Dining review: healthy cafe food at The Postcode Project in Manly Vale

The Postcode Project will deliver healthy eats to Sydney a suburb at a time.

Grass-fed beef quinoa kraut burger at the Postcode Project. Picture: Adam Yip

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There are some quirky touches in David Alexander’s main road Manly Vale cafe.

The plates are a mishmash from op shops — I’m not sure how J. T. Dorahy’s 2013 triple bowls championship plate ended up at our table with a mushroom burger on it, but it did, and that’s another story.

Regular customers have a coffee wall of black subway tiles to mark up their takeaway or drink-in caffeine tally, and the 10th one is free, says Alexander.

For the uninitiated, the coffee is PureBean, organic and Fairtrade.

Alexander says anything that isn’t Fairtrade is non-negotiable.

And that’s the raison d’etre behind this cafe.

Front counter wall doubles as a coffee loyalty `card’. Picture: Adam Yip.

The Postcode Project is a concept built around his three core values — honesty, integrity and transparency.

Just bigger than a hole in the wall, The Postcode Project delivers its on trend real-food message without being too preachy.

Here the menu is organic, GMO and chemical-free — it has vegan offerings, as well as a cabinet of raw treats.

But there are also egg and bacon rolls and big, beefy grass-fed burgers for gig beefy tradies.

And there are three types of help-yourself kombucha.

The ginger one is quite palatable, and it doesn’t have that metallic aftertaste kombucha can have.

Instead, it’s bright and spritzy — more like a ginger beer on a hot summer day.

Healthy eats: the charcoal beetroot vanilla slice. Picture: Adam Yip

The milkshakes are weird and wacky.

If raspberry and red kidney bean or blueberry and sweet potato don’t float your boat, then there are protein shakes, choose-your-own fruit juices and organic Tea Tonic teas.

The food eases back into mainstream offerings with several meaty and vegetarian burgers that come wrapped or bun-less.

The already-mentioned grilled mushroom burger comes with quinoa, beetroot pecorino, kale pesto and mixed leaves.

The Postcode Project also has choose-your-own base organic waffles that come with a variety of savoury or sweet toppings.

Our lemon thyme chicken is topped with mushrooms, avocado, green leaves and turmeric mayonnaise.

Alexander says he wants to make Australia healthy one suburb at a time, and his goal is 12 cafes in three years. Dee Why is next on the postcode map.

The Postcode Project

289 Condamine St, Manly Vale, 8386 9893

Open: 6am-3pm, daily

Coffee: Organic PureBean, Fairtrade winner 2016

Go for: Burgers, waffles including lemon thyme chicken

Best bit: Well-priced food, decent portions

Worst bit: Parking, easy to miss

Bottom line: $46.50 with drinks