44 King Street

August 15, 2011 by Andrea Leave a Comment

44 King Street in the Perth CBD has been around forever and even though it is gets mentions in all kinds of food and travel guides they still deliver top quality food. We stopped by for brunch one weekday morning after the breakfast rush and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and great organic (at least what we ordered) food.

I was lucky enough to be sitting opposite the open kitchen so got to see the chefs preparing everything fresh. I love watching chefs working and these guys seemed to enjoy what they were doing.

Our drinks came out quickly and then there was a little wait for our mains but we weren’t in a rush so that was fine. I only wanted something light so ordered the tomato and avocado on toast. It’s a simple dish which was nicely presented using quality ingredients. This was perfect for me.

I must admit I was a little jealous when F’s breakfast arrived. He ordered the organic omelette with mushrooms and Spanish onion which came with toast and a slab of butter. I would have ordered it myself but I hate onion so that was out of the question. It looked delicious though and F confirmed that it indeed was.

44 King Street is the kind of place you can hang out in while enjoying a coffee or late breakfast. I know it gets packed at lunch times and for breakfast on the weekend so it’s probably not quite so relaxing then but our timing was perfect. You’ll find a lot of locals here as well corporate types and tourists so it’s pretty much anything goes. I have never been here for dinner but I hear it’s good so I might give that a go next time I’m in Perth.

Filed Under: Australia Tagged With: australia, breakfast, cafe, perth

Brunch at Aubergine Gourmet Foods

July 30, 2011 by Andrea Leave a Comment

Every time I have been by Aubergine Gourmet Foods on South Terrace in South Fremantle it has been packed, especially on a Sunday. It’s one of the most popular breakfast locations in the city and it seems like a lot of the patrons are regulars which is always a good sign. I went for brunch one late summer morning, after most of the breakfast crowd had moved on.

The breakfast menu had quite a lot to offer including scrambled eggs on toast, bircher muesli, ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter, and sweet corn fritters with roast tomato. If you like to eat breakfast out often in Australia, you might think that menu sounds a little familiar and you’d be right because that’s exactly what is on Bills menu. Coincidence? Ok, so scrambled eggs on toast and bircher muesli can be found on just about every breakfast menu but ricotta pancakes with honeycomb butter or corn fritters with roast tomato? Surely not?

I suppose at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter if it’s good. I ordered the corn fritters which is not what I had at Bill’s so I can’t actually make any comparison. I found the sweet corn fritters to be a little too sweet for my liking to the point where I couldn’t eat it all. The roast tomato and salad was nice enough. The bacon in the photo below didn’t belong to my dish but was on F’s Caesar salad which he was expecting to be vegetarian. Oops. Neither of us eat pork but I was the one who had to suffer with that on my plate.

What I did like was the berry smoothie but I always like berry smoothies.

Even though I was quite disappointed with my dish I’d go back to Aubergine because it’s in a great location and the atmosphere is welcoming and relaxing (provided it’s not too busy). I would definitely order something different from Bill’s menu next time though.

Filed Under: Australia Tagged With: australia, breakfast, brunch, fremantle

Breakfast at Bills

June 18, 2011 by Andrea 4 Comments

I’ve been a fan of Bill Granger’s simple but delicious food for quite some time. I’ve watched his cooking show, bought (and cooked from) a bunch of his cookbooks and dreamt of eating at one of his restaurants. My little obsession was made worse by reading about his food on my favourite foodie blog, Grab Your Fork, here, here, and here. So after all these years I finally made it to Bills for breakfast.

I wasn’t disappointed.

The only problem was deciding what to order. The two breakfasts I had been dreaming of were his famous creamy scrambled eggs and the equally famous ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter. Oh the dilemma! I did what any normal person would do and ordered the hotcakes for myself and forced F to get the eggs so I could try both! There were a few other things on the menu I would have liked to try, in particular the sweet corn fitters and the coconut bread, but I’ll have to leave those for another time.

Firstly for the scrambled eggs. I know the recipe well because I make it myself on a regular basis. Bills eggs were almost as good as mine So creamy, so perfect.

Ricotta hotcakes were what I was really looking forward too because it’s something I would never make myself. They were amazing and the little bits of ricotta as you bite into them made by day. But what made me eternally happy was the honeycomb butter. Heaven!

No breakfast of mine is complete without a hot chocolate. At Bills you get warm frothy milk with chocolate chips in the bottom. Give it a stir and you have the perfect accompaniment to my dream meal.

Filed Under: Australia Tagged With: bills, breakfast, sydney, woollahra

Breakfast in Manly

June 15, 2011 by Andrea Leave a Comment

I don’t know if it’s Sydney in general or Manly specifically, but every breakfast meal I had on my recent trip to Manly was amazing. I don’t normally eat breakfast out, especially not when travelling. Usually I’ll just grab something small from a bakery or eat the hotel breakfast if it’s included in the rate. But there is something about the Manly lifestyle which is so laid back and casual that it’s completely suited to enjoying a sit down breakfast as you watch the surfers riding the early morning waves.

Manly has a number of organic cafes serving up fresh food and menus which change on a daily basis, depending on what they purchased at the market that day. My favourite cafe was probably Organicus with the Four Olives Deli coming a close second. Firebird has great takeaway burgers and salads (perfect for a picnic on the beach) and Three Beans is a great coffee spot. Yes, these are all on Darley Road (that’s where I was staying) but there are plenty of other great places to eat nearby as well.

Best muffins in Manly would have to go to Organicus. The raspberry and white chocolate is unbeatable in my opinion but the blueberry was great too.

Four Olive Deli was my favourite place for a hot breakfast. The scrambled eggs is always a good option or if you want to spoil yourself (which I did) you could have the pancakes with fruit and mascarpone.

If you prefer toast you could have toasted banana or raspberry/pear bread (which of course is just a cake) or panettone with butter and jam.

There are plenty of lighter options too and plenty of coffee and smoothie drinks to choose from as well but these were some of my favourites. Gourmet Traveller has a list of places to eat in Manly if you want a few more options.

Filed Under: Australia Tagged With: australia, breakfast, organic, sydney

Moroccan Breakfast

January 26, 2011 by Andrea Leave a Comment

My favourite meal of the day when in Morocco was always breakfast. A mixture of French and Moroccan, it included fresh fruit, muesli, pastries, baguette with butter and jam, little Moroccan pancakes as well as the incredibly tasty freshly squeezed orange juice they seem to have on tap in Morocco.

I loved that in the Riad you could have breakfast wherever you liked. In your room, in the centre of the Riad, on the terrace, wherever you liked. We normally took our Moroccan breakfast on the terrace which was beautiful first thing in the morning.