Our critic doesn't like to eat out for brunch. This neighbourhood cafe changed his mind
Chef Phil Wood and Lis Davies are the couple behind Cressida (named after their daughter), which is, fundamentally, a nice place to sit on a coffee and read the paper. Cushioned seats are upholstered in marigold stripes, water is poured in Maison Balzac glasses and illustrations of a prancing burger decorate the menu and exterior walls. The real-life cheeseburger is a fun time, too: a beefy, medium-rare patty on a squishy potato bun. Local wildlife (common mynas, twitchy dogs) make short work of crumbs.
Tables are spaced far enough apart that you won't hear couples spoiling the Good Weekend Quiz: 'Who puts bloody Worcestershire in prawn cocktail sauce? The answer's Tabasco! I'm writing a letter.' Speaking of, there's a ripper prawn roll here with happy iceberg lettuce and herby sauce ravigote. Fresh produce is a cut above across the board, and the gazpacho is not too acidic, not too cold, just right. Raw tuna is brightly plated with sesame oil-glossed soba, avocado, edamame and radish for what I suppose you'd call a 'health bowl'.
I never expected 'Woollahra cafe' and 'great breakfast congee' to be next to each other in a sentence, but here we are. Wood (who also runs two-hatted Ursula's in Paddington with Davies) is one of Sydney's most proficient cross-pollinators of cuisines. Rice is simmered in a chicken stock fragrant with ginger and five-spice, and garnished with shredded chook, jammy chilli sauce, fried peanuts and croutons. It's as punchy as it is stupidly soothing. Wood and head chef Federico Barbuto can be trusted to send the best version of eggs any way you like them, served with toasted Iggy's sourdough, for $19.
You can also have that sourdough with Charentes-Poitou butter, oysters and Laurent-Perrier champagne, which is what life's all about, really. That, and the Sicilian-style orange cake made famous by Margie Agostini when she ran her own cafe at the site in the 90s. Wood has revived its light buttery crumb for all morning tea needs.
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