Cafe Giulia

In my Kiki-K diary that I purchase every year, I never use the address book section. But this year I decided I would. Instead of filling it with contacts of people's addresses and numbers I have started filling it with restaurants that I want to eat at. I'm always on the lookout for good breakfast spots and had noticed Cafe Giulia on a few food blogs around Sydney - so in the address book it went.  

One of Gaffa's diving mentors from the UK is visiting us next weekend on a stopover from NZ back to the UK. With only 8 or so hours to impress them with the sights and sounds of Sydney, where does one take them for breakfast? Gaffa and I only rarely go out for breakfast, and when we do, it's just to a local cafe with stock standard food - no place where you'd wake up on a Sunday morning for, just to have breakfast at. (Maybe I live in the wrong suburb?) So when I heard that we'd need to find a breakfast place I was excited I could tick off another restaurant on my list. But Gaffa - wanting to impress his long time friend, decided we should taste test the cafe ourselves, before taking them there. 

So last Sunday we drove to Chippendale for breakfast. If only I'd known about this place while I was studying at Sydney Uni - I would have been a local. The narrow corner shop building has the counter and kitchen at the front, with seats all the way down to the back courtyard. It was quite busy and thankfully there was a queue for ordering, because the menu blackboard behind the counter took some time to digest (Excuse the pun hehe). 

Every time I go out for breakfast, I have the eggs benedict (w/ smoked salmon not ham). Nothing was different today, as I ordered the smoked salmon breakfast, with 2 poached eggs, potato rosti, greens and hollandaise sauce. Gaffa ordered 2 poached eggs with sides of bacon, sausage, baked beans and corn fritters. The eggs already come with mushrooms, tomato and toast. We both ordered a juice: orange, papaya and raspberry for me and beetroot, pineapple orange and passionfruit for Gaffa. Gaffa also ordered a short black. The bill came to almost $60. Abit pricey, but that's because Gaffa went abit crazy on the sides which cost $4 each, and $4.50 for the corn fritters. Normally breakfast here would come to about $20-$25 for a meal and drink, which is standard. 

We found a seat down the back easily, thankfully it wasn't raining. The drinks came pretty quickly and the food shortly afterwards. Gaffa's massive breakfast arrived and the guy on the table next to us looked at Gaffa's plate, "I'll give you a prize if you finish that!" Obviously he underestimated Gaffa's bottomless stomach and too bad he left before he could see Gaffa's empty plate...    

The poached eggs were perfect, the yolk oozing out once they were popped. There was an abundance of smoked salmon on my plate, which were fresh and to die for. I was amazed by the potato rosti's as I've tried many a times to cook them, but always fail. They were soft on the inside and had a light crunch on the outside. The greens were a bit soggy, but that didn't make the breakfast any less delicious. 

The baked beans were home made and tasted better than the tinned version. 

The corn fritters were quite nice as well. Gaffa really enjoyed his big breakfast. The bacon was crispy, eggs yolks were runny and the gourmet sausages were not fatty at all. 

The portion sizes were massive and filled my stomach until dinner. The juices were very refreshing for a Sunday morning wake-up-call. There were so many things on the menu that this place definitely deserves a second (or third, or forth) visit. Service was also very attentive. Couldn't fault this place, except for the tree trunk behind me that was obstructing me from eating my tasty breakfast, haha.  

Cafe Giulia
92 Abercrombie Street
Chippendale
Ph: 9698 4424

Mon - Fri: 6.30am - 5.00pm
Sat & Sun: 8.30am - 3.00pm