Hash browns. Every now and then I get cravings for hash browns. There was a stage where a 1kg bag of frozen hash browns would only last two days in my home. It's something about the small soft potato bits, crunchy brown edges and that sprinkle of salt. So what's this got to do with Luxe in Newtown? They make some pretty decent hash browns.


They also served it with my favourite choice of cured salmon and soft oozing poached eggs. Yes, perfectly set up for a pretty damn good #yolkporn picture.


The all day menu is split into a few categories - "I'm hungry but not hungry hungry", "the most important yum of the day", "the best things in sliced bread" and "more". Of course my favourite category is "the most important yum of the day".

Tijuana breakfast with pulled pork $20

Under this category at the top of the list is their signature Tijuana breakfast. Oh yes, see that hash brown? I would imagine this would be their most popular dish with the amazing tender pulled pork, chipotle cream for a soft creamy chilli hit and to lighten it up, avocado and corn salsa.

Salmon biscuit $20

The other dishes in this category seem to change regularly and to my delight they had a new addition, the salmon biscuit (March 2015). I did not know what to expect for a "biscuit" dish but it was quite the savoury dish with a delicious fried kale side, perfectly poached eggs, cured salmon topped with dill creme aoili and of course, those yummy hash browns.

Quinoa and butternut falafel $20 extra poached egg

Under the lighter category there was the quinoa and butternut falafel (June 2014) which is no longer available. The real item of interest was the deep fried mixed of quinoa and butternut pumpkin falafel which mixed well with the pea hummus and minted yogurt.

Large cappucino $4

Hot coffee and tea is available along with cold coffee and alcoholic drinks. The coffee is a simple sweet creamy affair and the cold drip was an easy refreshing nutty hit. Very brave serving right next door to Campos, a favourite amongst many coffee connoisseurs.

Chocolate salted caramel slice

The original store in Newtown was the main bakery for Luxe, pumping out baked goods for it's stores. I couldn't leave without trying something. Decandent to say the least, the chocolate salted caramel slice was just divine. You'll find many other ridiculously delicious glossy looking slices and tarts in the glass cabinet.


Unpretentious, this old house converted into a homely industrial cafe is casual and quite relaxing with easy tunes playing in the background. Everything in this cafe is claimed to be house made (need to get their hash brown recipe!) so the seasonal changes to their menu is a well respected fare. You'll find the young and old here and don't be surprised by the queues on the weekends.


In a nutshell ♥♥
All day breakfast, licensed
Coffee: ♪♪ 
Food: ●● A touch of Mediterranean and Mexican, menu changes seasonally
Service: ☺☺ Friendly and attentive. Sometimes table service. 
Price: $$ ($)
Atmosphere: Casual, relaxed. Suits all Weekend queues.

Luxe Newtown - 191 Missenden Rd, Newtown
http://luxesydney.com.au/locations/#newtown



Luxe also has stores at Bondi Junction and Woollahra


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"Is it bacon day?" ~ Homer Simpson

Drop into Cuckoo Callay and its bacon day, every day as they bring you the Bacon Festival. Bacon supplied by Black forest smokehouse, the creative menu celebrates bacon in ways I couldn't even imagine with eight dishes (some gluten free) and four bacon twisted drinks.

Drizzle sticks $10

We started with the drizzle sticks, smoked streaky bourbon bacon covered with chocolate and hazelnut. My brain was confused as I ate the jerky textured bacon and thought of salty caramel.

Bacon all the rules $24

This bacon smorgasbord will sure put you into a bacon coma. Sitting on slices of sourdough bread, there's maple bacon, bourbon bacon, bacon steak, bacon sausage and bacon crumbed poached eggs. The bacon sausage was the best.

What a croque of bacon $19

Cleverly named, this was my favourite dish. A bursting croquette of bacon, basil and cheesy vintage cheddar lapped up the pea puree and oozing egg yolk as a delicious combination. Another lighter option is Jammin' bacon ($9) or the Bacon, get in my belly ($20) with pork belly and coriander salad.

Don't go bacon my heart $19

For some serious dude food, there's the Bacon dawg ($16) a roll with crispy pork belly or the Don't go bacon my heart, a beer candied bacon and popcorn chicken burger. The burger was a sweet sensation with optional pickles on the side to cut the flavours.

Cuckoo Callay didn't forget about the sweet tooths putting on the Ya bacon me crazy ($20), buttermilk pancakes with caramel cinnamon icecream and you guessed it - three different versions of bacon!

Smokey bourbon bacon with fresh apple juice $12

Onto the drinks, we didn't get to try the bloody bacon cuckootail ($14) but the Shake 'n' bacon ($9) is a rocking sweet maple milkshake with small bacon pieces and the feral smoked porter dark ale ($10) is a bitter tasting beer from the WA. With no hint of bacon, the smokey bourbon bacon tasted like freshly squeezed apple juice with a pretty piece of decorative bacon.


If all this bacon is making you hungry, you have until the end of April 2015 to check it out!


Cuckoo Callay - Newtown Railway Station, Shop 324B Erskineville Rd, Newtown
http://www.cuckoo-callay.com.au/



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We finally decided to hit up Brewtown Newtown and ended up bopping away to some good old 90's hits during our feast. The girls even started to sing along and at that moment I felt old. I knew the words. I remembered the dance moves. Those awkward adolescent moments... I have digressed.

Lychee & raspberry brewnut $5.50

Not so secretly, I was here for the Brewnut(s). I desperately wanted to try the rocky road one but there weren't any so I settled for the lychee & raspberry one with that little sugar coated rose petal. So sweet. So naughty.


These Brewnuts are freshly cranked out of Brewtown Newtown where you can see the long lines of waiting customers from the main road. We were amongst them, twice. First time we skipped the 90 minute wait for another brunch spot, second time we persevered for over an hour at 10am.

Is it Fundamental Fish? Fundamental Fresh Food? or Fundamental Cafe & Restaurant? Let's just stick to Fundamental and what stood out at this place was the odd rounding of pricing. How do you know when to round it up to .05c or 0.30c or 0.85c?

Eggs Fundamental $14.30 with extra avocado $3.30

From the menu, I couldn't go past the Eggs Fundamental which was eggs benedict with brie cheese. Love the idea, although the ham didn't look so appealing and I only got a small sliver of brie cheese. The little side of fruit salad was a nice addition.

Big Breakfast $18.70 with extra hash browns $3.30 and avocado $3.30

The Big Breakfast comes with a coffee or fresh juice and the meal probably didn't need the extra sides but we were hungry. Eggs were poached nicely on both dishes. 

Freshly squeezed juice $6.05

Juices come freshly squeezed with your choice of combination. You'll notice the interesting rounding of $6.05 for a tall glass.


The breakfast menu has a few interesting dishes and I did unintentionally stare at an omelette being served daydreaming at how delicious it looked and me devouring it.

I'm not sure where the Fish or Fresh Food comes into the name but Fundamental is definitely a cafe serving simple modern Australian breakfast food and has a busy weekend brunch service. Plenty of space and a cool trendy interior, it does have a few fundamental things right.

In a nutshell 
Breakfast until 4pm. Licensed
Coffee:♪♪♪ Toby Estate
Food: ●● Simple, modern Australian
Service:☺☺ Staff were pleasant, service a little slow
Price: $$
Atmosphere: Cool, trendy, relaxed. Family, kids, group and pet friendly

Fundamental - 266 Darling Rd, Balmain
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fundamental-Cafe-Restaurant/210474555223




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It was brunch peak hour and the staff were kind enough to let us know that the food would be around 15 - 20 minutes wait. As we waited for our food, we had food envy as dishes were served around us. The ricotta pancakes looked amazing but we were too full to order after our eggs benedicts (did I mention with three eggs?).

Eggs Benedict with bacon and mushrooms $16.00

Cappucino $3.50

Breakfast is served all day with hearty meals, not one for the health nut or superfood fan but more for a hungry bruncher or to help ease that hangover. There is a cake display filled with a number of sweet sweetness, check out their weekend menu that covers both the savoury and sweet.

Rev Me Up $6.50

The drink options includes smoothies, milkshakes and fresh juices. I had the Rev Me Up, a combination of orange, carrot, beetroot and basil. Other combos were Chill Me Out, Flu Fighter and Get Over It - have a guess of what were in them.


A family run business, you really do feel the love from this low key cafe that was once the home of the Arnott's biscuit factory.  It was very busy and as we left, many tables were set up reserved for another rush - has to be a favourite amongst the locals.

In a nutshell ♥♥
All day breakfast (3.15pm). Unlicensed.
Coffee: ♪♪
Food: ●●● Cafe simple, generous and tasty
Service: ☺☺ Friendly, no fuss
Price: $
Atmosphere: Relaxed, casual cafe style. Suitable for couples, groups, families, prams and pets.

Zenja Cafe - 5 George St, North Strathfield
http://zenjacafe.com.au/ 


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Add a little bit of Spanish, a bit of Mexican and a little bit of Portuguese and you have Copo.

Copo (cup in portuguese, flake in spanish) delivers a south american inspired menu using locally source produce and serves campos coffee. Greeted by a typewriter "Please wait to be seated", it didn't take long before we had a table and a menu.

Skim cappucino $3.70

What a feast of a menu it was. There was some traditional breakfast menu items (french toast, bacon and egg roll) and then there was the copo menu items. Baked eggs is popular with 3 different versions - house smoked trout, morroccan eggplant or the one I chose with chorizo.

Baked eggs with tomato, chorizo and chimichurri $21

It's quite refreshing and not heavy like most baked eggs, maybe due to the chunks of tomato and it indeed made my hungry belly happy. It was a shame that my eggs were slightly too "baked" so I couldn't dip my bread in the yolk.

Avocado & Tomato on toast $14, side bacon $4, poached eggs $3.50 each

How do you perfect avo and tomato on toast? Make the ingredients organic and the bread freshly baked ... but it'll cost you.  Add sides of poached eggs and organic bacon and it will definitely fill the sides of your stomach.

Freshly squeezed juice $6.50

Juice is freshly squeezed to order from a selection of orange, apple, pineapple, watermelon, carrot, celery, ginger and mint. Always a winner for me.


Having never been to any of these countries (yet!) the interior seemed more raw and industrial with wooden tables and chairs, open pantry/storage, a clever milk bottle light feature and that typewriter. Whatever it is, it works.  

By 11am  the queue of hungry people, young and old, kids and prams, stretched out onto the footpath. Just make sure you enter from Formosa St and use the 2hr free parking next door. 

In a nutshell ♥♥
All day breakfast (3pm). Licensed.
Coffee: ●●● Campos, slight bitter kick
Food: ●● South American inspired, organic and gluten free available
Service: ●●●
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: Hard, industrial but warm, open and friendly. Suits all, free wifi.

Copo Cafe & Diner - Shop M3 135 Victoria Road Drummoyne
http://www.copocafediner.com.au/


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