A Newtown Favourite Returns As Nest – a Cafe by Day and Restaurant by Night

It’s called Nest because its owner Robin Butler is called Robin. “And robins have nests,” says Butler.

(Butler’s Pantry would have been a cute name too, just saying.)

In some ways Nest is brand new and has only been open, here on the sleepier southern end of King Street, for just shy of two weeks. But in other ways, it’s been open for years. That’s because Butler used to own this cafe, before it became his nest, when it was Rolling Penny.

He started as head chef in 2017. “I just really fell in love with the place,” Butler says. Not long afterwards, the cafe’s original owner sold it to Butler, who immediately stamped his low-waste, DIY-nearly-everything style of cooking across the menu. Newtown liked the new Rolling Penny, and it successfully endured Covid and all the inclement financial weather that came with it.

But Butler was tired. So he sold Rolling Penny and headed west, to Rylstone in the Central Tablelands, to work as a chef at the Globe Hotel and focus on his catering company, Nest. Before long though, so many catering jobs in Sydney were coming up that a return to city life beckoned. Then, the folks he sold Rolling Penny to asked if he’d want to buy it back. He did. But this time, it would be Nest, completely his own from the beginning.

“As much as I loved Rolling Penny, it had so many things attached to it,” Butler says. “Nest is a fresh start.”

It’s actually two fresh starts. By day, it’s a cafe with a short and sweet menu that’s much more interesting than it seems at first glance. Yep, there’s an eggs Benedict stand-in – with char siu speck and a sesame hollandaise. Pork and fennel sausage, the patron saint of cafe sausages around Sydney, isn’t here – instead it’s sobrassada with anchovy on focaccia.

“I want the flavours to play on old favourites,” Butler says. “But also really not be what you’re expecting.”

Which is also why the hefty New York pastrami sandwich – which has achieved social media stardom in the last week – isn’t just a Reuben doppelganger. No-one seems to mind. Nest sells about 20 a day. “Every time I order the pastrami, I never order enough,” says Butler.

The second fresh start is in the evenings. Three nights a week, Nest the cafe becomes Nest the restaurant. The menu is a bit bolder after sundown. It’s more ferment-forward, but keeps the daytime’s focus on inverting classics. Take the coronation chicken, a favourite of the London-born Butler, which here gets a pina colada glaze.

The chef’s time in the Central Tablelands has rubbed off on the drinks list: Mudgee and Orange are the stars, with drops from De Beaurepaire and Jessop currently on pour.

It’s the end of the day shift. In a few hours, Nest will become Nest by Night. But just before the doors close, a customer squeaks in with enough time to order himself a coffee. “I swear this place looks different,” he tells Butler. “Have you guys been open for long?”

Butler has clearly fielded this question a lot recently, because his answer’s ready to go straightaway: “Yes and no”.

Nest
583A King Street, Newtown

Hours:
Wed 7am–2pm
Thu to Sat 7am–2pm, 6pm–late
Sun 8am–1pm

@nest_sydney