The Moody Chef

Coffee is great. Been a twice now and each time it was a long wait for food. Suggest you manage expectations and know you’ll have at least a 45 – 60 minute wait for food after you put your order in, even if semi quiet. Food is tasty but takes a lot of time.

Stellar! Love this awesome coffee shop where everything is tasty or scrumptious! Whatever you come get here, from the strong tasty coffee to the yummy pastries, muffins, and cookies, you’re bound to love it. Just enjoy :-)
Prices are average (normal), they accept cash and cards. They serve breakfast and lunch, everyone can find something they like.

Love love love!!! Environment, friendly people, perfect food and coffee. And it’s next door to our apartment! Just perfect xxx

Tried the food now. Coffee’s still not that great, there’s better in the area. Food’s actually pretty good (when you eat in, not a fan of the take away fare). Would definitely come back for a good feed — the all day breakfast options are definitely a goer. So in the end — 2 things let this place down. The coffee, and the bearded almost-​hipster on the front counter with a bad attitude (compared to the rest of the staff who are fantastic).

I decided to go here after my cousin recommended me to try some cafes. I came here for lunch.
Environment: medium sized, and good for groups. Make sure you tell the person in front if you want a seat or if you want take-​away.
Food: I got the chicken risotto and an eagle eye juice. They have a nice selection of juices to choose from. Near the front where you pay, there’s a selection of pastries and such, and a menu of take-​away items. The chicken risotto was decent, nothing special. The eagle eye was very tasty but very pricy. There was something in my water — maybe an eyelash or something?
The only thing I didn’t like is how I felt like I had to flag down a waiter in order to pay and get a box. I’m not sure if that’s usually what happens.
Overall: would come here again, but for breakfast/​brunch.

Stopped in for breakfast before work. Fresh tasty dishes, great coffee (as is most AU coffee from an American perspective), friendly fast service. Had the bruschetta poached eggs on toast, hit the spot! Free wifi was an added bonus. Only complaint is it gets quite busy during commuter rush.

Good coffee great food and close to work. Great for a cooffee meeting or kunch with friends. Can be very busy at times. Great uf you work or live bear by.

This place is pretty awesome aye!
Always buzzing with people either buying their take away coffees, having mum chats, family gatherings, business lunches and just about everything else.
The first time I was here I had a salt pepper squid and spicy chorizo with pumpkin and fetta salad — that was epic. This time I thought I’d try something «cooked»; aka in Alby terms — a hot dish not a salad — so ordered the spaghetti with king prawns and chilli. Definitely didn’t let me down though I still prefer the salad. Maybe that’s what they mean by first impressions last?
Something funny happened too and don’t know whether it was intentional. Try go there with a group of people that has a mix of guys and girls. You’ll notice they give you different glasses. All the guys had water glasses that were different to the girls. It could be chance but my gut feeling is the waiter enjoys his work too much!

Yum yum yum…
The Moody Chef is a not-​small-​not-​supersized (medium sized?) café located minutes walk from the St Leonards Train Station and nearby highrise buildings. A corner position and high street profile provides plenty of light into the seating area, and an absence of street noise is welcomed.
The café has a modern look and feel, without being ‘ultra-​modern boring’, and takes advantage of a variety of furniture and decorative effects. A great place to hang out for a coffee or meal with the added benefit of soaking up some free wifi.
I dropped in for breakfast during the week with a colleague for a lazy start to what would be a busy work day. Happy to see the specials menu I chose an omelette which had red pepper, chorizo and a cheese, the name of which unfortunately has skipped my mind, but was ultimately delicious. This paired with a flat white which was smooth and with good body, and my lazy start was on the up.
There’s enough on the menu to keep you interested with breaky/​brunch/​lunch options. Staff are friendly and accommodating, and our server checked on us without ‘overchecking’ as can be the case at some cafes. This was quite well timed — as we did need another caffeine injection prior to departure (it would be a very long day).
In the past I’ve taken advantage of the function room for a business breakfast which was great as we had a space to ourselves, a good option if you want to get the team together but also have an opportunity to give a quick presentation (without disturbing the rest of the café folk or breaching corporate confidentiality…).
Recommended — if you are in the area hit up the friendly staff at the Moody Chef… they do good work.

A little hidden gem! I was actually heading towards Crows Nest when I happened on this packed little café. While it’s not always the case, to me, crowded restaurants = good restaurants (why else would so many people have stopped to eat there?!?) and I’m happy to say that I was right. There were so many items on the menu I wanted to try, it was actually really hard to pick just 1 dish.
The service was good, the coffee was good and I’m actually looking at the menu online right now thinking I might have to go back this weekend again to try some breakfast…

I love the warm chicken salad with pine nuts! Fresh, tastey and perfectly proportioned. Minestrone in winter is another favorite with lots of fresh flavours and full of healthy goodness.

Best food in the area — really much more than a café. Excellent coffee and attentive service, with constant improvements to the décor and furnishings. How the restaurant industry should be run!

Went here for lunch with a friend, and despite being away from the main crowd of cafes (Willoughby Road) in the area this place was very busy at lunch time — it is clearly a local favourite.
The service was friendly, the location convenient (not far from the train station). The food was ok — I ordered the Thai Chicken Burger with avocado. I had been expecting a chicken breast in a closed burger, but they serve this as a minced chicken patty on an open piece of bread (i.e. only one piece of bread on the bottom of the burger, no top). Apparently the menu does mention this… so shame on me for making assumptions! The Thai sauce tasted like a mayo mix added on top. The serving size was generous, but I would probably order something else next time.

The chef is not moody here. It’s a quite busy establishment so I don’t know why anyone here would be moody. It gets very busy during lunch as workers from the businesses around the area flock to the Moody Chef for takeaway or a quick bite to eat before returning to work. Both the breakfast and lunch menus look delightful. I happen to visit in between so I was able to see both menus. For breakfast they have a complete breakfast that comes with hash browns (a big plus in my book), but I decided on the chicken, fetta, onion, tomato melt. The menu has a little bit of everything and tries to have some healthy options (which I appreciate). The coffee is also good and I stayed here for a little while people watching since the place has a great turn around. I don’t know how it is on Saturdays but they have a Saturday brunch. I’m sure the crowd is a little different, but the menu looked good. Maybe one day if I’m in the mood.

Fantastic breakfasts prove that this chef is in a good mood. Smoked salmon and avocado on linseed toast is an absolute favourite of mine.
In winter they do a terrific minestrone with pesto and wood fired bread for lunch. In some parts of northern Italy pesto is a traditional addition to minestrone so I feel quite at home.
They have plenty of vegetarian options and nice coffee (I won’t say great). It’s the only thing that isn’t quite right.

Despite my best efforts, I could not spot a moody chef at St Leonards’ Moody Chef café. And, judging by the devoted business crowd, neither must they. This part of the city has been in flux for the last year with a wide range of office spaces available for lease throughout the area and in lock step with this trend, the number of local cafes outside the St Leonards Forum is fairly low.
In light of this, The Moody Chef is a popular destination of the 9-​to-​5 crowd and dropping in for a coffee will find you privy to fast paced business discussions about vertical integration, negative gearing, supply chain demand, and other important topics amongst the magnates of the day. The coffee is smooth and this café offers separate breakfast and lunch menus, along with a Saturday brunch menu and monthly specials. With the large work contingent, the service is very efficient and non-​intrusive to the wheelings and dealings going on.
If you are a manager who is looking for an area café to hold a meeting, you may want to reconsider that choice. Moody Chef has a number of large tables that you can seat your subordinates at, but the noise level can be quite high if you are needing to project important points down an eight person table. Your workers will start to tune out (not saying that I did. .. but I’m not saying that I didn’t) and before you know it, Bill from Accounts will inadvertently return to work on Monday morning and your cunning ploy to fire him in public and thus avoid a messy scene will have failed.