Ambient lighting casts shadows on the faces of earnest patrons, who sit on leather couches surrounded by vintage sewing machines and the sounds of mellow jazz.

Chef's Palette has all the markings of an inner-city hipster bar, only it's not. When I turn to face the street front, rather than the interior exposed brick wall, the illusion is shattered and I am brought firmly back to the present, at a cafe in busy Strathfield Plaza.

That is not to disparage the venue, for the food that follows is worthy of its showy fit-out.

While new in spirit, Chef's Palette had a previous life as My Sweet Memory, a franchise coffee shop-cum-stationery store that closed earlier this year for a redesign.

Other than the fact it sells sweets, it bears almost no resemblance to its previous incarnation, which played Korean hip-hop and was popular with schoolgirls delaying homework and couples on late-night dates.

The owners hoped installing a kitchen and introducing a full menu would give them a point of difference from the many franchise cafes in the area. Their vision, manager Brian Kim says, was to design the type of place you would expect to find in Surry Hills.

They have brought in an experienced executive chef, Shane Lee (The Star, Sofitel Sydney Wentworth, Four Seasons), and their aim is high-quality food at low prices.

After scanning the breakfast and lunch menus in advance, we decide to arrive after 11.30am when the kitchen changes over, as the lunch menu looks more interesting.

To start, we order house-made ricotta cheese on sourdough with a poached egg. The strong smell of black truffle, from the infused salt it's seasoned with, wafts from the dish as soon as it hits our table.

There's a lot of cheese, richer and creamier than the usual ricotta, so my lunch partner and I share the dish.

We also share the pumpkin and ricotta gnocchi main with butternut puree, forest mushrooms, oven-roasted pumpkin seeds and micro herbs.

It's a great winter dish, though the temperature is a bit too scalding when it arrives. The marble-sized gnocchi are crisp and golden on the outside, like oven-baked potato gems, while the soft puree tastes like a thick pumpkin soup when seasoned with cracked pepper.

We have ordered strategically to leave enough appetite for dessert and, boy, was that the right call because the desserts are a game changer.

The savoury food is good, but it is the sweets we will remember.

Pastry chef Catherine Moon studied at Le Cordon Bleu and trained at Aqua Dining in Milsons Point and Sydney Opera House catering. She is a real talent.

A glass counter at the cafe's entrance is filled with cakes, pies, slices and jars of panna cotta and tiramisu. I go for the green tea tiramisu because, despite not being overly fond of the Italian dessert, I love matcha.

To my delight, the moist cake has a strong green tea flavour and a sweet cookie crumble at the bottom. I determinedly wipe clean every corner and crevice of the jar.

We also polish off a large lemon crumble slice, like a hybrid of lemon cheesecake and lemon meringue pie, with crispy pastry and perfect lemon curd.

As we leave, we are told they are just a week away from introducing an evening menu of fine-dining desserts.

It's a disappointment for us, but terrific news for anyone yet to visit.

THE LOW-DOWN
THE PICKS Pumpkin and ricotta gnocchi, green tea tiramisu, pastries
THE COFFEE Five Senses single origin beans and Morgan's Coffee Roasters beans
THE LOOK Like a dimly-lit whisky bar
THE SERVICE Attentive and cheerful