Mrs Sippy, Bay Street, Double Bay NSW

Mrs Sippy a new eating house/bar/coffee place. It's split into a number of different areas, the footpath, a verandah space with stools a place to be seen and inside is a large cavernous room with another outside/ inside bar areas at the back. I can imagine this place in the evening being buzzy and people getting stuck into a few drinks. The interior design detail is clever, the use of old fashioned lights and the boards across the ceiling reminded me abit of a woolshed.
I felt comfortably in a big squashy lounge so happy with the decor.

The menu was small and nothing unexpected - which these days I think cafes should be working on something extra to get you to come back.

Brunch was just the two of us this morning. We were surprisingly smart this morning without our usual third party scoring a massive 18/20 for the quiz excellent work.

The coffee was very good I had two cups just to make sure, however the norwegian eggs (eggs benedict with smoked salmon) looked a little lonely on the plate a fancy name but not a fancy dish. The eggs however were perfectly poached. Service was intermitant but friendly.

An enjoyable morning we chatting about the current cinema that is worthwhile and the upcoming theatre next friday we see Death of Salesman at Belvoir which I am looking forward to. On a sad note discussed the passing of a very favoured pet Hugo he was such a great dog and will be sorely missed by his owner. RIP Hugo.

SAL: 3.5 Golden eggs enjoyable - good food and comfortable but not a place you'd rush to say "you must go there".

ANDY: 4.5 for coffee, 3.5 for food  Thanks to my favourite outrageous colleague Marie for suggesting this place. I completely share her view of this place & I quote her word for word; " Their coffee is divine, their pastries are crap but their banana bread is good and the trollop ja'mies with hangovers are great too"

Garnish, 58 Dalhousie St Haberfield, 23rd June 2012

Well today marks the first brunchclub outing that our newest family member, JD Maher (that's not him in the picture incidentally), attended in person. The almost 5-month "hey Jude" with doting mummy &daddy in tow coped magnificently this morning especially as Sal, Brad, Tossie (returning Brunch club treasured guest) & I were particularly raucous with many of our comments being completely unprintable on this public space.

However, some printable highlights included discussions of Sal's Lib party function on Thurs night featuring a dialogue between a Rabbi & an Imam which segue wayed into a discussion of Islamic history, beliefs, the role of women & the question of scared texts amongst other topics. Brad was also still brimming with philosophical stimulation from the previous night's Sydney Inklings group. Especially, Chesterson's superb, prophetic 'Orthodoxy' text about the dangers of liberalism (little L)leading to the gagging of anyone being able to discuss any life purpose questions. Oh yeah & Brad had his usual rant against Facebook.

The cafe itself was better than we were led to believe on the web (can't trust those web critics -except us of course!!). Very good food in my humble opinion, I was very happy with my spinach, fetta & tomato omelette with bacon sides. Others were happy too though Brad's bacon, eggs & mushroom was forgotten about so Brad (not used to being forgotten) would probably agree with the web comments that service was not really flash.
Finally, we were exceptional on the quiz this morning almost attaining perfection just stumbling on one question the other name for whale bone (Baleen). Overall, a fun experience this June morn.

JUDE SAYS: "Mummy"
ANDREW SAYS: How cute is my nephew? Great fun 4 GOLDEN EGGS.
BRAD SAYS: No one leaves Baby in the corner! Awful service and very bland food. I really 'lucked out' with this one. 2 Golden (weel, more rather grey-looking) Eggs.
SAL SAYS:
NIGE/GEORGE SAYS: Very good food. And the rest of the patrons were probably happy too see us go. 4 out of 5
MARK(tossie) SAYS:

Esthers 61 Annandale Street, Annandale

A lovely corner cafe in Annandale's premier street. I enjoyed our brekkie this morning despite the groans from one of our members for starting at 9! Small space well turned out I liked the photos of the Chefs on the wall from the competition 'shoot the chef' they added to the ambience.

Discussion was still wandering through a film we'd all seen the night before which some of us liked & others not so keen so still some interesting chat about it ' Take This Waltz'.  Politics& theatre were given the usual airing - internal party politics particularly. Lady Macbeth is busy.

The menu had a wide selection, unfortunately I ordered the corn fritters and there was no tomato relish (a must with fritters) however a grilled tomato was produced very quickly. The big brekkie's looked okay but not much noise about it being fabulous. Service was efficient but we didn't feel as though anyone was having fun - the air was subdued - perhaps it is the gloomy weather!

If you are going to have flowers fresh is always best, however the arrangement of silk ones had a certain appeal as a centre piece.

We did well with the Herald quiz this morning 19/20!!!

A pleasurable brunch.

Sal: Three golden eggs - if you advertise relish and it's not on the menu and one is not told until the dish arrives explains my marked this morning. I did enjoy Esthers though and would go back again.

Brad: 3 1/2 Golden Eggs. Food was ok and I liked what they were doing with the decor (Especially the leaflets expalinign the historic significance of Esther) and a bonus 1/2 egg simply because of its location in one of my favourite suburbs.




Andrew: Sorry still sleeping & freezing my gonads off this very cold wintery Saturday morning. 9am on a sat morn is for sleeping not brunching. Enjoyed my food though it's hard to remember as I was sleepwalking. 3.5 GOLDEN sleepwalking EGGS





Though I did wake up in time to be naughty for this photograph!!!


Esther's Cafe

Burnt Orange, Middle Head, Mosman. Sat 9th June, 2012

What a gem!

Thanks must go to our two friends, Andrew and Jenny, for letting us in on this Sydney secret. We knew about Ripples and the Gunners' Barracks but it was only today that we discovered and savoured the delights of 'Burnt Orange', perched on middle head overlooking Sydney Harbour.

Perhaps best described as Laura Ashleigh meets Australian Federation chic, the wide verandahs, enormous windows of this converted golf country club is warm and welcoming from the moment you emerge from the native bush that surrounds it to the moment you are kindly offered a seat and all the pleasure in between.

Perhaps the glorious sunshine helped (amid a gloomy wet week), but we (Sal, Brad and regular interstate guest, Andrew) all agreed this was one of the best brunch spots to date.

Highlights included:

* Excellent personal service. Attentive but not invasive.

* Wide tables (which allowed one to spread out the paper while eating brunch) - a rarity at too many cafes these days.

* Excellent food.

*Attached cottage gift shop where, among other things, you can purchase homemade (As in, yes, on site) marmalade. Which we did.

* Birdsong drifting up from the parrots in the eucalypts.

Ok, if we're sounding a little sappy and, well, Mozzman Mummy, too bad. When on the north side and amongst the locals.. let yourself go.

QUIZ RESULT:

Probably because of the sensory overload, we only achieved 16/20. Annoyed that there are too many popular culture questions and not enough of the traditional History, Literature, Geography. We may have to write another letter...

RATINGS:

BRAD: I can't believe I've driven past this one so many times on my way to Ripples. Burnt Orange 'kicks ass'. Sorry, don't know what prompted that gratuitous vernacular, but I do rate this place highly and will bring guests back here, especially international or interstate. 5 Golden Eggs.

ANDREW (Shelley): You did it again Sydney. Hard not to be impressed. A thoroughly delightful morning among friends, fine food, good coffee and beautiful vistas. 4.5 Golden Eggs. Can't give anything perfection outside Canberra.

SAL: A piece of Mosperson heaven what a delight. Large timber tables that you can both read the paper at, excellent service and my food  -  eggs florentine where excellent. Very good choice for anyone with a visitor in town. Top marks 5 Golden Eggs

Rubyos, King St, Newtown Sat 2nd June, 2012

Rubyos proved to be a good refuge from the rain and it was a particular treat to have extra guests join the Brunch Clubbers this morning. The conversation was particularly effusive with Andrew, Karli and Connie lifting the discourse to new philosophical heights. A somewhat vertiginous Brad arrived a little late but there was plenty of good food and coffee to go around.

Recalling the brunch now, it is the company and conversation that remains, not really the venue. Rubyos is probably more suited to dinner. The food was ok but the decor, well, shall we say prompted many guesses - 'suburban', 'unimaginative', bland' but Connie wins the prize for 'Municipal'.
There was also a slight murmuring among the Clubbers about the less than inspiring service. Indeed, a passing comment by one os us about the 'sporadic attention' and slight 'tude' was unfortunately overheard by one of the waitresses. I fear we may not be welcomed back too soon. That's ok though because it is unlikely to be a brunch club regular.

Arguably the best dish of the day.

OK, so they had groovy lights

QUIZ Result:

A star cast led to a star result. 19/20! Not quite perfection but, like a Persian carpet, a certain bit of humility is essential.




RATINGS:

SAL: 3 Golden Eggs. Nothing wrong with the place and some of the food was very good but more suited  for dinner.

ANDREW:4 Golden eggs. I'm going to be contrary. I really liked & had a great morning.Only annoying thing was the incessant rain outside. Sydney will you ever stop raining?

BRAD: As above. Although I was glad to make it.

CONNIE: It's all about the decor and ambience, darling. This place has neither. Loved the company. I give that maximum eggs but whatever a fail is for food, put that down. (Ed. 2 Golden Eggs)

ANDREW and KARLY: Huzzah Brunch Club! Thanks for having us. We'll be back.