sophisticated enough to know what these things are (if know what they are, then please don’t answer that)? Turns out the pork came atop a bed of greens and with large saltanta-​like things. Thank you «muscatels» for revealing your identity. I found the pork to be a little difficult to navigate with its fatty sections and über crispy skin. The flavour was good though. I don’t suppose I would have this mystery salad again, but I didn’t hate it. Way to go Gnome for being fancy beyond your years. I feel all the better for it.

Gnomes are tiny, ugly little things placed in gardens to make people happy. Gnome on Crown St is quite like this: a tiny little thing placed on the side of the road to make people happy. The main difference being that there is nothing ugly about this little Gnome.
Open for breakfast and lunch, and for dinner/​drinks from Thursday to Saturday (soon to be Tues — Sun), Gnome is a cute little bar that sits nicely within the Surry Hills landscape. The coffee is a pleasant surprise (although I should say I’ve come to expect good coffee from cafes rocking the rustic look) and the menu is equally as pleasant — short and simple with an injection of imagination, everything comes under $ 15 and each is almost as annoyingly tempting.
The bircher muesli looked delicious, topped with poached pear, strawberries, yoghurt and pistachio. I tried the poached eggs on grilled polenta with asparagus and truffle salt ($ 14) — not only tasty, but a great gluten free alternative.
The staff here were really friendly, and outside the shop was a great place to sit and watch Surry Hills folk ride past on their fixie bikes. Be careful if you’re coming in a big group, as it’s highly likely that you will logistically not fit either in or outside Gnome. It’s also probably not the best place to take kids — regardless of the rude little gnome in the corner giving you the bird, there’s not a lot of pram room and unless your little gnomes are the still and silent type, there’s not much room for them either.
To be honest, I hate garden gnomes, but I’d be delighted to find this little Gnome in my backyard any day.

As a coffee shop, when you’re on a street where coffee shops and cafes are a dime a dozen you need to have an x factor to survive.
gnome does have something special. For a start, it is pint sized. This place must be less than 20 square metres. This immediately creates an ambience of intimacy and warmth. The serving counter dominates the room. Behind this counter are 3 very friendly assistants — a barista, a food preparer and a ‘front of house’ person. They work well as a team and add to the welcoming vibe.
I love the décor. There are some large old maps of the continents. There’s something about maps. They immediately transport you another place and as I was drawn into these I was no longer on Crown street, Surry Hills.
If I can spend a few hours reading a book or browsing the papers, or even playing a few rounds of backgammon in a café, then it is the type of place I will go back to. Gnome is that kind of place. I really enjoyed the music too. nice chilled beats at a good volume. It wasn’t really about the food or the coffee, which were fine too.

If you’re unfamiliar with the techniques of artisan slow dripped coffee, take this as an education. The rich fruity flavours, and light coffee aroma, makes this more of a tea experience, than an espresso to the tongue.
I strolled in after seeing the inexpensive prices that are a welcomed surprise to the regular Surry hills/​Darlinghurt eateries. The old maps of Europe & Africa that cover the walls, add to the intellectual vibe experienced by the insightful and passionate baristas.
Not only does Gnome serve a great Latte, plus a hand picked range of coffee beans to take home to your 16 bar pressurised espresso machine, it hosts a eat in and takeaway menu that is even mouth watering to read. Try the bircher muesli with strawberry, lime and pistachio nuts, this type of breakfast puts eggs on notice.