Flower Child, Chatswood

On many occasions I have walked past Flower Child, located above the Hawker's Lane in Chatswood Westfield, but this mysterious cafe was closed every single time (at night). Hence, when I realised that it was open on early Saturday morn, I bypassed the option for another visit to Elbow Room Espresso and seized the opportunity to check this place out:

Exterior of Dining Area

Cakes and Tarts

Takeaway Counter

Upon arrival, I was promptly told to sit at bar table. Within 1 min of sitting, I was given table water and asked if I had decided on what to order... but I had barely had a chance to read through the menu. Hence, the next few minutes were spent perusing the (small) menu and then swiveling on my bar chair in hope of flagging down a waiter... Eventually, I got hold of a waiter and put in my order.

After a 15-20 min wait, I was eventually handed my french toast through the window opening:

Flower Child French Toast ($17) with Banana Mascarpone, Sliced Banana,
Dark Chocolate Crumb, Fresh Berries and Salted Toffee

The french toast looked awesome and the flavours worked well together, especially with the addition of the pecans... buuuutttt I do question whether any egg was used to make the french toast - all I could really see/taste was the oil soaked in by the brioche:

Dissection of French Toast

This whole experience would have been better off if it weren't for the incident with the middle-aged couple sitting next to me (not their fault though). They had placed their order (of coffee and french toast) before I had been seated, yet they only received their coffee. After seeing that I had received my plate of food, they followed up on their order and it turned out that there was a mix-up... and the couple had to wait even longer for their french toast to be made. As a way of apology, the french toast was taken off their bill but still, it was super awkward as they had already waited for over 30 min by that point in time, and also had to suffer by watching me finish eating and getting my bill before they even saw their french toast.

On another note, I was a little disturbed (and concerned) by the way in which food is prepared. The cooking kitchen for the Flower Child is located across the public passageway from where customers are seated and the coffee machines/drink station is - à la The Missing Piece, which is totally fine -, however there was a guy standing in the passageway preparing/finishing dishes through a large window opening:

He was peeling/cutting bananas and avocados, mixing food in bowls and then sprinkling food onto plates with his bare hands... and occasionally wiped his hands on the tea towel hanging from his waist/apron. Given that food is being handled and prepared along a public area that is shared with many pedestrians (along with a nail salon next door), to me this raises a red flag for food safety - I would prefer to not see my food prepared like that.

Therefore, eat here at your own risk.