Oliver’s
Caltex Service Centre, Northbound F3 Freeway, Wyong
NSW, Australia

Imagine sitting in a big rig. You’re barrelling up a highway to the Central Coast of NSW with your little brother, a big, bald and tattooed truckie who would rather eat a whole fried chicken and greasy burger than eat vegetables “That’s what the food eat’s mate”.

We pulled into the Caltex servo and went our seperate ways. Toilets stops are best done at different times and as Bernie, the aforementioned brother, went about his business I thought I’d look around the servo and see what it ad to offer. I was awoken from my stupor by bright green letterring on the side of a building that proudly proclaimed “Sushi”. I made a beeline for the building which also seemed to not be staffed by friendly but overweight and tattooed women in their 50s, but by a well groomed young bloke behind a counter and a cute who looked like sh’d just finished a shift.

I scanned the menuboard and hastily oredered some sushi which I was told was just made fresh. I sheepishly asked for wasabi and soy and to my surprise they not only had it but knew what they were, Turns out that most of the clientelle that seemed to stream through the joint were young locals or Sydney families going up the coast. The food was delish and fresh.

I was getting so excited that I almost forgot to ask if they had an espresso machine. The espresso counter, near the entrance, was clean and had all the usual recipies and none of the stupid ones. I spoke to the young guy at the espresso machine, I think his name was Troy, who told me he’d started making coffee at 14 and had worked his way through pubs to restoraunts to cafes. He did pretty well.

I’d ordered a latte and an espresso. I wish I could remember where they told me that they got their roast from because it wasn’t bad at all. Troy’s rosetta was a bit lacking and the foam was a tad too bubbly but he tried and pulled off what pases for a decent latte in many city cafes. Temperature was good, milk and coffee were blended well and I enjoyed it. The espresso was lovely and had just a hint of bitterness with a chocolatey after taste.

So all in all.

If you’re travelling north on the F3 and need a coffee and some food, and do not want greasy joes deep fried boot scrapings, then stop at Oliver’s. Food is good and a welcome relief to long haul drudgery, coffee is suprisingly good… and most importantly the place is keen with staff who look like they have a passion for what they do and where they work.

Given its location: 4 beans

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 14th, 2005 at 4:41 am and is filed under ALL REVIEWS, AUSTRALIA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.