Tiger Mottle, 06/04/13

Well apologies for the lack of a blog for quite some time but all members have been away whether for Easter or for the Tsunami Anniversary in Japan ( one of my very first students was killed) or ????really can't remember!!

There have been a few meetings with two members in attendance like Town Bike Pit Stop in Redfern (loved by both Brad & Sal)  For more info; www.townbikepitstop.com.au
 & a brave return by Andrew & Brad to Waterloo after the French House merde experience to the adjacent & infinitely superior Tapas themed Bogata Sapnish Deli Cafe; http://www.bocata.com.au

This wet morning the Brunch trio was finally reunited & back to continue our more than 2 year Sydney cafe odyssey landing at Tiger Wattle Cafe near Five Ways in Paddington based on a tip from a Japanese friend of mine now living in Okinawa (hello Ryo, if you read this).

Our advice is arrive early on a sat morn before the child/baby/Paddo ghetto locals crowd a pretty cramped cafe. We had a lovely time chatting on North Korea's attempt to Team America the world once again, knee mishaps, future travel plans including my 2013 centre court Wimbledon tickets & giving verdicts on events attended the night before (Brad- The Inklings writing & reading group had a most stimulating night on the philosophy of Easter), (Andrew - Drongo book club's take on the greatest Australian film of all time 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' but certainly not the greatest Aus novel of all time....Mirandaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!).

Most memorably, we trotted off to the nearby Ben Quilty exhibition 'After Afghanistan' which we were all most moved, disturbed & captivated by. Here are details of the exhibition which only has one week left in Sydney before it tours the country; http://www.benquilty.com/news.php


Finally, we scored 20/20 for the quiz. We were obviously destined to reunite by the powers that be.

ANDREW: 4 Golden Eggs. Beautiful coffee, lovely omlette. Thanks Ryo for the tip.
BRAD: 3 Golden Eggs....(4 for food. Great Eggs Bennie. 3 for ambitious but not totally successful Decor. 2 for Noise)
SAL: 2 Golden Eggs. Good snacks, omlette slightly overcooked but enjoyed it. However, didn't enjoy the noisy children.

St Judes, 02/03/13

This very cool and exceptionally good small cafe on..wait for it...yet another wet Saturday morning think this is the fifth one in a row. However St. Judes provided us with an excellent brunch this morning. Very good service, friendly staff, excellent food. I really enjoyed an updated version of french toast with cherries and mascapone - the corn and pumpkin fritters where great as were the eggs with dukkar and avo smash with interesting bread.

So another really pleasing spot for brunch. So good in fact it deserves top marks - 5 Golden EGGS!!!
Service, ambience, coffee, food all excellent.
We were all that brilliant with the quiz this morning only a pass...

Sal:  5 out of 5 Golden Eggs. Great absolutely a recommendation from me.


Brad: 4.5 Golden Eggs.
Probbly a slight miscalculation to come to Surry Hills on Mardi Gras weekend - too busy - but this is a great cafe. The food, service, setting combination is spot on. Only half an egg of for being a little pressured to 'move on' after we'd finished our meal.

Andy: 4.5 Golden Baby Eggs. Loved it. Loved also having SJ join us once again. But agree with Brad the pressure to move us on was intense which is indicative of the cafe's demand, I know!

The French House, Dank Street, Waterloo, 17/02/13

Sacre Bleu!

They say looks can be deceiving but 'The French brothel House' is more deceptive than Eddie Obeid on holidays in The Hunter.

Teasing us with her seductive setting amid uber-urban chic Dank Street, and shaelessly boasting of her outrageous feaux French Imperial decor, this Gaalic concubine lady promised nostalgic cuisine from the Continent but failed to deliver on all levels.

The lowlights included:

*  A ridiculous system (and that's a generous term) of ordering, paying and delivering the meals. Not even the staff knew how it worked.

*  Staff who were as slow as a bowl of escargots (and I mean already cooked!).

*  Argumentative, humourless and inexperienced staff.

* Ghastly coffee.

The food, well,.... indescribably bad. If our readers can bear it, try reading our individual comments below:

BRAD:  I thought I'd be safe and have the French toast. Well, it was a stodgy, chewy, flavourless flour-based concotion of some form but forensically impossible to identify.

SAL:

ANDREW: I'm so sorry!

And in a fitting postscript to our morning. We couldn't even escape this nightmare after we had setlled l'addition because the heavens opened with appropriate apocalyptic force and poured flooding curses upon this abomination of Sydney eateries. It was worth getting drenched just to get out of this place. (Brad: Come to think of it, I should have used the French Toast as a bouyancy vest to flaot to the car. Tht's all it is good for!)

Never again.

OVERALL SCORE:  1 (soppy) Egg

Tapeo, Redfern, 10/02/13

Another wet summer Saturday morning - and this day found us in Redfern at Tapeo.

Six of us this morning and plenty of chat, from politics and art to religion and internet dating. Lots of laughs today.

The Coffee was good and the food was okay - something went wrong in the kitchen though the staff were being reprimanded for something which made for some tension - coffee spilling etc.

We were all enjoying each others company today though so the tension didn't spoil our fun.

I can't remember but I think we had full marks for the Quiz which we almost forgot and it happened very quickly at the end of brunch.

Sal:  2.5 eggs the ambience was ruined by the cranky owner and it was cold - food was okay but  not one I'd rush back to

Andy: Good company, so happy to be reunited with Susan Jane and Ian Powell (long time since he came to brunch). Thought Brad's reaction to having coffee spilt on him by a totally oblivous waiter was completely hilarious & worth the price of admission alone. 3 Eggs

Brad: Can't talk now, too busy trying to get the coffee stains out of my pants!

Cow Bell 808, Surry Hills, 12/01/13 & 19/01/13

This is the coolest and most fun cafe we've been to for ages. Lovely people running this place, great retro 80s albums on the wall and music playing. No attitude from the staff serving, very friendly - a family affair and a great mixed crowd.

Food was great, really enjoyed the fluffy ricotta cakes and the refried beans were also a hit. Not often we come back to a place twice. This one deserved a second visit.

So it was happy Australia Day we even had the busker - who really wasn't great getting in on the act.

We did very well with the Australia Day quiz. Up to our usual excellent standard.

Sal: I rated this very highly with five golden eggs - a rarity to get full marks from me.

Andy:

Brad:

Sea salt Cafe Clovelly, 05/01/13, HAPPY NEW YEAR

A bright sunny Sydney morning, and what a great spot for brekkie. Lots of beach action, surfers and families here.
Two country guests at brunch this morning fun of course catching up on the country news.
Food was okay - nothing that leaps to mind - this blog is being written late though so pardon if anyone else had something exceptional.

Service was good - efficient and the place was busy. Parking was good as it is close to the big beach car park.

EGGS: Top rating 5 golden eggs
Sal: 3 eggs today - the best thing about this cafe is the location.
Andy:3.5 golden eggs Love Sydney by the beach in Summer. No better place & this place takes advantage of that
Brad: 3 Eggs

Orto Trading Co., Surry Hills,15/12/12

This was our final Brunch club of the year,also our first for 3 weeks due to one of our members getting the 5 star treatment in Cambodia. So this was our Christmas party if you like, featured a whopping 8 people around a big table intent on making 2012's Brunch Club go out with a bang.

Our guests were on behalf of Sal her flatmate Paul & her sister SJ (one of our fave Brunch club guests) & Mark (for his third brunch appearance of the year). On behalf of Brad; Adrian (come again) and finally on behalf of Andrew his friend from Barcelona Thiago. Curiously Thiago informed us that 'Orto', the name of the cafe, means anus hole in Spanish. Nice!!

Stories of 2012 including  our various overseas adventures this year, my TAFE Christmas party staff awards, Paul's cricket adventures, SJ's cosmetic surgery  were interspersed with phone calls from Mummy bear demanding mangoes.

Our quiz was not the climatic 20 that we were wanting for the end of the year despite 8 people answering. Still some impressive answers from Adrian knowing JRR Tolkein's South African birthplace & that George Bush snr served as the head of the CIAA as well as being the president.

Adios 2012.

The place itself was enjoyable & pleasant but our coffee order got terribly confused which wasn't a good start. Still, food was great so in the Christmas spirit of Jean Valejean rather than Scrooge we won't begrudge them.

ANDREW SAYS: 4 golden eggs to end the year. P.S do you like my Christmas present for my gran namely a Hot Royals Calendar?