International Breakfasts in Sydney

France
Croque monsieur at AllianceSydney
WhatPop quiz, mon ami: what’s the difference between a croque monsieur and a croque madame? The answer is eggs. The madame – pervily, yet quite appropriately – is blessed with a poached egg in it whereas the monsieur, which we all love so well, is a pressed gruyere, mustard and béchamel sauce toasted sandwich. It’s best to eat one of these seated as the cheese is apt to run just about anywhere you can think. The upside is that can be transported and eaten on the run if necessary.
Where Alliance Francais is a non-profit cultural association and a school teaching the language of luuurve. It also has a magnifique kitchen where you can get French dishes like bols chocolat choud (hot chocolate bowls) for breakfast six days a week. The room is stark, with only scattered issues of Le Monde for decor but the accents are sexy as hell and the sandwiches at little cafeteria tables trip is worth a slightly weird ride in the lift to the ninth floor.

Tunisia
Chouchouka at The DeckMilsons Point
WhatA Tunisian dish of tomato, capsicum and spices cooked down with oil and garlic is served here with baked eggs and house made flat bread, garnished with a rough cut parsley, mint, coriander and olive salad. It’s an acid trip coming out of the tomato and protein punch with two baked eggs bleeding yellow goo through the salad all scooped up with the house made flat bread spread with harissa (a spicy north African paste basically made from chilli and garlic spiked with coriander and sometimes caraway).
WhereThe Deck at Luna Park has been around for a little while but it’s the addition of a couple of new chefs pushing the breakfast boat that has resulted in pearlers like this one. Walk through that maniacally grinning, chalk-toothed façade with its metre long lashes and massive dilated pupils to reach what otherwise looks like a pretty average restaurant. But once you’ve had a look at the menu (and the well stocked bar) you’ll have no doubt changed your mind about the place – the food’s great.

Mexico
Huevos rancheros from the Chelsea Tea HouseAvalon
What Basically translating as ‘eggs, ranch style’, it’s traditionally served mid-morning as a second breakfast after workers have come off the fields, sweating buckets and ravenous for belly fuel. Served here with black beans, eggs and a crisp, warm tortilla, you can bet your bottom dollar the squidgy, eggy mess will be running down your arms and you won’t even care. It’s a bit of a farmer’s breakfast (as the name suggests) and therefore just the thing if you’ve got a hard day’s yakka stretching ahead of you.  
WhereThe Chelsea Tea House may sound tad twee but the breakfasts here are the stuff of legend and deservedly so. Chef Lucienne Francisco cooks on double time, maintains a meticulously authentic menu and has ample support in the form of a funky young student crew waiting tables at high speed. Plus you’re right across the road from the blue jewel sea.

Spain
Bocadillo at DelicadoMcMahons Point
What Bocadillo (bock-a-dee-o) basically means ‘sandwich’ in Spanish. It can be filled with just about anything but you’ll mostly see jamon or chorizo as the filling for the long, white, slightly sweet bread roll. Excellent travel food, you’ll sometimes even find an omelette co-habiting with the bread. Here, the chorizo bocadillo sees warm slices of rich, moreish sausage (they have no less than six different varieties on sale) and chimichurri sauce (sauce made from parsley, paprika, olive oil, oregano and lemon, its goodness has spread farther afield) – bangin’.      
Where Delicado, owned and run by one time sommelier Ben Mochtar is about as traditional a tapas bar as you’ll find outside Spain and it’s in North Sydney, our Barcelona-over-the-Bridge. They do churros con chocolate on weekends (that’s a long sugar coated donut type thing with dark, thick chocolate on the side for dipping) as well as all manner of cheeses, dry and smallgoods. Oh, and they also start serving wine at eleven in the morning which means you can make like the Spanish do, take a constitutional and have a glass of red with a late breakfast.

Vietnam
Pho from Pho Golden SydneyKingsford
WhatThe national breakfast dish of Vietnam, it’s beef stock, flat rice noodles, slices of beef (raw or cooked or a mix) with a side of lemon, basil leaves and bean shoots to top. There’s chicken pho (say it like fur) too, but nobody ever seems to order that one. No, it’s all about the beef with its full bodied stock and lemony/basil tartness. It’ll come with a side of chilli sauce to use for dipping and is incredibly comforting, especially if you’re feeling a bit under the weather. 
WhereThe dining space at Pho Golden is no blue chip affair but that’s its charm. The soundtrack here is provided by juice machines churning carrots and apples and the high pitched rumble of chattering families hoeing into handfuls of rice. Their food though is sensational, so much so the ladies who serve are too cool to translate each dish in detail. We advise pointing to the picture, licking your lips and making circular strokes on the belly then handing over the lucre. Oh, and we should mention that one bowl is more than enough for two if you’re monetarily challenged.

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