Circa Espresso, Parramatta

Inside Circa Espresso

Walking around the quieter side of Parramatta station, it would be hard to miss Circa Espresso. This hole in the wall cafe is situated in a little gap between two residential buildings. A splash of colour from a graffiti-ed wall and patrons sitting on wooden stools and upturned milk crates tell you that there is something hip and happening going on in that little laneway, and that would be Circa's fantastic food and coffee.

Iced coffee - $4

We've ventured out to Suze's hood today for a taste of Circa's breakfast menu. My first experience of Circa was an impressive cup of takeaway coffee and so I'm glad to be heading back to try more of their menu. I start with an iced coffee - not a sugary, cream-topped version but a real iced coffee made purely from coffee and ice.

Avocado on sourdough toast with sea salt, cracked pepper and lemon oil - $7

Hyde Park Barracks Cafe, Sydney

As much as I love the Crave Sydney International Food Festival month, uni work tends to always get in the way of me going to all the events I want to. Last year it was my thesis, and this year I was inundated with assignments because the lecturers thought it would be fun for us to have them all due in the same week. I was glad to have the final week of Crave to go to the events that I wanted to and Sir D and I decide to head out to a nice brunch at Hyde Park Barracks Cafe one weekend.

Home-made granola, natural yoghurt and poached fruit

Brunch is a three-course affair here, priced at $25pp and served with English Breakfast tea or filtered coffee. We start with some granola with yoghurt, berry compote and poached pear. The granola is crunchy and I love finding big chunks of granola stuck together. It's a little dry and could have done with a bit more yoghurt but it's a good start to the meal and the poached pear provides a nice sweetness to the dish.

Eggs three ways

Breakfast in Melbourne

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One of the things I loved most about Melbourne was that there was no shortage of excellent cafes to go to for breakfast. I've already told you about the 65/65 egg and the madeleines at Cumulus Inc., as well as the eggs and soldiers and fried brioche at The Hardware Société, but today it's time to talk bacon and eggs, french toast, and crepes for brekky.

Degraves St

On one of the mornings we head down to Degraves St which is a laneway of cafes near Flinders St Station. It's packed out on a Sunday morning but we stand and wait a while outside Degraves Espresso Bar and soon we're shown to a table inside and our much needed coffee orders are taken.

100% free range eggs on toast - $8.50, with extra bacon - $3

Sir D decides to go for classic bacon and eggs this morning, with scrambled eggs on toast plus a side of bacon. The eggs are creamy and well-seasoned and the bacon was awesome as usual (how can bacon not be awesome?)

French toast - $12

Clipper Cafe, Glebe

During my first couple of years at Sydney Uni, a 2 hour break between classes meant a visit  to King St in Newtown for $6 Thai. It was cheap and it was filling, but I found myself going there less and less especially in my third and fourth years at uni. Perhaps my palate became more discerning, or perhaps I just got sick of eating the same pad thai and pad see ew day in and day out, but I ventured away from the Thai places in Newtown and into the cafes on Glebe Point Road.

I stumbled into Clipper Cafe one day with its cool bicycle wall hangings and relaxed vibe. It was no less busy than my usual Thai haunts in Newtown but once seated I felt like I could sit there all day sipping coffee and tapping away on my laptop (as some people were doing).

Berry Smoothie - $5.00

Cafe Ish, Surry Hills

Something that caught my eye in the 2010 Sydney International Food Festival (SIFF) lineup was the new addition of "Let's do Brunch". I noticed that Cafe Ish was participating in Let's do Brunch, offering a breakfast trifle, soft-shell crab omelette and a coffee for $25, and since I've always wanted to try their soft-shell crab omelette it was the perfect opportunity to do so.

Josh, the owner and chef of Cafe Ish, gives us a friendly wave as we walk in and I make sure to ask the waitress if it's ok to take photos. Asking politely goes a long way here, and the waitress kindly thanks me for asking and gives me the thumbs up :)

Wattle Macca-cino

It's definitely a good thing that I can take photos since it would be a shame not to be able to share the awesome food that they serve at Cafe Ish. We start off with their signature Wattle Macca-cino which is a nutty concoction of wattleseed, macadamia and coffee. It arrives with pretty coffee art on the top and the tiniest, cutest little cookie ever on the teaspoon. The coffee itself is smooth and with just the right amount of sweetness that I don't have to add any sugar. If I could have this every morning to start my day I would!

Passionfruit Butter

Have you ever hung around someone who likes a food that you don't particularly like, and somehow over time you gradually get converted and end up a big fan of the food? This is what happened to me and passionfruit. I never hated the stuff, but I just didn't particularly enjoy eating it, especially the crunchy seeds.

But Sir D loved passionfruit and he absolutely couldn't get enough of the stuff. He'd buy it when it was cheap at the supermarket and we'd end up getting passionfruit gelato whenever we went to eat ice cream. And he converted me - I don't know how it happened but I've developed a love for passionfruit, and now I'm the one who insists on getting passionfruit gelato when we go out.

I first came across passionfruit butter at my school's Garden Party (read: posh term for school fete) where they sold it at the Jams and Preserves stall. I bought a jar home for Sir D and while we spread the liquid gold dotted with black seeds on toast and savoured the sweet passionfruit flavour, I thought, why can't I make this myself?

So I did. The next time I saw passionfruit on special at the grocery store I grabbed six of them and set about making my own passionfruit butter. I was surprised at how easy and simple it was to make and wondered about all the things I could use it in. You could smother some between cakes, put it in tart cases or sandwich it between macaron shells (yes that's macaron, not macarOOn!).

But my favourite way of eating it is just spread simply on a slice of toast for breakfast in the morning. Mmmm yes, tastes like sunshine.

Bills, Surry Hills

Bills is somewhat of a breakfast institution in Sydney, and it shames me to admit that, even though I am a born and bred Sydneysider, it was only a few weeks ago that I first visited Bills for brunch. We arrived at 12 so they had already progressed onto their lunch menu, but luckily for me all of Bills classic breakfast dishes were also offered for lunch :)

Sweet corn fritters with roast tomato, spinach and bacon - $18.50

To be honest, no matter how much hype I hear about the scrambled eggs, I simply can not bring myself to pay $13.50 for scrambled eggs and toast (especially when I know the secret ingredient is lots of cream!). Instead, I opt for the sweet corn fritters, which are two lovely crisp patties of pop-in-your-mouth corn held together by an eggy batter. Sandwiched between these tasty fritters are pieces of juicy roasted roma tomatoes, baby spinach leaves and the best bacon I have tasted to date! The bacon wasn't particularly crispy but it just had the most amazing smokey bacony flavour. I don't know what kind of bacon I've been eating in the past but this is what REAL bacon should taste like! Needless to say I ate every last bit of this dish.

Semolina-crusted calamari with lemon, parsely, green beans and fennel - $19.50

Pancakes for Shrove Tuesday

Today is Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday which marks the start of Lent. I've always associated Shrove Tuesday with pancakes, and thanks to trusty Wikipedia I learnt that this was because pancakes contain ingredients such as fat, sugar and eggs which are traditionally not included in the fasting season of Lent. So Shrove Tuesday was considered the last day to enjoy these foods before engaging in 4 weeks of a restricted diet. Any excuse to eat pancakes, I say!

These pancakes were made using my favourite pancake recipe from Donna Hay. The recipe uses buttermilk which produces a deliciously light, fluffy pancake - if you don't have any buttermilk on hand, you can substitute with normal milk and lemon juice. And since we have so many gorgeous summer fruits available at the moment, I decided to top my pancakes with some mango pieces, whipped cream and maple syrup. Enjoy!

Brasserie Bread, Banksmeadow

Ok, I admit it. I'm not a morning person. Call me out for breakfast and I'll probably turn you down in favour of sleeping in. But there are some places that I will make an exception for - and this is one of them. Tell me you're taking me to Brasserie Bread for brekky and I'll gladly leap out of bed to join you.

Walking into Brasserie Bread we were greeted with the smell of freshly baked bread and a whole wall full of artisan breads, including their famous garlic bread. There were also various pastries and cakes on display, as well as preserves and olive oils. But more about that later - first, breakfast!