Are you an early riser? Make the most of a Sunday by starting it with a breakfast with a view. Public Dining Room on Balmoral Beach serves breakfast from 8am-10:30am with the water just a few metres away!
Putting on an alarm on a Sunday morning is not the usual way I like to do things but when it's a get together and a sunny day then I'm happy to do this. Mr NQN and I used to live near Balmoral Beach a few years ago in a tiny apartment at the top of the the Awaba Street hill. Still we only made it here a few times.
Public Dining Room is a very popular spot. The idea to come here actually came from a desire for a long Sunday lunch (more my sort of timing) but it was so busy that the only time we could snag was breakfast. The kitchen also closes at 10:30am so the breakfast shift is a short one.
Service is very friendly and polite and they show us to our table with a gorgeous view of the beach. It's really the kid's wading pool but the sand is so close you can almost feel it between your toes.
The menu is made of up of cafe style dishes, they actually remind me of an a la carte selection at a hotel rather than cafes which seem to do slightly edgier things nowadays. With 7 of us we covered most of the menu although the items like toast, muesli and a healthy acai bowl were skipped in favour of French toast and more indulgent offerings.
I really enjoy my carrot, beetroot, apple and ginger juice. It's sweet but not overly so and refreshing in the heat.
The brioche French toast is sweet and has almost a donutty flavour to it. It's fairly rich but a bit more syrup or sauce would have been wonderful.
The pancakes are fluffy and come as a stack of three although I would have loved a little pot of the sauce to come on the side as the best pancake was the top one with the caramel sauce.
I really wanted the smashed avocado on toast (boring I know but I had a craving) but they had just sold out. This was the only other choice apart from a big breakfast. It's not bad, the presentation is slightly odd with the tahini yogurt taking up quite a bit of the plate and it is a bit dry with the shaved fennel. And some butter for the toast would have been nice too.
Boston style baked beans $5
I try some of Anna's corn fritters. They're delicious and a good size. The juicy corn fritters come with a house made green tomato relish and a herb salad made with chives and parsley which she doesn't go for.
Shakshouka – eggs baked in tomato, red onion, capsicum and eggplant, topped with ricotta salata, micro coriander, rustic loaf $21
Taylor is a vegetarian and she chose the shakshouka aka baked eggs in tomato. It's quite good although I usually love shakshouka with chorizo in it to boost the flavour.
My favourite savoury choice is Louise's smoked salmon with potato roesti, soft centered poached eggs, ricotta and a crispy caper and mustard dressing. Again the presentation is a little different but the flavours are all there and the roesti have an appealing crispiness to them especially when they're dressed with the creamy egg yolk.
And because no breakfast meal is complete without churros (okay we totally made up that last point) we order some churros to share. The churros are crisp and come with a chocolate sauce for dipping. And I wonder why all breakfast menus don't include churros!
So tell me Dear Reader, do you often set an alarm for a Sunday morning? And if so, what gets you up early? And churros for breakfast-what do you think?
This meal was independently paid for.
Public Dining Room
2A The Esplanade, Mosman NSW 2088 +61 2 9968 4880 Monday to Friday 12–3pm, 6–9:30pm Saturday 8–10am, 12–3pm, 6–9:30pm Sunday 8–10am, 12–3pm www.publicdiningroom.com.au/
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