Inner west favourite Algorithm brings its creative cafe menu and specialty coffee to Potts Point.
You know a cafe is popular when the front door waitlist is pages-deep and people stare at your table like it’s the only jammy bun in the baker’s window. This was us, seven minutes ago, a speedy wait-to-table timeframe that is testament to one of Algorithm’s magnetic pulls – in this case, service.
Many in the inner west will be familiar with their Algorithm, the bright white corner cafe on Marrickville Road serving roasted spam, truffled folded egg, pastries in a slide-out glass case and glasses of Rhythm, the undisputed cold brew drink of last summer, with its lip-lacing orange-zested vanilla cream topping.
Its co-founders, husband-and-wife team Beryl Leomongga and Baby Angelina Kartiko, who is also head chef, are behind Algorithm in Potts Point too. And, while the menu is similar, they’ve added new dishes and drinks, tackled a very different part of town, and made some effective mood changes.
Decor-wise, Algorithm in Potts Point is inverse to its inner west cousin. Unlike the semi-industrial Marrickville cafe, with its chalk-white exterior, pale origami-esque stools and floor-to-high-ceiling windows flooding every corner with light, Potts Point is darker and cosier.
There’s stainless-steel banquette seating with curves like a skateboard park. The kitchen and front counters, also lined with gleaming alloy, are spotlit like a gallery. The low ceiling, undulating with cross-beams and light racks, resembles an upside-down egg cartoon, which might be why it feels like we’re cocooned in here, ensconced between inky black tables, a record player with disco soul playing from red speakers and shelves and ledges of precisely placed packets of house blend Rhythm (made with Headland Coffee).
The frenetic pace of Darlinghurst Road – cruising taxis, dogs on leads, wandering tourists looking up and down for the Coca-Cola sign – is but a framed slice of life once you’re inside sitting down to a plate of beautifully crumpled folded egg. Speckled with pepper, it’s zig-zagged with blushing LP pork sausage lolling across a sourdough muffin layered with chilli aioli and tomato relish.
Then one of the small platoon of staff members – all in T-shirts illustrated with a white print of the Marrickville cafe building – brings their cheesy butternut toastie.
I’ve never had roasted butternut pumpkin and sweet potato in a toasted sandwich before, least of all one that also includes melty cheddar and ricotta, sage and pecan nuts. This triumvirate of golden tastes – soft orange pumpkin, sweet, fleshy tuber, oozing cheeses, all mingling with buttery pecans – is a balm-like slice of hedonism. Dipping it in hot honey ups the ante significantly.
Match this with the previously mentioned Rhythm for a head-zinging mix of caffeine and cream. Or go Algorithm’s new two-tone brew – the salted caramel matcha crunch. This layers salted caramel cream and iced oat matcha under a crispy oblong of frosted cornflakes. At a pinch, you could call it breakfast in a glass and it goes down a treat.
Algorithm’s speciality coffee is one of the reasons behind both cafes’ popularity; it leads to long conversations between staff and customers considering which bean batch to take home. The other driving force is the level of service. Locals – and many tourists, judging by the German, French and US accents around us asking for warm coconut rice pudding, chorizo and chilli eggs and gingery yakiniku chicken rolls – are clearly loving the attentive staff.
At one point they whisk 10 footpath tables, and the people sitting at them, out of the spitting rain between delivering cutlery, taking orders and providing cheer to a crying baby. Leaving customers are farewelled by at least five of them. It’s like leaving behind a personal butler.
It took a year longer than expected for Algorithm to cross town and open in Potts Point due to renovation and council delays but its arrival heralds a new hospitality hot spot.
Three more specialty drinks cafes to try
Ickle Coffee
Specialising in sourcing coffee from independent producers, Ickle’s co-owner Rowena Rangwan Chansiri roasts the beans for this cheery, sustainability focused cafe – and others throughout Australia – and is on-site to help pick a brew.
251 Kingsgrove Road, Kingsgrove, icklecoffee.com
Moon and Back
An industrial-minimalist cafe serving a plethora of specialty drinks including the creamy Matcha Magic, served with dango – skewered sweet rice dumplings – or the cacao- and berry-infused black forest cold brew, topped with cranberry foam.
7/2 Crewe Place, Rosebery, moonandbacksyd.square.site
Poketto
Poketto, a spin-off from the owners of Kurumac and Cool Mac, is already serving its summer cooler – iced strawberry latte with plenty of cream and sweet fruity pulp. Match it with cod roe and shimeji mushroom udon or soy pork belly soba at the monthly in-house clothing, art and flowers market.
1 Dangar Street, Chippendale, @pokettocafe
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