Block Place is a tiny little alley crammed with cafes and the occasional shop. Brown Sugar sits nestled in the middle. Blink in front of any of these places and you'll walk right past.
The interior is crowded and noisy; not a place you'd come for a quiet lunch. Probably not a place you'd want to linger, either. It's the kind of place where you get busy people who still want decent food for lunch.
Prices are normal for the area ($15-20 mains), though perhaps we'd have liked a slightly more hospitable atmosphere for the money. The food wasn't bad, however. We started with the Fried Whitebait ($14), kind of like chips only with tiny fish inside. It was adequate but not quite crispy enough for my liking. The little fish were plentiful, though. For mains, Dave had the Fish of the Day (Blue Eye Fillets poached in garlic, parsley and white wine with Pipis, Prawns, and Calamari, $22). It was sort of like a clear fish stew, and was very tasty, but the fish was slightly dry. I had the Papardelle con Manzo ($16), wide flat noodles with braised beef, which looked and tasted a lot like Beef Stroganoff - and a nice one at that. I enjoyed it a lot; the meat was very tender and fell apart on my fork.
Water was provided without our asking, but they failed the auto-refill test. There was a jug on a sideboard, but it was unclear whether the jug was intended as self-service. Service wasn't bad considering how busy they were, but they could have used another person.
Fresh squeexed O.J. ($3.50) and a glass of Storm Ridge Pinot Noir ($forgot) went down nicely.
For dessert, I just had coffee (nice, no complaints) and Dave had the Toblerone Cheesecake ($6), which was extremely rich. He struggled to finish it. For shame!
The restrooms were, unfortunately, badly kept and very grotty. If I knew I wanted to use the toilet, I'd think twice about coming here.
Basically the food was nice but not outstanding. Decent service, reasonable prices. The only letdown was the restrooms, and the slightly uncomfortable seats.
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Dave's summary: (Was there a summary?)
Probability that we will return: 31 / 42
Note that the probability rating is affected by the fact that there are hundreds of places to eat around here.