I’m a firm believer in magic. Truly honestly I am and it’s the kind of thinking that makes my very scientific and logical husband just despair and roll his eyes with a tight, tolerant smile (think the same smile one gives to a potentially violent mental patient). So when I see an item on the cafe menu that says “Magic $3.50″ I point at the item in question and say to him “Look! I told you there was magic!”

We’re sitting at Joe Black which is a place near where Mr NQN works.  When I want Mr NQN to do something I go about it the wrong way. I do a version of a child tugging at their parent’s pants or skirt and repeat requests a lot. When Mr NQN wants to insist that we do something he simply mentions that “We really should go there” and he says it with such a serious tone that I know he means business. And several times he talked about the coffee at Joe Black and said “You really should go there” with that serious look replacing his usual impish countenance.

I have walked into Joe Black and have staked a place at the communal table while Mr NQN is parking the car. It’s a small cafe but with cosy service and they ask me if I would like a coffee while I am waiting. I’m uncertain and the barista holds up his palms and says “No pressure” while the girl behind the counter laughs and jokingly says “I’m just going to stare at you until you order” and pretends to stare avidly for a moment. I look around-there are walls full of memorabilia and just near the kitchen are four cookie jars suspended above the counter with cookies for $3  ranging from “chunky funky monkeys” to “giant rainbow cookies” and a rather amusing one called “Fresh Air” for $20-this of course being an empty cookie jar.

When Mr NQN arrives we take a seat at a table in a little further as its an unseasonably chilly Spring day. We face a wall of what look to be family school photos, along with a photo of what looks like someone’s first teenage car. Bags of moustache stamped coffee sit on the counter and a coffee siphon machine sits to one side. Mr NQN usually orders a long black but today he has the time to try a siphon coffee which takes time both to make and to drink as you usually let it sit for about 5 minutes. Both luxuries he can’t really afford on a busy work day.

They set down some enamel cups and brown beer bottles filled with water while we peruse the small, neat selection of menu items. There are five breakfast items available all day and four lunch items available after noon with a note that there is a “full menu coming soon (please be patient).” Items are described cheekily with items such as “granola with diced apple and berry compote (very fancy)” and “pikelet stack with stuff” and there’s a selection of sandwiches by John Daly randomly named after the notoriously unhealthy golfer.  We ask the waitress for her recommendations and whether we should get the steak sandwich or one of the sandwiches and she says “The steak sandwich, I can’t lie, it’s awesome.”

Flat white $3.50

The coffee as to be expected is very good and very drinkable with very little bitterness to it.

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I started off the sentence “Well my agent recommended this to me…” before trailing off and realising how terribly affected that sounded. Surely starting off a sentence proclaiming that you have an agent is similar just the precursor to speaking about yourself in the third person for example “Lorraine is hungry now. Please bring Lorraine something to eat chop chop!”

But in this case it’s true (the agent recommendation, not the affectedness). You know I’m lucky enough to have people around me and readers that recommend places to me and it is true that my literary agent who lives in Mosman sent me an email one day recommending that I visit Hawthorn in no uncertain terms.

In the olden days, in a past career, I managed a designer shoe store in Mosman just up the road from Hawthorn. We put all of the nicest, most expensive shoes in the window and none of them sold. The thing about Mosman is that it is very family focused and many people there have a mortgage and expensive cars that need paying off so once we figured this out, we put in the sale shoes in the window and they sold much better.

So what’s my point? Well whilst the prices at Hawthorn seem very reasonable for an area such as Mosman, it also probably helps ensure its success. When we walk in towards the end of the lunch at 1:35pm the place is full with only two tables free. Only four weeks old it is full of ladies that lunch. Opened by the former general manager from Jonah’s in Whale Beach along with many of their staff (including George Francisco who is the consulting chef here) according to my agent (there I go again, sorry!) it has been busy every day for breakfast that she was walked past.

It’s set in a building and as a former Mosman resident I am having some trouble remembering what was there. Built in 1901 it became a dental surgery in 1950 (and apparently causes some residents some distress when they visit the tiled bar-no doubt bad memories!) the owners seeing how the street was being developed intentionally had the building heritage listed to avoid the same happening to their building. The interior now is designed by owner Sean’s brother who owns Coco Republic so that it looks like a home-well perhaps not my home but the home of someone that has very good taste.

Oysters with fire ice $4 each

We’re trying a few different things so they put together a share platter for us. The fire ice oysters are Sydney rock oysters with a granita of chilli on top. The granita melts quickly as it’s just a little dab so move fast if you want to experience the fire ice sensation, as it was the photo taking meant that it had melted by the time I got to them. The chilli was a sweet and spicy lift to the fresh Sydney rock oysters.

Salad of sautéed prawns, green papaya, purple basil, Vietnamese mint with nahm jin and Tempura ricotta filled zucchini flowers with a basil pesto platter $30

My favourite item from this plate were the zucchini flowers, which are admittedly omnipresent across many menus but these ones are plump and stuffed with a cheesy slightly sweet filling punctuated with the light crunch of pine nuts and sweetness of currants with an earth shattering batter outside. The prawns with nam jinh are fresh and well cooked and served alongside a green papaya salad with plenty of Thai basil leaves.

Halloumi, Semolina flash fried Hawkesbury River Calamari with Cajun remoulade and chorizo platter $30

We’re all halloumi freaks here and so a couple of halloumi dishes were ordered. The first one was the second platter where the halloumi was salty but quite thin and uneven in thickness. I like the halloumi pieces to be fatter to get that lovely squeak so I wasn’t as taken with the halloumi on this dish. The chorizo, always a crowd pleaser was generously portioned and garlicky but my favourite was the semolina crusted squid which had a gorgeous crunch and tenderness to it and was paired with a thick creamy spicy cajun mayonnaise. I’m sorry Marie Claire and Emma if I ate more than my share of this-truly!  ;)

Fish of the Day, sautéed zucchini flowers, baby capers, wilted spinach, blood orange sauce $26

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I feel  a huge responsibility when asked to choose a location for a get together, particularly if it’s for an interstate or overseas guest. I need it to a) suit that person’s likes and dislikes and b)  suit the other people coming along. And since the interstate visitor was Julia from Brisbane and my fellow diner was pastry chef Y it just had to feature something sweet. Lovely reader Crystal emailed me a few weeks ago to let me know about The French House and her quote “The kind (of place) you want to spend a whole afternoon chatting with your  girlfriends and eat their endless desserts ” clinched it for me.

It’s a Sunday afternoon around 1pm and they don’t take bookings. No matter as Y and Julia are there waiting for me having nabbed a prime position in the middle of the room. There’s outside seating in the partially sun dappled balcony that wraps around and inside is a stunning gilt edged French style room. There’s black marble tables edged in gilt, mismatched furniture, black velvet lounges and opulence abounds. I watch a photogenic family of five feeding their children pastries and baguettes.

Ordering is at the counter and we take turns getting up and perving at the selection. As I’ve missed breakfast I start with a ham and cheese croissant and unable to resist pastry I also opt for a mixed berry crumble danish. There are bread loaves available as well (from $4-$5.90) as well as a selection of baguettes and quiches (and one salad) and an array of about a dozen tarts and cakes.

Ham & cheese croissant $5.90

Everything comes out on pretty decorative plates. The ham and cheese croissant has been toasted and filled simply with cheese and ham. I would have liked a bit more filling so that it wasn’t as dry but the pastry is flakey if not particularly buttery. I also prefer ham and cheese croissants to have some of that lovely soft cheese filling.

Mixed Berry crumble Danish $4.50

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