Sydney's best breakfasts

Three Blue Ducks

Bronte

We’ve already told you about Darren Robertson, Mark LaBrooy and Shannon Debreceny’s (above) fresh, flavoursome, technique-driven dinners – Sydney diners are booking weeks ahead for a taste of the trio’s cooking. We’re back again to give you a serve of their breakfasts. And the best bit is you don’t have to make a reso. Roll into the breezy café after a swim at perilous Bronte Beach (three-way rips, powerful undertow and shoreline dumpers always make for an action-packed dip) and go for the lurid-yellow, organic scrambled eggs with firm black pudding, red currant jam and a healthy slab of toasted sourdough. It’s a bold-but-delicious choice. There’s always that bacon-and-egg roll (flat bun, thoroughly fried egg, crisp bacon, relish) if blood sausage is a little hardcore first thing in the morning. If you like breakfast dessert, you’ll be dipping in for an individual lemon meringue tartlet – all gooey curd piled high with lightly toasted meringue. And if breakfast somehow turns into lunch, then afternoon drinks, the ’Ducks have a neighbouring bar. That’s what we call a triple threat.

Can’t get a seat? Head down to the beach and try Caffe Salina.

bills

Darlinghurst

Many’s the ex-pat living in Sydney who despairs over brunch. Not, mind you, over the choice between the yoghurt parfait and the salmon blini. No, it’s because there’s barely anywhere to have a proper brunch altogether. But we say that with Bills in Darlinghurst tucked into the back of our mind. Because if you want the very epitome of brunch – Mimosas and Bloody Marys with creamy scrambled eggs, puffy little ricotta hotcakes with fresh banana and butter infused with honeycomb hunks, salmon gravlax with toasted rye and parsley salad – well, you’ve come to the right place. The light-filled room with its massive communal table is surrounded by well heeled parents wrangling their well dressed kids. Waitstaff are incredibly friendly, and the coffee is always reliably good. And hey, if you’re on a health kick, there’s always Japanese green tea with lime and 
a summer fruit salad. Nancys.

Can’t get a seat? Wander over to Sur Bourke Espresso for decent coffee and some French chat.

Cornersmith

Marrickville

One of the most interesting of the new wave of Marrickville cafés, Cornersmith harvest their own honey, use free-range eggs, ham and 
salami and are closed on Mondays – for pickling. How could anyone hate Mondays when it means fresh batches of chilli zucchini, peach and cardamom jam, tomato chutney, spiced-eggplant relish and any number 
of other combinations that take their fancy? The big drawcard here is their ever-changing Ploughman’s. On a given day it could include anything from a chorizo Scotch egg to West Australian sardines, black lentil and beetroot salad, zucchini ribbons with house-made fetta, labne, aged cheddar, chutney, crusty rye bread and even fruit pieces as a palate cleanser. Each visit is a brunchtime adventure. 3

Can’t get a seat? Stroll up to Bourke Street Bakery for a ginger brûlée tart. Breakfast dessert!

Chez Dee

Potts Point

This elegant charcoal terrace in the heart of Potts Point does some of the best eggs in town. There are the perfectly poached eggs with a thick dollop of citrusy Hollandaise on mushrooms and sourdough, or golden scrambled eggs that come with sea urchin roe, adding a salty richness to the dish. From high-end oeufs 
to rustic victuals, they also do a bowl of banana porridge that will warm the cockles of your heart. Skip the butter at breakfast and go for a fruit salad or a little baked treat instead to get the morning fires burning. No matter what you’re eating, your breakfast won’t be complete without a heart-starting espresso thrown into the mix – maybe make it two. Not in a hurry? See if you can nab a spot on the upstairs balcony to catch the cool breeze off Elizabeth Bay and all the action of a Kings Cross morning. Or, if it’s 
all a bit much, you can curl up in the alcove and while away the hours until wine o’clock reclined on embroidered cushions like Marie Antoinette.  

Can’t get a seat? Wander up to Gypsy Espresso for some of the best coffee in town.

Runcible Spoon

Camperdown

Egg and bacon really is the perfect culinary coupling. And just to show us that you can’t keep good ingredients down, at Runcible Spoon this classic breakfast pairing has found a new way to show off their smug compatibility – with Thai-style fried eggs, nam jim and pork belly. Two just-set yolks come encased on all sides in golden, fried egg white – almost as if they’ve been swiftly poached in oil – and the pork belly also comes with a crisp, fried shell. To balance things out it comes with jasmine rice (a little on the firm side), a spicy, fragrant Thai sauce and a zingy little salad to help meet your veggie quota. It’s basically a Thai-style fry-up. They use the excellent Golden Cobra coffee here. Pair it with a slice of their Japonaise cakes: three layers of almond meringue with coffee cream and caramel sauce and a smattering of toasted almond flakes. 

Can’t get a seat? Pop around the corner to Deus Ex Machina for a sambo and some custom motorcycles.

Popolo

Rushcutters Bay

You may well have had the pleasure of a long Sunday hangover lunch here – we can think of few places better equipped to handle the dented, the maimed and the shaky. But Flavio Carnevale and Fabio Dore have also recently begun serving breakfast and brunch. Don’t bother taking your sunglasses off – just mumble something about needing a Bloody Mary and their version, a Bloody Maria, will turn up and squeeze the hangover out with the power of tomato juice, Averna, chilli, lemon and olives. Of course maybe it’ll be a macchiato and a sparkling water – that’s OK too. Eats-wise, make sure to order the salsiccia – little pan-fried sausage nubbins – and scrambled eggs with pecorino. At Popolo, breakfast can very easily turn to lunch which can magically become dinner, all in a whirlwind of great service, excellent pizza and a kick-arse wine list. Salute.

Can’t get a seat? Head on over to Wilbur’s Place for their short but sharp brekky menu.

Reuben Hills

Surry Hills

There’s nothing better than a breakfast you don’t have to chew. If gumming your way through till midday is pretty much your idea of heaven, you’ll be overjoyed to learn of the milkshake menu at Reuben Hills. There’s Mexican choc-chilli, black sesame and, of course, for all you shake nerds out there, the infamous salted caramel number. One sip and you’re shimmying straight out of your seat and into a sugar-coma or lactose-nap. Keep it as a treat and make your brekky the tradesman’s brioche instead. Here, golden scrambly-fried eggs are layered with smashed avocado, tomato relish and slices of salty jamon, all on a soft, sweet brioche roll. If you’re a sucker for the sweet stuff, there’s a raspberry ice-cream sandwich with marshmallow fluff (they’re calling it ‘Give a Dogg a Bone’) – your one-way ticket to hypoglycemic heaven. Even yourself out with an excellent coffee and maybe a few slugs of water out of a cute tin mug.

Can’t get a seat? Make your way up the hill to Four Ate Five.

Kitchen by Mike

Rosebery

You’ll want to be armed with a good book and some comfy shoes visiting this incredibly popular café. The lines on weekends are the stuff of legend. But it’s worth it to eat ex-Rockpool chef Mike McEnearney’s food. Here’s how it works at Kitchen by Mike: you take your enamel plate and point to the things you want to put in your mouth. The chefs behind the counter pile your plate and you just pay for each item individually once you’re ready. It’s kind of like a big party buffet. At breakfast, there’s a bacon butty with house-made tomato ketchup. Hit the counter again for a piece of Jaffa cake, or maybe a little walnut cakelet topped with a blob of apple jam. They also pull a very decent coffee, from WA boys Five Senses. If you’re heading here for lunch (it’s breakfast, brunch and lunch only, folks) they also offer a couple of boutique beer selections. Want to avoid the lines? Head here early or try to arrange one of those weekday brekky meetings.

Can’t get a seat? Hoof it over to Vicinity Dining.

Ruby's Diner

Waverley

We’re supposed to be over aioli by now – it’s ubiquitous and therefore uncool (first rule of Sydney eating, right?). But dammit, we’re still fans, and we’re loving the gloriously thick spatter of the stuff you get on the BLAT at Ruby’s, the now-several-years-old Waverley café for which we can all thank Jed’s founder Ed Devlin. The BLAT here comes open-faced with tomato, crisp lettuce and seared bacon stacked on one thick-cut slice of sourdough, all covered in aioli, with a second thick slice on the side. Order it with a poached egg – a BLEAT? – and goo it up real good. It can be a bugger to eat, especially with shaky hangover hands, but well worth the effort. Scrambled eggs are an excellent, more delicate, second option. Less of a challenge is Ruby’s just-plain-awesome coffee, a local talking point. Rarely will you get as velvety thick a cappuccino and there’s a nice nuttiness to the espressi. If you find yourself near the La Marzocco from whence your brew came don’t bother trying to resist the racks of sweets at your left. 

Can't get a seat? Head slightly north to stock up on delicious baked goods at the Central Baking Depot.

Cafe Giulia

Chippendale

Café Giulia If you’ve ever seen it on a café menu then you’ll likely find it scrawled across the enormous blackboard behind the counter of this narrow café. It covers the full café gamut, from omelettes and pancakes to waffles and corn fritters – not to mention two entire columns of beverages. On the breakfast front, the French toast here is a hunger/hangover/diet-busting plate of eggy, fried bread with grilled banana, mascarpone and maple syrup, all sitting in a pool of melted butter. Go on, treat yourself. For something on the lighter side, they do house-made bagels with cream cheese, Tuscan toast and eggs just about a thousand ways. The chewy steak casa roll comes with tender steak pieces, aged cheddar, dill pickles, alfalfa, horseradish, beetroot and onion relish and it’s almost impossible to eat closed – best approach it with a knife and fork. 

Can’t get a seat? Make like the chicken and cross the road to Bar Mattino.

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