The Grounds of Alexandria

I've been to the Grounds a few times now and I think it deserves the hype and write ups it receives.

For one, the place is huge! You name it, it has it! Coffee roasters, bbq's, a florist, market stalls, lemonade stalls, pastry galore, take away and eat in options, a playground for the kids, a lovely garden to sit in  and of course, Kevin Bacon and Bradley the Sheep. 

My first visit to the Grounds, I had my Nephew with me. He loved the animals, as well as the playground. While you're waiting for a table if you choose to eat there, there's plenty of options to keep the kids occupied.

Kevin Bacon returned my Nephew's affection!

I haven't eaten from the bbq's outside but I have sat down inside to have breakfast twice. 

First visit I shared a Breakfast Plate with my sister, this was plenty of food between us. We ordered french toast for my nephew, this was delicious and yes, I finished off what he couldn't! Or wouldn't?..

Both times, I've enjoyed a coffee while I've waited for my table so with breakfast I order the Iced Tea which is very refreshing. 

Second time I've been for breakfast, I ordered the sweet pea falafels with poached eggs. This was really yum, eggs poached perfectly and comes with a nice yoghurt to smother everything in. 

Also with an iced tea!

There are SO many sweets available whether at the stalls outside or inside for display. Do not go past the hot, fresh, delicious cinnamon donuts. 

These come filled with either chocolate or jam, I've tried both and both are as good as each other. 

If you haven't been here, I think it's definitely worth a visit. Do expect await if you don't want to order take away. 

Terrace Cafe, Parramatta

I didn't realise how much time has passed since I last posted anything... have some catching up to do! 

I'm not sure if Terrace is new or not, but for some reason I've only noticed it recently. Waiting for a car service to be done, my Sister and I headed there for a well needed Saturday morning hang over cure. 

My Sister had been there once before and said that it was quite busy and service a little slow, however, that was on a Sunday. 

When we arrived, there were only a few people in there and we had our choice of seats.Waitress was quick to follow us to our table with a menu and took orders for coffee. 
My Nephew was with us and he had some banana bread. This was ordered and paid for separately at the counter as they have the pieces already wrapped and ready to go. 

Didn't take us too long to decide what we wanted. My Sister went the standard big brekkie, with bacon, eggs, the lot. 
I went the Brekkie Bruschetta and my Nephew, pancakes with ice cream.

Coffee came out before the food. I ordered a latte. They serve AllPress here, taste wasn't too bad. It was just very milky/foamy. 

The smoothies and milkshakes come in really cute jars and milk bottles too.

Food didn't take any longer than normal to come out, first thing I 
noticed was serving sizes here are pretty good for the price. I don't think I saw anything on the brekkie menu for over $15. 

Brekkie Bruschetta came with two pieces of toast, a whole lotta bruschetta and two delicisouly runny poached eggs. Such a delicious combo, and not too heavy on the precious stomachs suffering from hang overs. 

My Sister was happy with her plate. It was just what she wanted. Two perfectly fried eggs, grilled tomato, bacon, toast. 

My Nephew didn't eat his pancakes, though I don't think that is any indication of the taste, more so for the fact that he'd demolished a huge piece of banana break and a choc milkshake before it came out! 

Anyway, it wasn't too difficult a task for my Sister and I to finish it on his behalf... can't let anything go to waste! 

Overall, if this place is local to you, think it's definitely worth a visit for a close by, decent weekend breakfast! 

Three Blue Ducks

Breaky Buddy and I headed to Three Blue Ducks in Bronte Saturday morning. We arrived around 9:30am and it seemed there was a bit of a wait. I think we were one of the  only ones looking for a table for two, so only about 5 minutes after we put our name down on the list, we got called inside.

The restaurant is split into two buildings next to each other which are separated by a little lane way which leads you down to the toilets and veggie and herb garden.

It didn't take us long to order. Straight away, both our eyes went the orange pancakes with berry compote, yoghurt and fresh berries. 

Feeling it was pointless for both of us to order the same thing, we made a decision to share the pancakes and order something else. We chose the bacon and egg roll with hollandaise for our second dish.

Bevvies, I went the Lavender cream tea by The Rabbit Hole and Breaky Buddy went a latte with a side of honey (her alternative to sugar). Drinks took a bit longer than usual to come out, but they were flat out and it didn’t bother us.

By the way, I LOVED the lavender cream tea and will definitely be making a purchase from the Rabbit Hole shortly.

Food shortly followed and both plates came out basically at the same time. Pancakes came with 3 pancakes on the plate. The pancakes themselves weren’t your usually fluffy, thick pancakes. I don’t know if ‘dense’ is the right word, but whatever they were, they were cooked to perfect golden brown and delicious!

Really nice orange flavor the whole way through and plenty of yoghurt and berries to cover. Full of flavor but not overdone and the yoghurt and berries added a really nice freshness to the plate.

Half way through, we did a swapsies and I took the second half of the bacon and egg roll. Perfectly layered egg, bacon, hollandaise and some sort of salsa maybe on a big roll. Not overly saucy, just enough for the size of the roll.

Bit of sweet, bit of savoury – perfect breakfast. Will definitely be back here. 

Birdman Eating, Melbourne

Friday morning, we made our way to Gertrude Street where we found Birdman Eating and decided to stop in for breakfast.

Being a Friday and assuming majority of people are at work, it was pretty quiet in there when we got there. We picked a table, ordered our standard order of a latte and flat white and picked up the menus.

On the blackboard on the wall, they had two types of baked eggs. These weren't on the normal menu. One was chili con carne and the other a vego option with pumpkin and creamed spinach. I think this might change daily. 

It was a late breaky so I decided to go the chili con carne and Boyfriend opted for a lighter option, the coconut quinoa porridge with banana and palm sugar. 

Coffees were soon at our table (lattes don't come with fancy milk art...), food took a little longer to arrive but we were in no rush so we were happy to sit back and enjoy our coffees. Coffees were OK, pretty much your standard. 

When the food arrived I was pretty impressed with the look of my eggs. Boyfriend seemed please with his porridge.

Tucking in, all the flavours were there. Lots of tomato, a bit of spice, runny eggs (mandatory requirement), bread to wipe it all up. If I had to criticize something, I would say the mince may have been a bit overcooked. But other than that, I really enjoyed it.

Boyfriend was happy with his choice of porridge. His only comments were could have done with some more banana for the amount of porridge there was. 

Youeni Foodstore

I actually spotted this place on my way to have breakfast at The Baron. Placed on a corner, it looked pretty busy so I put it on my mental checklist of local places to check out for breakfast. 

On a weekend I had a shopping day planned with one of my usual Breaky Buddies, we decided to stop in here first for a bite to eat to start the day. 

We got there, and as like last time we saw it, the place was pretty busy. The only table free was outside. It was freezing, but they have gas heaters outside so it wasn't too bad. From looking around, we couldn't work out how the service worked here so we went up to the counter and were told to sit down and someone would be with us soon. 

A little while later, someone came to take our order. I went Chai Tea with French Toast (with poached fruits, house-made ricotta, honey, cinnamon). Breaky Buddy went Hot Chocolate and Roast capsicum, sopresso salami & basil on toast. 

Another little while later, drinks came out and seeing as it was pretty chilly outside I was looking forward to a steaming chai tea. It wasn't steaming, so I found myself needing to drink it really quickly before it went cold. Breaky Buddy was pretty happy with her hot chocolate. 

Soon to follow was our breakfast. I was pretty impressed upon sight. The cinnamon coming off the beautifully thick slice of french toast (it has to be thick!) smelt beautiful and my fork slid perfectly through the ricotta covered poached pear. 

Breaky Buddy was craving savoury, so her breakfast absolutely hit the spot. To me, it looked like it needed some sort of sauce. But, she was the one eating it. 

Besides the little bit of a wait to order (ok, they were pretty busy), I think it's safe to say this place needs to be put on your regular local breakfast spots. Will be back here soon. 


Monday, 7th October 2013

Headed here again for breakfast with Mum and Sister on the Labour Day public holiday. I assumed it was going to be crazy busy so we decided to try and meet at 9 (allowed for a liiiittle sleep in) to try and beat the rush. 

Got there, and it wasn't busy - able to get a seat for three easy. I suppose people were out enjoying their Sunday nights more than I thought. 

Menu had changed a little. This time round I ordered myself a latte. I like the coffee they serve up here, only thing is that it was just warm. So found myself needing to drink it really quickly to get it down.

Ordering food, Mum and I ordered the toasted brioche with house made ricotta, banana, honey and almonds.

Sister ordered the muesli with rhubarb. 

Food didn't take too long to come out. The brioche was a little over toasted for me, it was a bit dry. Maybe just needed a bit more honey?

Ricotta had a nice flavour to it and there was plenty of banana. I like the almonds through it, but maybe not whole almonds? These were big and hard to chew compared to the rest of it. 

Kitchen by Mike

One of my Breaky Buddies fav thing to do at the moment is furniture and home wares shop. This is how we came across Kitchen by Mike. 

Walking in, the place is pretty big and also busy. Looking at the menu up on the wall, I straight away know what I'm ordering. Leg Ham on Toast with Smashed Egg... Nothing better! Break Buddy goes for the Big Breakfast. 

Just before we get to the front of the line to order, a table for two  frees up and the lady behind the counter is nice enough to wait for us to go and shotgun the table before we come back to put our order in. 



They have a variety of fresh juices and lemonades on the counter too. We decide to give the Vanilla Lemonade a try in addition to our usual Saturday morning coffee. 




Breaky Buddy isn't too keen on the vanilla lemonade. I don't mind it, so I find myself drinking most of it. 

Breaky Buddy see's me enjoying it and wants to give it another go. She says that it tastes better towards the bottom once the flavours have mixed a little better.

Breakfast comes out and again, I'm facing the sad face moment of seeing one piece of toast on my plate. Ok, for $15 I thought I would get at least 2 pieces of toast?! 

Breaky Buddy is happy with her serving size... I have to admit, I get a little food envy. 

After eyeing off the big breakfast across the table, I start on my one piece of toast and like I knew I would, I enjoyed every bite of my ham and eggs. Fresh ham and the eggs the perfect amount of runny. Mmmmm... After I finish, I just find myself wanting more, more, more! 

We finish up with breakfast and free the table ASAP for the table creepers hanging around. We head to the back of the store which is all home ware and furniture. 
I find my dream couch, but at $9000 thinking that's what it might always be, a dream! 

In the cafe, they also have shelves filled of the store own condiments and things. I liked the sound of the chili salt, but there were no jars left. Will have to pick one up next time I'm there. 

The Baron

Waking up on a lazy Saturday morning, I really didn't have the motivation to jump in my car and drive into the city for a breakfast date. My breaky companions and I hadn't tried the local, The Baron, yet so that is where we headed. 

It was quite busy when we arrived so we left our names and were told to come back in 10-15 minutes. 

My nephew was with us, and he was in his pram. When we came back to check on a table, they were really accommodating and made sure there was enough room for the pram next our table. Though, just as we settled at our table, we did the annoying thing and changed to a table outside that had just freed up. 

While we're trying to decide what to eat, we order our coffees and shortly after they arrive. The coffee was enjoyable, standard run of the mill. Did the job in waking me up! 

Feeling like something fresh, rather than greasy or fried (wasn't suffering from the standard Saturday hangover) I ordered the Avocado on toast - avocado, coriander, feta & cherry tomatoes on sourdough toast. 

Food didn't take too long to come out, but when it did, I was a little sad at seeing only one piece of toast on my plate. Never the less, there was a mini mountain of feta and avocado on top my lonely piece of toast, so I started in on it. This picture doesn't do it much justice, there was a whole lotta topping on that toast.

When finishing, I am quite content and thinking, a second piece of toast probably wasn't needed. With a squeeze of lime giving it the right amount of zest, it was definitely the nice and fresh breaky I was after. We also shared between us a salted caramel milkshake, so that topped me off nicely too. 

I think The Baron is definitely a cool little place to hit up locally. Next time, I think I'm going to have to give the sliders a go.