The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry | A Sydney Food Blog

Sloppies, Glebe

July 19th, 2013  |  Published in Restaurants  |  4 Comments

Sloppies-001

There’s a pure gut-level joy in eating at a place like Sloppies in Glebe. This is the night-time alter-ego of Wedge Espresso: once evening strikes, this narrow Tetris-block of a cafe gains an American accent and serves sloppy joes, which are burger buns loaded with super-braised “loose meat”. (If you’re a certain age, that phrase will come with bonus flashbacks of watching the sitcom Roseanne.)

Sloppies-002

This is food that has boundary issues – pick up a sloppy joe and all the ingredients slurp, spill and drip all over each other, but that’s part of the fun. At Sloppies, you might find yourself mopping up with a few serviettes after having The O.G. ($10), which slams together beef mince ragu and slaw; the Sloppy Pork ($10), pork shoulder slopped with chipotle mayo and mustard slaw; and The Yoko ($10), a vegetarian option that’s as high-mess and delightful – think sweet, rich miso eggplant chunks crammed with sesame slaw. It feels like Japanese cuisine redone as American drive-thru convenience. And in fact, at Sloppies, even if you’re eating in, your meal will come in a takeaway paper bag, just to complete the on-the-run, fast-food feel.

Sloppies-003

Will’s pick was The Darren ($13), the first of many “guest Sloppies” – this one is by chef Darren Templeman of Restaurant Atelier, from across the road. It was a squishy, super-charged combo of braised Kobe brisket, melted cheese, green tomato chutney, with some Japanese accents of miso and seaweed.

Will also loved the Pork Nuggets ($8), which are equal parts ludicrous and outright delicious. They’re made of pork chunks that are braised, compressed, coated in all-spice and then fried for maximum blowout flavour. They get dunked in a sweet and sour sauce that has a zippy, home-made apeal and may be a serious contender to a certain franchise’s offerings. (Oh and the sauce also does double-duty if you have a serve of chipotle fries that needs some condiment baptising.)

Sloppies-004

For me, the most dangerous selection on the Sloppies menu is the Peanut Butter and Crunchy Nut Corn Shake ($6). The first time I had it, I wrote on Instagram that it should be declared illegal in many countries because it’s so addictive. The shake is blitzed through with chunky peanut butter ice cream and lightly topped with crisp corn flakes on top. It’s a lot of fun overworking your straw as you sip.

Sloppies also has plans for licensed drinks – aka tinnies – but for now, you can also get “$3 yank dranks” like Mountain Dew Voltage, which tastes like a screwy, oversugared translation of the raspberry flavour advertised on the can. (We loved it, while also acknowledging that we would pay major nutitritional penance for consuming its stupidly enjoyable flavour.)

Sloppies-005

Also on the cards: Saturday night hours for Sloppies, which would make it a perfect pre-movie dinner spot, given its proximity to the Broadway cinemas. Currently, though, its doors are open Wednesday to Friday, 6-10pm. Order up, make a mess and don’t let any nutritional concern infiltrate your thoughts. This isn’t the kind of place to be an overserious killjoy – it’s called Sloppies, after all.

Sloppies (at Wedge Espresso), 53-55 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (enter on Cowper Street). Follow Sloppies on Twitter.

Tags: , ,

4 Comments

  1. so sad they opened while i’m away! so so keen to go here as soon as i’m back though. that shake looks out of this world!

  2. Jarhead says:

    Great review! Definitely going to check this place out. The pork nuggets and the crunchy nut corn shake sound insanely delicious. Really glad there’s more places like this opening up around Sydney.

  3. leetranlam says:

    Thanks for the nice words, @Jarhead. Hope you enjoy it when you get a chance to visit. @talkandspoon, sorry the opening didn’t quite coincide with your whereabouts, but hope you get to sip on the shake and enjoy the menu when you’re back within local coordinates.

  4. Amy zhong says:

    burgers and a shake. life cant get better than that!

Your Comments

Search

About

Hi, I'm Lee Tran Lam. When not blogging with my mouth full, I'm usually writing, presenting Local Fidelity on FBi radio, making zines, producing podcasts or continually breaking promises about how I really am gonna get through my book pile one day.

All the good pictures on this blog are by photography ace (and patient boyfriend), Will Reichelt, (all the dodgy ones can be credited to me)!

The lovely banner is by friend and ultra-talented illustrator Grace Lee.

This site redesign was made possible by the next-level generosity and expertise of Daniel Boud, whose code-tinkering ways are only outranked by his seriously inspired way with a camera.

You can read more about my co-conspirators here.

This is a blog I do for pure fun and zero influence – there's no sponsorship, sneaky advertorial or advertising. I pay for all the food mentioned, 'cos it seems the ethical thing to do.


About

This is a blog about eating and drinking in Sydney, Australia (with the odd cross-border or off-topic detour). BYO appetite.

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Search