Brunch Brilliance – 6 Tips for Recreating Your Café Favourites at Home

There’s always one plate that goes past your table and makes everyone stop talking.

“Hang on. What’s that?”

Five minutes later, somebody else has ordered it.

Australian cafés have become ridiculously good at brunch. The only problem is that taking four people out for smashed avo, eggs, coffees and something sweet afterwards can make the bill slightly frightening.

With summer nearly here, there’s another option. Clean up the patio, invite everyone over and steal a few tricks from the cafés instead.

1. Give Your Eggs A Little More Attention

Café scrambled eggs somehow arrive soft, glossy and piled ridiculously high. At home, they have a habit of becoming breakfast rubble.

The difference is often heat.

Use a good frying pan, keep the temperature lower than you think and pull the eggs off while they still look slightly underdone. Residual heat will finish them.

This is also one of those jobs where decent non stick ceramic cookware earns its cupboard space. Eggs are much easier to gently fold when half of them aren’t determined to stay attached to the pan.

Add chopped chives and freshly cracked pepper at the end. Suddenly they look like they cost $24.

2. Smashed Avocado Needs Something Sharp

We’ve all made this mistake. Avocado, salt and toast.

Perfectly nice.

Also slightly disappointing.

Cafés tend to throw something sharp into the mix. Lemon or lime juice works beautifully, but pickled red onion is even better.

You don’t need to spend Saturday afternoon pickling things either. Thinly slice half a red onion, cover it with equal parts hot water and vinegar, add a pinch of sugar and salt, then leave it while you prepare everything else.

Twenty minutes later, your smashed avo has had a serious promotion.

3. Treat Mushrooms Like They Deserve Their Own Plate

The saddest brunch mushroom is pale, watery and squeaking around the pan.

Give them room. Seriously.

If mushrooms are piled on top of each other, they steam. Spread them across a hot pan instead and leave them alone long enough to develop some colour.

A little garlic and thyme towards the end works wonders. For something richer, finish them with a small splash of balsamic vinegar.

People who said they “weren’t really fussed about mushrooms” have a funny habit of taking seconds.

4. Hotcakes Should Be A Little Bit Ridiculous

Nobody orders café hotcakes hoping for restraint. This is the plate where you can have some fun.

Make your favourite pancake batter, but cook the hotcakes slightly smaller and thicker than the usual Sunday-morning version. Then start piling on berries, banana, coconut yoghurt, maple syrup, toasted nuts or maybe some passionfruit.

The trick isn’t finding one magical ingredient. It’s getting different textures onto the same plate.

And yes, somebody will photograph them before eating. Take it as a compliment.

5. Never Underestimate The Sauce

A great condiment can rescue a fairly ordinary brunch. Yum Yum Sauce is an easy one to keep up your sleeve.

Mix roughly ½ cup mayonnaise with 1 tablespoon tomato sauce, 1 teaspoon rice vinegar, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, a pinch of smoked paprika and just enough water to loosen it.

That’s it.

Drizzle it over crispy potatoes, eggs, breakfast burgers or roasted vegetables. If everyone asks what’s in the sauce, you’re under no obligation to tell them immediately.

6. Leave Yourself Something To Do At The Last Minute

This one took me longer than it should have. Trying to cook six separate café-style breakfasts simultaneously is not entertaining.

It’s catering.

Do the boring jobs earlier. Slice the fruit, pickle the onions, mix the sauce, wash the herbs, set the table and get the coffee station ready.

Then, when everyone arrives, you’re only cooking the things that genuinely need to be fresh. Eggs hit the pan, toast goes down and coffee starts brewing.

Someone inevitably wanders into the kitchen asking if they can help.

Hand them the plates.

You’ve got brunch to finish.