I have lived and worked in the area for quite a number of years and have walked past this place…read moremany times with intrigue until eventually I set my targets on going there. It's taken three attempts to get a seat in here as this place is exceptionally popular due to its great coffee, food , relaxed vibe as well as brilliantly combined cafe and book store concept. I got excited when I knew I had finally achieved the goal of making it to the counter to order. The menu was on a cute kids book and I decided to order Chai Tea and the Pesto eggs. The place is famous for their Chai tea which comes out in a Tea pot and its freshly brewed. They provide you with a colander to use when pouring it. The chai was so authentic and beautifully spiced. It was so fresh and the tea pot allowed you to have about 2 1/2 cups so ensured you could savour the flavour. The chai had options for Soy , full cream milk , skim or Almond Milk. The Pesto eggs came out on a bread board which consisted of Iggy bread ( famous bread - and for reason, it was delicious) and a mini frying pan for the eggs. The eggs were fried and cooked with Pesto which gave it a beautiful basil and garlic flavour. The combination of rocket and almonds combined perfectly to give it an extra crunchy flavour. The bread was perfect for dipping in the eggs along with the labor dip on the side which gave a beautiful sour taste. When you set your expectations so high sometimes you get disappointed but this wasn't one of those occasions. The experience was very enjoyable from start to finish and can see why people don't want to movie when they visit this place cause their is enough chai and books to make anyone happy forever.

Stopped in for a quick breakfast while strolling around Bondi Beach in an effort to beat jet lag…read moreafter my flight in from the USA. The Mexican Eggs were an unexpected treat! Nice place, great food. Highly recommend!

Dont have that much in variety but probably worth checking if you are looking for some hidden gemsread more

The book store is great but the cafe isn't. I never write bad reviews but I was so disappointed…read morewith my food. The field mushroom sandwich was almost cold, the toast was dry as in no butter, the mushrooms were tasty but as I said almost cold, the "bed of rocket" was wilted and dry - I would throw it out at that stage if it were in my fridge, and the over all portion was not generous. All that for $16, the coffee is fine but over all the cafe is over priced. Buy a book and go read it somewhere else, is my advice.

Apart from selling books, which it does and does quite well, Gleebooks also plays host to various…read moretalks and events which take place in the upstairs room of the Glebe Point Road shop. They hold book launches, established authors in conversation and every Sunday they host a book club, as well as, on the first Saturday of every month, a stand up comedy show. Wit Large, a stand up evening billed as "Smart Comedy for Smart People" is a night that has come out of a desire for comedians to longer have to tell jokes over the uproar of a drunken conversation, the clatter of cutlery or the various "witty" repartee of an inebriated audience member on their bucks party. The show also aims to keep its humour either brow or higher, and their website claims that each act is screened first to avoid sexism, homophobia and lazy or energetic racism. Each show comes equipped with a theme, such as, "Medicine", "Music" and "New Arrivals" and various professional comedians, some local, and seem even on the International level. The night was engineered by stand up comedian Dave Bloustein, who hosts each performance, and Carrie Hardie, the shows producer. Tickets are $15 each, and the night utilises the book shop well, as during the intermission, you're free to browse the paperbacks and hard covers that paint the walls surrounding the stage. Wine and beer is available.

I had seem this place out of the corner of my eye as I was wandering arouind Glebe previously, and…read moreI decided to come back and check it out a bit later on that day. I was lucky because I get inside about five minutes before he closed, so I got a good opportunity to look around. I have to be honest and say that as bookshop it wasn't one of the best that I have been to, and the stock didn't really impress me as much as it could have impressed me. Mind you, it stocks new as opposed to second-hand books, which is probably why it didn't grab my attention as much as a second-hand bookshop does (namely because secondhand bookshops always have something interesting inside, and tend to have that musty, used book, feel about it). Mind you, I did find a couple of interesting books, but still, with what is next door, it doesn't really jump out at me.

I've walked into the Dymocks bookshop many times but I had never actually noticed the little cafe…read moreupstairs. We went there for lunch with colleagues for the first time because someone told us the vegetarian burger there is amazing. They were right! The vegetarian burger is absolutely delicious. They make the patty with feta and spinach and add a great sauce. Also ordered a sugar and lemon crepe and it was yummy. The real con of this place is it's dark and gloomy. The seats and tables literally date back to the 80's and they haven't aged well. I will go back once in a while for the food, but will never look forward to hanging out in that place. A shame! A bit of renovation would make it a really nice hang out spot.

What's not to love, coffee & books. The orange juice is delicious & the dips plate is tasty &…read morefilling. Worth a visit although come prepared to wait a little bit the staff & service are a slightly slow.

I think this makes my top 5 of good bookstores in Sydney…read more Its selection is limited, so if you're after a specific book you may not get lucky. However, the alternatives Oscar and Friends provides you with may very well be better than your original search item. They stock a fantastic range of creative non-fiction including travel books and guides, biographies and autobiographies, a top choice of beautiful cook books and shelves of coffee table art books including a few fantastic graffiti and tattoo lookbooks. Oscar and Friends obviously opt for quality over quantity, with their slightly smaller fiction section made up of a strong choice of new releases and classics. The kids selection is even smaller, but once again it is made up of a few choice picks, including my favourite, "Possum Magic". Their 'staff picks' shelves always seem to correlate with my own choice of reading materials and so when I'm at a loss as to what to read I know I can always trust Oscar's recommendations.

Oscar & Friends stocks a wide ranging collection of classic and contemporary novels, large glossy…read morecoffee table books, children's books, arts and design books, autobiographies... there's quite a lot squeezed into this little store. It's probably more gift shop than bookshop, Oscar & Friends boasts an eclectic range of books to match its eclectic clientele. This is the shop that you could do ALL your Christmas shopping in and pick up some great cards as well.

The first thing you need to make sure you do is cross the road. You'll be at Fratelli Paradiso or…read moreWoolworths or the Yellow cafe .. cross the road. I know that life is more exciting on the other side of Macleay St but you won't regret it. You're going to love this bookstore. I bought Stanley Fish here. I bought one of the Cleopatra biography's (two strangely came out at almost the same time) here. I bought Nicholas Nasim Taleb here. I bought Charles Saatchi here. You will get an education. I also love the aesthetic look of this place. It's airy and a little roomy and good books are always easy to find here.

This cute little book store is independently owned and stocks a good range of design, cooking and…read moretravel books as well as novels and beautiful coffee table books to give as presents. When trying to track down some vintage Golden Books that a particular Sydney-based designer transforms into blank journals, this place was listed as a stockist. Though none were available at the time, the friendly staff member took down my details and promised to call back at a later date when a new batch came in. When I ended up visiting in person, it was easy to see why people enjoy perusing the selection here with attentive shop assistants and easy to navigate sections. I ended up leaving with a new restaurant guide purely because they were so charming. And, they don't even mind if you casually skim through a coffee table book or two whilst seated in their cushioned window bench, complete with stuffed animals and an outlook onto the bustling Macleay Street.

Not that I am impoverished in any way, but when it comes to books, if I don't buy online, I almost…read morealways buy second hand, unless it's a spur of the moment purchase and the excitement of owning a certain book that I can see right in front of me outweighs the reality of how expensive that book is, especially when I feel impoverished. With that in mind, I can begin. Berkelouw books is the only second hand book shop in Leichhardt and is situated in the handy location of, right across the road from Norton Plaza. The first floor of Berkelouw is dedicated to new books with the sections divided into the appropriate and expected categories but with the exception of a specials/recommended table. A wall with the new titles and a staff picks shelf. Take a journey upstairs and you'll find yourself in second hand land where a large selection of both literature and reference books await you. If you're feeling lucky you can wade through the shelves of the, 'yet to be sorted' books. Or simply head to the aisle of your interest and navigate through the alphabetical titles there. The second hand section also sells CD's.

Berkelouw is a beautiful book shop, worthy of extended browsing and buying. The second hand…read moresection upstairs is easy to loose yourself in and the ground level of the shop pleases with crisp fresh pages of coffee-table books, paperbacks, kids books and an exciting range of stationary and tid-bits. The wine bar upstairs is also quite nice and is a fantastic place to relax with friends or alone, with a good book and a glass of red. Sadly, the downstairs roadside cafe is not as great as Berkelouw's other elements. Despite the perfect location, directly opposite the Norton Plaza and in the heart of Leichhardt, Berkelouw's cafe prices are quite expensive and, what's more, the prices are not indicative of the standard of the meals, with the food and coffee being of poor quality. If you're after a good location in Leichhardt then you've got it here. If you're after a good book or a great gift, then you've got it here too. If you're after a great breakfast with value for money then there are plenty of good options in your surrounding suburbs.

As a book store it was quite impressive, a great selection of books, good layout and I loved the…read morevibe as a book store. Sadly the cafe lets the store down, extremely overpriced, not a good selection on offer and not the best coffee. The cafe has no vibe and is quite bleak.

Ordered a prosciutto sandwich and a Spanakopita. You can't really go wrong with Spanakopita, but…read morethis one in particular wasn't cheap for a take-away cafe. At $12.50, I got a small square with a side of salad which I slayed in 5 bites. The spinach it was made with was not fresh, but just the frozen type. Still good, but not filling or worth it in the least. The tables weren't attended to much, meaning that tables were stacked with dishes and you had to clean the tables yourself if you didn't want to wait. The only thing good about this place is the atmosphere. Eating and chillin at a book stop is pretty cool. We had a great view of the streets too.