Excelsior Jones @ Ashfield

A friend of mine has been telling me to try Excelsior Jones for months, and when they won Best Cafe in Time Out Food Award 2013, I figured it was about time I went. I personally, would have never thought such a cafe would exist in the suburb known for their dumplings. Therefore, as a brunch date, we headed to Ashfield to check out Excelsior Jones.

Excelsior Jones is located on quite a strange intersection, where apart from the cafe itself, there are homes and a few mechanics. But, never judge a book by its cover right? Upon walking in, there was a great smell of coffee and pancakes! The pancake smell was extremely deceiving considering there wasn't a pancake item on the menu.

Pretty Mocha

Berry almond tart

After smelling the pancakes, and not seeing them in sight I thought we would need a sweet hit. I went to the cabinet, and from the several pastries such as friands and cupcakes I chose the deliciously looking berry almond tart. My partner ordered a cappuccino while I ordered a mocha for myself, and accompanied with the tart was a great way to start the day.

Poached eggs with toast, relish, feta and sauteed mushrooms

We both ordered the same dish of poached eggs with toast, however chose different sides. Excelsior Jones allows you to choose from a range of sides such as; bacon, relish, mushrooms, feta, relish, avocado. I ended up with the relish, feta and mushrooms and my partner chose a nice and simple side of avocado. The relish was amazing and when added with the feta, a great balance of sweet, salty and tangy flavours. There is not any other way of having mushrooms for breakfast than with a lovely butter based sauce. Of course, the best part of a breakfast are perfectly poached eggs!

Overall, Excelsior Jones was a great place for breakfast. The staff are friendly, where a staff member saw my partners film camera and had an in-depth talk about photography and cameras for a good 10 minutes. I definitely want to go again and try their lunch menu.

Good food, good times!

Metro St James @ St James

A day out with a friend, always calls for a good meal to be involved. We then decided to hit up Metro St James. Metro St James has been open since March this year, and has been getting a great level of business. There most recent enterprise was pay with a kiss. The idea is to pay with a kiss, meaning you get your coffee for free if you are at the counter and kiss your partner. I didn't part take in this, however a lot of people did and it had a lot of buzz on radio and other social media websites.

Big Healthy Breakfast

Poached free range eggs, hot salmon, avocado, roasted tomatoes & ricotta on soy quinoa toast

A lovely big hearty and healthy plate of food. All the colours that you want to see when eating breakfast, with fresh flavours. A great start for anyone's day!

House made baked beans, poached eggs and feta w/ side of toast

My choice for breakfast. I wanted to try the baked beans, to see how they compared to The Grounds of Alexandria. They are more tomatoey than the grounds, but just as good. The addition of the feta adds a lovely saltiness to the dish. Eating baked beans on toast was a very fulfilling breakfast.

Metro St James is a great place to start your day in the big city. 

Good food, good times!

The Grounds of Alexandria @ Alexandria

Finally, my first trip to The Grounds of Alexandria! I have been wanting to try the Grounds for a very long time, but just never got around to it. When half my family decided to go overseas, I thought as a last outing we would go eat breakfast together, and what a great idea that was! 

My lovely mocha

Smoked ham hock with crushed peas, parmesan and 

house preserved lemon on sour dough with poached eggs

The ham hock is roasted for 6 hours before being served. It had a wonderful taste with a mix of salty and sweet. This was a simple breakfast with great flavours. The peas and lemon help balance the the semi-salty ham.

Pancakes with fresh ricotta, plum compote served with toasted pecans

These could possibly be the best pancakes I have ever tried. The pancakes were big and fluffy with a lovely touch of cinnamon. Crunchy toasted peacans with fresh ricotta and plum is a match made in heaven. There was no flaw to this dish, it was amazing!!

Grounds breakfast board - ham, avocado, fresh tomato, persian feta, two poached eggs, house made pesto and toasted sour dough

The breakfast board is a simple array of breakfast options. For the price, we all thought it was pretty ordinary. However, they do provide fresh ingredients, but if you want a big oily breakfast, may be not get the breakfast board and choose something else on their tasty menu.

Turkish style eggs - poached eggs in a rich tomato sauce with cannellini beans, spinach, pistachio labneh and sour dough bread. 

Sided with spicy lamb sausage and kipfler potatoes

The best of the best! I don't normally like anything that is similar to baked beans, but this dish was wonderful! The poached eggs were perfect, and probably the best poached eggs that I have ever cut through. This is a dish for a big hearty breakfast filled with flavour. I was extremely satisfied with this dish, I couldn't finish all the beans.

Another great part of The Grounds is their garden. They have a large garden area where you can enjoy your coffees, have a chat or just sit and think. The garden has a small play house for the kids, chickens and a pig (with an awesome name of Kevin Bacon). 

The Grounds of Alexandria is a hustle and bustle area of Alexandria where people gather for meetings or friendly catch ups. There are a lot of people stating they have to wait a long time for a table, so get there fast! We got there just before 10, so we were seated straight away. 

Good food, good times!

Baroque Pantry @ The Rocks, Sydney

Baroque is one of my favourite Sydney based restaurants, they provide exquisite food in their bistro, and beautiful desserts. So, when I found out they were introducing a new concept of Baroque Pantry (January 2013), I was extremely excited to be able to dine at Baroque for breakfast/brunch. With the new concept, they have set up a Parisian themed lounge area on the outside of their restaurant, allowing diners to enjoy the lovely Sydney weather.  They also have a bicycle outside their restaurant which sets a Paris aesthetic (I thought it was a random bike, but after walking past a few times I realised it was part of the restaurant). This post contains two of my visits to Baroque Pantry.

Crispy pork cheek and cucumber salad

Mmm pork cheek! This pork cheek was marinaded in a BBQ style sauce, with a lovely sticky nature. Due to the sauce though, the skin wasn't as crispy as I would have enjoyed. The fresh cucumber salad was vibrant with greens and purples. The cucumber was slightly pickled, which added a tang against the quite sweet pork cheek.

House smoked ocean trout, green mango and young coconut salad with cucumber.

This was a fresh salad with a great taste. The green mango was the highlight for me, the light sourness with the sweet coconut was exquisite. A lovely salad to help balance the dining experience. 

Heirloom tomato tartlet, fresh gongozola cheese, basil and balsamic dressing 

A pastry filled with flavour. You can't go wrong with anything with tomatoes as the main component. The use of gongozola cheese is extremely strong, which was balances with the diced tomatoes and drizzle of balsamic vinegar. My friend loved this dish a lot.

Pompadour - Raspberry mousse, passion fruit cream centre and almond nougatine

Now to the desserts. Baroque offer lovely cakes and pastries in their cabinet, but on their dinner menu they also offer other desserts such as souffle and creme brulee. The pompadour is a delight, with the combination of the beautiful taste of raspberry and passion fruit. The macaron shells on the outside provide a crunch to the delicate mousse centre.

Baroque chocolate eclair - Chocolate choux pastry,Valrhona chocolate ganache and chocolate crumble

Mmm eclair! This is new to the Barqoue cabinet of delights. The choux pastry was filled with a chocolatey centre and topped with tempered chocolate. This is perfect for the lovers of chocolate!

Baked egg with mushroom, thyme and garlic 

On the Baroque menu they are know as Egg Cocottes aka baked eggs. Baked eggs are one of the best ways to have eggs (including poached eggs). My friends ordered this dish, and it was her first time trying a baked egg. The yolk was runny, and all the flavours were beautifully combined. The only down fall was that there was a bit too much butter on the bread. Other then that, a pot of joy!

Eggs benedict with spinach, ocean trout, hollandaise sauce and sourdough 

An all time breakfast favourite - Eggs benedict. Oozing eggs with spinach and trout can not go wrong. The sour dough was crunchy on the outside, and soft on the inside. I asked for the hollandaise sauce on the side, because I am not the biggest fan, but I did eat a bit and there was a creamy texture with a slight tang.

Mango, coconut & lime and strawberry macaron

As always, Baroque is known for their wonderful macarons so I couldn't leave with out purchasing some little treats for myself. The mango, coconut & lime was beautiful, with all the flavours merging together. The strawberry was tasty as well, with a strong flavour of strawberry. Baroque is one of my favourite places for macarons!

I have not had a disappointing baroque dining experience, and with great service and great food I hope that stays the same.

Good food, good times!

ExpressOrganica @ Concord

We all love a good brunch spot, but what about a place that is practically open all day everyday? ExpressOrganica is the place to be. . They are known as one of Sydney's Best Coffee Spots, and have been mentioned in SMH Everyday eats guide 2012. 

They provide an all day breakfast, lunch menu and dinner menu. The menu showcases an array of various foods, without having too many choices. The breakfast menu was my favourite, where I have never spent so long trying to decide what to eat. We decided to order some coffees and 2 breakfast/brunch choices.

Pretty Mocha

Vegetarian Stack

All the brunch favourites, avocado, poached eggs, sautéed mushrooms, baby spinach and roasted tomato and sourdough bread. I chose the dish without hollandaise sauce, because I am not the biggest fan, but either way, it was tasty. You can also add extras to the dish such as salmon, if you want some more flavours to start off your day.

Asparagus & sweet potato salad

This was part of the specials, and sounded too good to not order. It was composed of asparagus, sweet potato, mixed salad, cherry tomato, feta and walnuts. I thought the highlight of the dish would be the asparagus, where in fact it was the sweet potato. Perfectly cooked sweet potato, that helped with the salty feta and balsamic dressing.

The overall dining experience was exceptional with wonderful service, and great coffee. The store itself provides a warm vibe, with the brown and cosy décor. The bill was $44 for 2 people, which includes 2 coffees and 2 mains.

Good food, good times!

Pancake Parlour @ City Centre, ACT

The Pancake Parlour is a Melbourne based family restaurant, that has now expanded to Canberra. The Pancake Parlour has been around for decades. The restaurant sells a powder form of there buttermilk pancake (like a pancake shaker) at some Woolworths stores, but I have yet to try it and compare it to the actual parlour. The great part about this restaurant was that a majority of the seating was arranged in booths. I love restaurants with booths!

Cappuccino

Chocolate Strawberry Jubilee

Chocolate pancake with fresh strawberries, ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate flakes and chocolate sauce. This is any chocolate lovers delight.

Buttermilk pancakes with strawberries

Two pancakes, vanilla ice cream, fresh strawberries and strawberry sauce. A simple start to a great day.This is an ideal sweet breakfast, basic and can easily satisfy.

Potato pancake with salad

A potato based pancake topped with cheese, and some butter. This was an interesting dish. It didn't tickle my fancy, but my friend liked it. I did like the celery in the salad, but the salad was cut into very small pieces which made it difficult to eat.

The Pancake Parlour is very similar to Pancake on the Rocks. Personally, I find Pancakes on the Rocks to be nicer and more worth for the money. For example, Pancakes on the Rocks provides 2 chocolate pancakes instead of one, and it's cheaper. 

Good food, good times!