Fresh and Simple – 6/322 Annangrove Road Rouse Hill
I turn into Fresh and Simple with a touch of trepidation. My initial thoughts when I heard of a cafe on Annangrove Road was perhaps of a little farm style hut of a cafe. Fresh and Simple instead is housed in an industrial block. The cafe is a relative oasis compared to the concrete and industrial steel just out the door. Beautiful wood paneled floors with solid farm style tables, comfortable chairs and leather lounges adorn the interior. The cosy interior transports you away into a world of comfort with a blackboard menu providing a half dozen choices in a few categories. There’s cooked breakfasts, lunches, rolls, pizza, and daily specials.
The philosophy behind Fresh and Simple is to source local ingredients as much as possible. To test it out we sample the ‘juicy steak sandwich’ and the scrambled eggs with bacon, sauteed mushrooms, and tomato. The steak sandwich is stunning, medium steak with deliciously sweet caramelized onions on generous pane di casa. The steak lives up to its juicy promise and oozes with flavour! The scrambled eggs are good as well, just cooked enough with a light fluffy texture. The eggs are sourced from a local farmer in Kellyville. It’s good to know that our dollars are going to local producers. The sauteed mushrooms and bacon are good partners. What is more extraordinary are the prices. Both our eggs and steak sandwich come in under the magical $10 barrier! To be quite honest, the steak sandwich is equal or even better than I had the Treehouse North Sydney a few days earlier. Although that came with chips, it was $21! Here at Fresh and Simple, it’s a mere $9! Similarly my breakfast in the city or beaches would come in at $12-15, here it was $9.50. Great value, and delicious, the magic combo!
My cappuccino is really quite good. The flavours are strong without overpowering the senses. There’s a nice aroma to the coffee and it is smooth.There are sweet fruity notes to coffee and makes for an almost refreshing experience. Fresh and Simple use a blend from a northern beaches roaster Caffe Di Gabriel, which is a boutique roaster providing beans to select restaurants and cafes throughout the country.
Fresh and Simple have recently opened and looking to make their mark in the north west of Sydney. For early risers the cafe opens at 6am and if you need your coffee fix even earlier they start churning out cups at 5:30am. At present, Fresh and Simple is open Monday to Friday til 3pm. Here’s hoping that the cafe really takes off and we see the cafe opening on the weekends. In speaking to the owner, the intent Fresh and Simple is to expand in the Hills area and utilise kiosk style setups to deliver their coffee and the fine food that I sampled on my visit.
The district which takes in Kellyville, Rouse Hill and further to Annangrove is crying out for good coffee and food. Fresh and Simple to a certain extent answers that call with their attention to detail in the design of their cafe, and the well though out menu. While it’s placed in an industrial block, it was really easy to park and access the cafe. Even if you’re passing through, Fresh and Simple is only a couple hundred metres off Windsor Road.
Recommendation : If you live in North West of Sydney you are really missing out if you don’t go and check out Fresh and Simple in Rouse Hill. Good coffee and decent food and at a price that is just a little more than the fast food joints just around the corner, yet infinitely more healthy and tasty!
I was there today. Tried their gourmet chicken pie. Wonderful! Will go back again.
Sensational food, divine coffee, great atmosphere and very reasonably priced. Thumbs up from me – LOVED IT!