Five reasons why brunch is the most important meal of the day

Too late for breakfast, too early for lunch … let’s do brunch! At these five Sydney cafes, brunch is the most important meal of the day.

Too late for breakfast, too early for lunch … let’s do brunch! Picture: iStock

Here are five reasons why brunch is the most important meal of the day in Sydney.

Circa

Parramatta

Circa.

Circa spins gold from eggs and bread, bringing Middle Eastern flavour to brunch via Ottoman eggs, poached to oozy perfection, then nestled into puddles of labneh and paired with crumbed eggplant, fried leeks and focaccia. The baked eggs bubble in the tomato lava – fiery with harissa, chilli and sujuk, and tempered with feta. These are dishes built for flavour, with generous portions and plenty of bread to mop it all up. It’s a place where every bite feels like it was made with care, and a reminder that some of Sydney’s most interesting food is happening well beyond the inner city.

21 Wentworth St, Parramatta

Blackwood

Cronulla

Blackwood.

Blackwood is one of those places that somehow makes everyone happy, doing an equally solid job of catering to the smoothie-bowl set as it does the miso scrambled egg crowd. You could be virtuous with a poke bowl and green goddess salad, or you could serve your hangover with the spicy bacon roll with a side of life-affirming hash browns (you can even score a golden chicken schnitzel if that’s how you feel like starting your day …). There’s a Bondi sibling too, for those who need their quinoa or fish burger fix further north. Blackwood doesn’t judge; it just feeds.

5/33 Surf Ln, Cronulla

Kurumac

Marrickville

Kurumac.

Kurumac gently suggests that, while Tokyo doesn’t worship breakfast quite the way Sydney does, it should perhaps reconsider. Aromatic and soothing salmon congee is topped with roe and nori, a cod roe omelette arrives rolled and ready to down with rice and pork broth, and soba noodles swim in dashi with crisp prawn and vegetable tempura on hand for dunking. It’s all light, savoury and perfect for kickstarting your weekend. The drinks menu includes great coffee and a full line-up of matcha, and the place is always humming with regulars keen to dodge the smashed avocado and brekkie burger cliches.

107 Addison Rd, Marrickville

Valentinas

Marrickville

Valentinas.

This vibey shrine to indulgence on Livingstone Rd serves up diner classics dripping with Inner West cool. The pancakes arrive stacked like architectural wonders, slathered in blueberry sauce or crowned with bacon and fried chicken. Brekkie muffins bulge with sausage, bacon, egg and cheese (with a top-notch vegan version also available for those so inclined), while the breakfast burrito is a potato-gem stuffed, cheese-oozing miracle. Or go the Tina Classic – scrambled eggs, bacon and home fries served with a pancake. Valentinas is loud, fun and very good at making you forget you had planned on just having a light snack.

132 Livingstone Rd, Marrickville

Bills

Darlinghurst

Bills.

This is where Sydney brunch culture was born. Before smashed avo launched a million cafes, there were Bill Granger’s silky scrambled eggs and iconic ricotta pancakes – buttery, cloudlike and completely worth any wait in line. There’s an almost mystical quality to the original cafe: sunlight pools on the wooden floors, waiters glide, and your hangover, no matter how monumental, dissipates under a blanket of maple syrup. If you’ve never been to Bills, go. If you have, you’ll know there’s something comforting about coming back to where it all began. In a city that reinvents brunch constantly, Bills remains the blueprint.

433 Liverpool St, Darlinghurst