When you are Down Undah, it’s all about rising and sleeping early – with the most important meal being Brekkie/ Brekkers/ Breakfast 🙂 Our trip to Sydney this time was one of the best holidays I’ve ever had – taking each day as it came not planning what to do and where to go WAAAY in advanced and it was really refreshing to holiday like that. Hey R, we have to do this more often yea? So let’s see what early morning treasures we uncovered in Sydney 🙂

Ok this one was planned and it was really for old time’s sake – Bills.

The last time we were here, we had a massive feast, ok it was brunch so 2 meals combined but look at the amount of food for 5 people! yikes! 🙂

Here’s what we had our first morning in Sydney 🙂

I feel like I should make this into a Cupcake… *idea*. The Honeycomb butter was superbalicious!!!!

Wholesome awesome goodness – Aussies sure know how to start their day right! 🙂

For first time vistors to Sydney, I would absolutely recommend visiting Bills at least once and we’ve found the Darlinghurst outlet to be the one with the most character, with it’s wooden furniture, sun-lit interior and large communal table, not to mention the incredibly encouraging (yes encouraging) and friendly wait staff! We each felt soooo encouraged and so good about our orders with sincere responses like “Excellent choice” and “Fantastic!” from our server. They’d perk anyone up 🙂

Bills – Website | Review | Map

Next Stop (on the next day of course)

I’m in love with cafes/ coffee joints just like Single Origin Roasters – quaint, unsuspecting, unpretentious, quirky, full of personality and just about good old coffee (i’m not a coffee drinker but I just love the aroma – such a picker upper!) SOR roasts their own coffee and started from humble beginnings in 2003, they source for coffee beans from various places and you’re welcome to try those esp if you’re a connoisseur in beans but their house blend was out of this world (according to R of course) and from the aroma stand point I’d concur! 🙂 R said it was so full of flavour yet without the crazy mad scientist buzz after – it’s really about the appreciation of coffee and its flavour when you’re down under. Australia seems to be known for its coffee – it’s good EVERYWHERE! and coffee purists would shun mega brands like starbucks so coffee afficionados this is a place you cannot miss! With a place like this (as with many places in Aussie), produce is sourced fresh and you always feel like it’s homemade and really has that ‘feel good’ factor. Let’s see what we had this morning :

R’s House Blend Espresso – gone in a gulp! ok no the truth is I was slow in taking this pic

Guys, are you drooling yet? MY GOODNESS this was just chocolate overload. Soft warm brioche and tangy seville marmalade – really hit home 🙂

Yeap the title says its all. This croque monsieur with ham and 4 cheeses, lays atop a stroke of mustard is a reverse croque monsieur with the cheese on the outside AND on the inside 🙂 R was thoroughly pleased with his choice.

And once again, it was a great start to our morning with great food and a really bubbly server 🙂

Confession: we liked Single Origins so much we came back on our 2nd last day in Sydney 🙂 but just for a cuppa 🙂 and took some photos on the interior

Fun Facts:

a) They serve freshly baked muffins and other pastries daily and are laid out in the MOST delectable way on the counter. Highly irresistable. Thank goodness I had the brioche or the muffins would be doomed! muahahaha

b) Want your coffee to go? Check out Sideshow instead it’s Single Origin’s take away counter/stall/shop so you dont clog up the cafe 🙂

c) Orders are taken on ipads! How cool!

Great place to chill in the morning the vibe is just super! 🙂 Baristas who love their craft so much they stare at your coffee intently while doing coffee art and even until it gets served to you. But not without breaking into a smile later of course. Also, a highlight for us was a mid-breakfast sing-song pick-me-up from one of the guys behind the counter. He says to his colleagues or maybe no one in particular “How’s everyone doing?” one person replies: “uhmm ok…” “Great!!!!!! one person who replied me!” 🙂

Single Origin Roasters – Website | Blog | Review | Menu | Map

Now… where did we go to next?

Another Gem we found and went back to twice in our trip! Bourke St Bakery is at the corner of Bourke St and Devonshire St in Surry Hills and constantly has a line of people trying to pack themselves into the shop that’s rather tight but still manages to squeeze in 6-8 window seats. No frills, no pomp and fanfare, just an honest to goodness bakery that wants to make great bread and pastries with the best ingredients they can find and lots of heart put into their baking.

The beauty of Bourke St Bakery captured in the window, where freshly baked bread or pastries are stacked for patrons to ogle and imagine the aromas coming through the glass until they set foot in the door 🙂 [Digression: The building in the glass’ reflection was apparently another brekkie place that’s pretty well known – Book Kitchen, but we were so enamouredly enthralled by Bourke St Bakery we kinda missed it completely! Ooops!]

And we had… or rather I had…

Ok I had the Lemon Curd Tart later in the day and R had the Chocolate Ganache Tart with Coffee. We sat outside the Bakery at their wooden tables and benches and it was just perfect!

On our next trip we managed to get seats inside the bakery and treated ourselves to…

This was a really meaty pie with lots of weight and a tinge of tanginess which R really liked. The best part about Bourke St Bakery? They have a cookbook which I bought *YAY* so i’m in the midst of plucking up the courage/ time to make some of these awesome goodies. Everyone say Yay! *Yay!*

As a side story, this was the start of R’s 4 Pies-in-a-Day Day. It was followed by 2 mini pies from Mick’s Bakehouse at the new Westfield at Pitt St for dinner and finished his day off with a Curry Pie from Harry’s at Hay Market for supper. Well done R!

I ordered this to share cos I was overhearing many people before me ordering the Sausage Roll and I was like “Ok, let me at it!” BUT… it wasn’t such a big hoot 😛 Well to each his own 🙂

Now this was ABSOLUTELY DIVINE! Crusty top and pastry with a soft custard centre and that hint of ginger that’s not in-your-face, very lady-like in it’s manner, unlike the manner of my eating though! haha!

Ok it’s shd be Bourke St, but we really kind of walked down Devonshire St from Crown St (we took a bus! it was fun!) towards Bourke St and voila you arrive at Bourke St Bakery on your left!

Bourke St Bakery – Website | Menu | Review | Map

In our quest to visit places we’d been to from or to eat things we had on our previous trips to Sydney, R and I made a trip down to Haymarket in search of Harry’s Cafe De Wheels – the place that wowed us with Pies topped with Mash, Peas and Gravy (Ooh La La!) and somehow we couldn’t quite find the place and decided to head to where the Harry’s website says is their Baking Centre and guess what it’s called Hannah’s – the supplier (maybe also sister) of Harry’s Pies 🙂 Tadah! WE FOUND THE SOURCE! (earlier story on the 4 Pies-in-a-Day Day for R was on a day after this visit to Hannah’s, i decided to bundle Bourke St in one nice package for easy reading so don’t worry there’s no chronological confusion here)

The pies to me were a tad on the salty side but it sure was nice to have a warm toasty pie on a drizzly cold day 🙂 *Salute to the pies!*

Hannah’s Pies – Location | Harry’s Pies Website

Another one of my favourite indulgences when in Sydney are the Sushi Rolls (i honestly do not know why) but they are really fresh and it’s my asian fix on the go I have been eating pies all day!

There are plenty of these sushi counters everywhere and with many flavours to choose from but the best one I’ve had so far in all my trips is from the Sushi Counter (have no idea what the name is) on the Oxford St Mall next to Westfield. Why’s it’s the best? The seaweed is crispy and the rice is soft 🙂 Had this for a mid-morning snack *heh* and here’s my parting shot –

G’day Mate!