Sweet Pumpkin Soup

Sweet Pumpkin Soup @ Eastwood

Where: Sweet Pumpkin Soup, 106-108 Rowe Street, Eastwood NSW 2122

Coffee Bean: ??

Sweet Pumpkin Soup is another little café/eatery in Eastwood, just a little way down the street from Café Cherry Bean (see our review below!). Its specialty, as you can guess from its name, is pumpkin soup, which is a little unusual and pretty cool. It also does coffee and cake (I heard their lemon tart is great, though I’ve never tried it myself), pizza and pasta, and “bingsoo”, which is a Korean dessert dish with shaved ice, mocchi, and either fruit pieces or black beans depending on what flavour you get.

Interior

It’s a pretty small café—two tables just outside, and a few seats inside. They have kept the unpolished concrete floor with chunky wooden chairs and tables, which creates a fairly effective café-like atmosphere. Their menus are hand-written on the wall and you order at the counter though they bring them out to you.

Pumpkin Soup & Garlic Bread

On a previous visit, a year or two ago, I’d tried their pumpkin soup, which comes with a basket of garlic bread for $9.50. It’s perfect for a light meal, maybe an early lunch—hot and thick and heartening, accompanied by warm buttery bread. In the photo, the bowl only looks half-full (or half-empty if you’re that kind of a person), but it’s also a big bowl and I found it nicely filling, especially with the garlic bread. Definitely worth a try if you happen to visit, especially in the cold winter months.

Flat white

On this visit, I didn’t have time to eat so I just grabbed a cup of coffee. I’d never tried coffee here before. A small flat white cost $3.60, which I thought was a tad pricey. But man oh man was it strong! I’m not sure what coffee bean they use, but it was about as strong as a double-shot—a bitter punch of caffeine to your mouth, especially if you weren’t expecting it!

If you’re fond of these kinds of coffees, then you might be pleased with SPS coffee. For me, it was definitely a bit too much. I did finish drinking it, but in the end I was wincing a bit at the powerful taste. If I ever drop by again, I’ll be sure to ask for a half-strength.

There is a reason the café is called ‘Sweet Pumpkin Soup’ rather than ‘Sweet Coffee’. Its specialty is definitely what makes it, well, special. In a street full of more popular and fancier cafés, it’s good to have a homey little place like SPS who stays true to what they are good at.

Yays:

• Pumpkin soup. It’s sweet.
• Variety in food/drinks

Nays:

• Coffee is a bit too strong for my taste.
• Coffee also a bit pricey.

Overall Experience:
70%--Credit!