Thank goodness for girlfriends.
I was super excited when my friend Yina said that she was visiting me from Singapore – we’ve known each other since we were 13, been through all the awkward teenage years and it’s been awhile since I’ve moved to Australia. So when she suggested a trip together to Devon Cafe in scenic Surry Hills, I knew that it was going to be an afternoon of food and laughter, just like the old times.
Couple that with truffles? We were ready for some winter bling!
We started first with a Organic Soy Chai ($4) that was served in this super cute teapot!
The chai was creamy and richly spiced, and because you had the option of adding your own sugar at the table, it wasn’t too cloyingly sweet like it can be.
We also ordered Truffle Fries ($16), Eggs Blini ($19), The Little Lost Bread ($16.50), and The Ultimate Toastie ($27).
Truffle fries are a really accessible, everyday way to enjoy truffles. It makes sense – what better way than hot, crispy chips to carry the intense aroma that uniquely belong to truffles? These were on the steep side – $7 for the chips and an extra $9 for the truffles – but hey, at least it’s fresh, and not just truffle oil that they’re using.
The Eggs Blini consisted of a fluffy buckwheat blini, topped with cured salmon, poached eggs, broccolini, salmon roe and sauce Mikado – which is a mandarin hollandaise. This is one dish that had a lot of visual impact and drew lots of oohs and ahhs from people who were sitting at other tables. The lightly cured salmon lent a briny sweetness to the dish, and the combination of oozing yolk and creamy sauce tied everything together in a fine balance. The broccolini reminded me of asparagus, which plays a similar role in breakfast dishes – providing a firmer bite to offset all the creamy oozing that’s going on, to add a pop of colour, and to allay the guilt of serial brunch eaters, like myself.
The Little Lost Bread – a whopping serving of peanut butter brioche french toast with Nutella and topped with a scoop of peanut butter ice cream – was a lesson in richness. A dessert disguised as a breakfast so decadent that it would make Elvis blush, this quirky take on the classic french toast brings together whimsical memories of indulgent childhood breakfasts, in a very classy way. The only downside? I’d be hard pressed to finish everything if I ordered it on my own.
And finally, what I consider to be the seasonal gem on Devon Cafe’s breakfast menu.
The Ultimate Toastie is a magnificent tower of mushroom topped sourdough, with a rich layer of melted cheese and a side of sunny-side-up egg, covered with freshly grated truffles. The mushrooms – a varied mixture that included field and enoki – added most of the heft to the dish and made it extremely filling. The melted cheese added a richness, and the residual heat from it further released the aroma of the grated truffles. The fried eggs added a lovely amount of creaminess to the whole dish, and really topped it off.
I really like Devon Cafe’s dedication to pushing the limits of extreme eating – with big ideas that are artfully executed by the award-winning kitchen team, you can almost hear them standing beside you going, “Go on, you know you wanna”. This is not your everyday cafe, but rather somewhere to treat yourself, or a dear friend who’s visiting from another country.
With a menu that changes with the seasons – something I really respect – Devon Cafe has set itself up to be always evolving, and always creative. The service has matured heaps since I last went, and it definitely felt like there were more hands on deck to help out in the busy meal periods.
If you feel like some truffle bling on your food, be sure to drop by! They’ve also recently started opening for dinner from Thursday to Saturday, 6-10pm.
Devon Cafe
02 9211 8777
76 Devonshire St
Surry Hills, NSW 2010
