Copo Cafe and diner in Drummoyne, NSW

DO YOU ever play favourites at the dinner table? You all have a mouthful of each other's dishes and then one is voted Best on Plate.

recipe copo

DO YOU ever play favourites at the dinner table? You all have a mouthful of each other's dishes and then one is voted Best on Plate.

If there's a Dally M or Brownlow for main courses, it has to go to chef Brock Coffey's smoked fish pie, $26. A fight almost broke out over the last mouthful.

Oh my goodness, it's so many shades of wonderful, I don't know where to start, but it's a worthy challenger to The Boathouse's iconic truffled snapper pie.

There's a crust of whipped potato, sprinkled with breadcrumbs and fennel fronds, in a large cast-iron bowl.

Underneath is a creamy mix of smoked mackerel, bechamel, leek and peas. It redefines the term more-ish.

By day, Copo is a cafe dishing out substantial breakfasts, then pretty typical lunch fare salads, sandwiches, pasta and soup though a charcoal-roasted pork sandwich with pickled cucumber, baby leaves, pear and fennel relish, $12.90, suggests more care and creativity than you'll find elsewhere.

The flavour del dia, South American, is sprinkled liberally through the breakfast menu, where a bacon and egg roll with barbecue sauce, $6.50, hangs out with the chorizo and egg roll splashed with chimichurri (a spicy Argentine green sauce), $7.50. The baked beans are gaucho-style too.

Perhaps we should thank Copo's manager and barista, Daniel Acioli, who hails from Brazil, for the nod in that direction, but I'm busy suppressing my childhood delight at the sight of bubble and squeak, $13.90.

It's after sundown that Brock comes out to play with a menu that's powerful yet cleanly flavoured and instinctively nurturing.

This is food I'd be contented to eat nightly. It's honest, yet playful and fresh and doesn't try to be tricky.

There's plenty to entertain vegetarians, without insulting their intelligence, from the simplicity of crumbed, deep-fried wedges of fennel with aioli, $14, to orecchiette with gorgonzola and peas, $18, where the cheese treads lightly.

Brock's understanding of texture and flavour suggests he's far older and wiser than his 24 years. An entree of spicy-fried beans with pork chipolatas, speck and chorizo, $14, has enough vinegar acidity from a generous dollop of chimichurri to cut through earthy, cassoulet-like richness.

The most recent mentor in his short career was Rockpool Bar & Grill's head chef, Khan Danis. Brock's deft entree of smoked duck with pickled green tomatoes, apple and watercress, $15, the sliced breast pink and tannic, the salad lemony, wouldn't be out of place there, nor a bruschetta of sauteed cavolo nero with white anchovies, $6.

Despite being housed in the sort of banal utilitarian space that passes for a modern development, Copo has some charms with its communal timber tables with pots of succulents, the dry goods stacked against the wall like it's an enoteca warehouse, while Danny and his team bring a quiet efficiency to the floor.

Not much goes wrong, although the down-sized dinner version of lunch's chicken kaarage burger with kewpie sauce and cabbage, $9, only adds to a world already awash with tedious fried chicken dishes.

Braised beef cheeks with potato puree, cavolo nero and kohlrabi pickle gremolata, $26, is the opposite; boldly flavoured from the red wine and star anise braise, yet dreamily soft and gelatinous.

Desserts such as the rhubarb tart with mascarpone, $12, are rather straightforward, although the chocolate and ricotta torte, $12, has sex appeal. It seems fitting though. Copo isn't flash, but you don't want it to be.

You just want it to be good. And it is.

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Address: 135 Victoria Rd, Drummoyne (entry and parking via Formosa St)
Phone: [phone]

How it rated:

Food: 15/20
Staff: 7/10
Drink: 3/5
X-factor: 4/5
Value: 8/10

Overall: 37/50