Perched atop a hill across the road from a cemetery - which, incidentally, must be one of the most enviable places to end up, what with the ocean views and dramatic cliffs - The Grumpy Baker in Vaucluse is very cheering.

Much of this happiness comes from seeing a row of loaves rising in the oven. It's terribly exciting, like witnessing the circle of life. The cafe is engulfed in the warm, comforting, diet-dissolving fug that is the smell of bread baking. It's also super busy. Getting a table on a Sunday morning is something of a competitive sport. Which might explain the line of people opting for takeaway sausage rolls, oozy pastries and a loaf of brown-paper-wrapped bread.

The fit-out is sleek, with polished concrete floors, wooden slats on the roof and lamps that wouldn't be out of place in the kind of warehouse offices that don't have desks. The table numbers have been decorated by local children in eye-popping colours, and the box of toys in the corner suggests young customers are always welcome.

The Allpress coffee ($3.50-$4.50) is good, mild-tasting and smooth, and the chai latte is creamy and spicy. The range of teas from T2 includes Turkish apple, which you can get iced. Milkshakes, served in the old-fashioned aluminium containers, are also on the menu.

Staff buzz about the place being very efficient and pleasant and the lady on the front counter fields very specific questions from customers about the bread in a knowledgeable and admirably chipper manner.

The fig and walnut bread ($7.50) is dense, honey-laced and delightfully figgy. The tasty shakshouka ($16), baked eggs with tomato casse, comes with little dishes of yoghurt and spices and a hunk of bread, and the rest of the breakfast menu, including sweet couscous with yoghurt and rhubarb, and an oven-baked omelet with mint and feta, looks enticing. Completely full, we can't resist hoggishly buying a sourdough loaf - still warm - and a piece of the deliciously not-too-sweet and delicately spiced banana bread to take home.

Address Shop 6, 767 Old South Head Road, Vaucluse, 9337 5179, thegrumpybaker.com.au Open Mon-Sat, 7am-5pm; Sun, 8am-5pm.