After a 7 hour flight from Singapore, we arrived in downtown Sydney just before 8am. What better way to begin our stay in Australia than by having breakfast at one of the city’s excellent cafes.
My wife’s order is shown in the photo below: eggs benedict with spinach and bacon on sourdough toast, with balsamic drizzle.
I ordered smashed avocado on sourdough toast, with soft poached eggs. I especially liked the addition of crumbled feta and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
These were accompanied by a couple of long blacks (what we in the UK would call an americano) with milk.
There is a very strong cafe culture in Australia, and standards are high. The making of a cup of coffee is something of an art form.
Singapore also had a distinct culture in its kopitiams (coffeeshops). One very popular dish there was 2 lightly boiled, and still runny, eggs, served cracked into a shallow bowl, making a dip for kaya toast – toasted bread sandwiches with coconut jam.
Also a little different was kopi (white coffee made with condensed milk), and kopi C (white coffee with evaporated milk). Both had a pleasant enough taste, and seemed to work as part of the overall quirky kopitiam experience, though I can’t see either catching on back in the UK.
Or Australia for that matter – I shudder to think what the barista’s reaction would be if I asked them to open a tin of Carnation milk, and pour it into that long black they’ve been carefully crafting for the past 10 mins.
After breakfast, we’ll be picking up a hire car and heading out past the Opera House (see my main photo above) and Sydney Harbour Bridge into New South Wales. There really is only one song to be played when setting off on the start of an Australian road trip, so it’s time to add this track to the ADK Playlist: AC/DC with Highway to Hell.
A Different Kitchen 