Cedric’s Bistro is located in bustling Regent’s Place at Town Hall, sandwiched in the arcade between Uncle Tetsu’s and KFC. A stylish cafe and diner that serves up some tasty dishes, this is a cosy place to get your fill of some hearty pastas and grab some quality coffee. Be warned, like with all the trendy eateries in Sydney there will likely be a wait unless you are aiming for takeaway or come right upon opening.

Location: Regents Place, 501 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000
Price: $154 for the dishes shown
Social: https://www.instagram.com/seeyouatcedrics/?hl=en

Up first on the menu was the ‘must try’ wagyu cheeseburger. The meat was cooked beautifully, the pickles and onion evenly distributed and the seeded mustard plentiful. Truly a very fancy cheeseburger. Whilst this was very appetising, I found the portion to be small and it wasn’t really ~5x better than a Maccas cheeseburger.

The prawn pasta we ordered was sumptuous. Flavours prawn flavour was well infused into the sauce and the prawns were large and bouncy. The sauce also had a bit of a kick and the cherry tomatoes were nice and sweet, balancing out the saltiness of the dish well. In terms of price and value, this was a pretty healthy serving and fairly in line with what other cafes and restaurants are charging for ‘high end’ pastas. If you’re big into your prawn linguine and seafood pasta is your go-to, this would be a must order.

The raw tuna and wood ear mushroom was a light starter dish. The wood ear mushroom had no flavour, but added an interesting jelly like texture to the dish, similar to seaweed in consistency. The light soy was a soft compliment to the tuna, but this dish overall lacked the acidity I usually like in my raw fish dishes. I don’t think I would order this again.

On the other hand, the mushroom and barley risotto was delicious. It was comforting and the mushroom flavours added a rich umami-ness to the dish. The barley was a nice textural element, adding a nice hard chew to the more mushy risotto.

Finally, we ordered both of the desserts on the menu to finish off the meal. The tiramisu was an extremely small portion. A nice coffee jelly and rich sponge cake but honestly not worth the price. The ice cream choux was very yummy. I found the ice cream to be very icy, rather than creamy, which I didn’t mind. The puff pastry was light and airy. Definitely worth ordering the choux to try.

For sides we ordered the iced tea and a flat white, alongside some fries. I would skip the ice tea in the future and order an iced latte instead. The tea wasn’t very large and their coffee was much better. The fries were well seasoned and did the job. We ordered it as a compliment to the cheeseburger.

Melissa – 3.5/5, nice cafe in a convenient location. On the pricey side but nothing outrageous for Sydney. I can see myself coming back for a nice meal in the future.

Whilst the review seems overly negative, the food and service were both exceptional. I would definitely return if I was searching for a more premium experience. I had to dock points off for the prices/serving sizes (which were rather small) but overall Cedric’s is pretty in line with what the price points are for cafe and dining in Sydney now. With inflation only heading upwards, unfortunately there will be a point when the prices here are just the baseline, rather than premium. The cafe/more western dishes served at Cedric’s offers a point of differentiation in an area of Sydney CBD that is saturated with Korean BBQ, Chinese hot pot and bubble tea shops.