Shepherd’s is surprisingly quaint, given its high-traffic shopping mall location. It’s more like a takeaway bakery with an espresso machine rather than a proper cafe, but Shepherd’s does what it does pretty well. They have a wide range of rustic-style baked stuff, and although pretty much everything must be baked off-site, the food still manages to carry a home-baked kind of charm. My coffee was not great, and unfortunately I can only blame the super-friendly barista because Seven Miles (also the coffee supplier of my fave, Shenkin Espresso) should be pretty good. The banana bread was passable, and at least it was cheap. Overall, it wasn’t my best coffee and BB experience, yet I would still consider revisiting Shepherd’s, partially because of the obvious in-your-face convenience (you literally have to step around it to get your groceries), and partially because when I walk past and I’m hungry, I get tempted by the windows upon windows of ready-to-go, pretty decent bakery fare. And it’s not like I’d load up on pasties, pizzettes and salads here, then make a whole second stop for coffee and BB at Merchants of Ultimo… would I?
Coffee: -1
BB: 0