Bootsdarling, Darlingurst

My first post back in Sydney had to be mouth-wateringly, world-shudderingly delicious (sorry about the made up words), especially seeing as I missed out on so many new and exciting food arrivals last year. So after reading numerous rave reviews about Bootsdarling, and the fact that I live just 5 minutes away, I had to give it a try for my first café breakfast in Sydney.

Now obviously I had pretty high expectations, especially seeing as I hadn’t had a Sydney breakfast for over a year now. In a suburb overpopulated by trendy cafés, Bootsdarling admittedly doesn’t do much to it’s outside appearance to stand out from its competition. However, it’s clear that the name enough has attracted serious praise for such a young café that locals and food bloggers can’t stay away. The interiors however definitely set Bootsdarling apart from its competitors, dressed completely in wood and dark colours, compared to the usual beachy, kitsch feel of most other Sydney cafés.

Now what we all really care about is of course the food. So let me describe the perfection that followed. We started with the Boots Beans on Toast ($16), with chili and rosemary beans, gruyere and cremini mushrooms. This dish can also be served with pork, veal and fennel sausages, yet we opted for the vegetarian option with the mushrooms. Now homemade baked beans are pretty standard for any café breakfast these days, with serious difficulty in standing out from the crowd. Yet the Boots beans definitely do this, adding chili to a usually bland meal and serving the beans with the gruyere definitely added a creamier dimension to the whole dish. I also definitely recommend the mushrooms, being a perfect protein-filled breakfast for vegetarians.

Next was the Green Duk ($17), being barley toast topped with ricotta, wilted kale, cremini mushrooms and two dukkah-crusted poached eggs. Now this is what I missed. Living in Sydney my whole life until last year, I seriously took poached eggs for granted. That was until I moved to Europe and discovered poached eggs were as rare as finding vegemite toast. And the dukkah at Bootsdarling completely sold me. The eggs were poached perfectly, paired with creamy ricotta and the dry spices of the dukkah, the meal was simply perfect. Everything I had dreamed about for the past 12 months. Bootsdarling was seriously fulfilling all my expectations.

After these two exceptional breakfasts, I didn’t think the team at Bootsdarling could top themselves. You guessed it, they did. Our final dish was the Spanakopita ($16), being an egg, spinach and herb bake with a smokey cauliflower cream, kale chips and sourdough. Now being half Greek, I have some seriously high expectations when I see a spanakopita on the menu (nothing’s as good as Grandma’s). But Bootsdarling’s spanakopita was out of this world. Instead of being encased in layers of filo pasty, the spanakopita was baked into a serving dish (healthy you can say?). The mixture was deliciously creamy, balanced out perfectly with the sourdough and kale chips to provide a crunchy element to the plate. I would definitely recommend this breakfast for anyone looking for something different for breakfast, other than the usual eggs on toast or muesli (although they’re pretty great too).

So in a nutshell, Bootsdarling gets top marks for an innovative menu in a seriously overpopulated market. It seems as though the market is tough for new cafés popping up in Sydney, but Bootsdarling has definitely been able to bring something different to the table, providing homecooked, comforting meals within a café setting. I’ll definitely be back for this delicious breakfast! X

Bootsdarling
333 South Dowling Street
Hours: Monday to Saturday 6:30am-4pm, Sunday 8am-4pm
Price: $$