Dining review: The Old Civic brings Tex-Mex and American food to Frenchs Forest
The Old Civic has gone from being a video store to a pumping suburban cafe.
Manly
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Frenchs Forest has a long way to go in the northern beaches cafe catch-up game.
But if you are looking for a half-decent coffee, trendy cafe food and a cafe with a buzzy vibe, then Forestway Shopping Centre does more than a McDonald’s.
The new releases and blockbusters have long gone, and the centre’s old video shop has been transformed. Three years on, The Old Civic has found a new lease of life pumping out Campos coffee and breakfast, brunch and lunch every day of the week.
Saturday morning is bustling with junior soccer players either enjoying a celebratory debrief or commiserating over a hot chocolate and a muffin.
If you’re doing more than coffee on the run, the food is a simple selection of tasty mix and match Tex-Mex and a good handful of American favourites chucked in.
Head chef Robert Caruso has been on a foodie fact-finding mission to the US, so those diner influences shine through.
The obligatory burger and fries is an all-American salute to the Five Guys burger chain. In Frenchs Forest it is called The Wise Guy, and comes with two ground beef patties, American Jack cheese, grilled onion, dill pickle, ketchup, mustard and garlic aioli.
Or there’s chef’s Chicago Dawg, a hotdog homage beefed up with pickles, cheese, mustard and ketchup. And fries. No diner is complete without fries.
The breakfast and brunch does have more interesting and healthier Tex-Mex food.
Many of the dishes rotate around a handful of simple ingredients and oodles of flavour. Hold the ketchup, bacon and egg rolls are pepped up with barbecue chipotle sauce, cheese is extra.
If you love guacamole, chorizo, jalapeños and tacos, then come on down.
The Old Civic’s tacos dish up scrambled eggs with grilled chorizo, guacamole, corn salsa, parmesan and crema (a Mexican version of crème fraîche) all neatly wrapped in two tacos. If you like it with a bit of a kick, there’s a side of jalapeños.
Huevos rancheros is a rural Mexican staple. We’re not off to do any farm work, but it’s a hearty way to enjoy two fried eggs on black beans with a cup of strong Campos flat white.
The Old Civic is going from strength to strength. Marque two — The New Civic — has opened at the Glenrose Shopping Centre. Civic duties like shopping just get better.
The Old Civic
Shop 15, Forestway Shopping Centre, Forestway and Warringah Rd, Frenchs Forest
Phone: 7901 009
Open: Mon-Fri., 6am-5pm; Sat, 7am-5pm; Sun, 8am-4pm
Go for: huevos rancheros, $18; Civic tacos,$15; upbeet cold-pressed juice, $8; The Wise Guy burger with fries, $16.50
Coffee: Campos
Vibe: Muchos Mexicano
Bottom line: $48 for two
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