Rustic Pearl | Surry Hills

It's been a while since I've had breakfast considering that I usually wake up around 12 pm nowadays due to a healthy obsession with watching Downton Abbey til 4am in the morning. Luckily, I'm very adept at waking up at the right time when it comes to outings with friends and family. So my friend (let's call him X) and I decided to to leave *** from 9:11 am to reach central by 10 am on the dot. When we reached central, I had already planned the day ahead by firstly heading down to a popular breakfast spot at Surry Hills known as Rustic Pearl. We arrived there by 10:15 where there were only 2 other patrons already sitting at the cafe. It was also surprisingly small and quaint with a cosy type of atmosphere to which X and I enjoyed.

X decided to order the Sautéed Mixed Wild Mushroom Bruschetta with Goats Cheese and a Soft Boiled Egg for $16 and a Cappuccino for $4. X and I love eating mushrooms so we're heavily biased towards this dish, as it was so amazingly delicious. The mushrooms were so tender and melted in your mouth and all the ingredients melded together so well. The only MAJOR complaint was that the sourdough bread was as hard as a rock, I felt like every bite of the crust was prone to causing my teeth to fall out. Luckily, the innards of the bread were rather crunchy rather than being as hard as a rock, making it chewable and easier to eat altogether. Overall, this dish was quite lovely, despite the bread, and I would gladly order it again and again.

Sauteed Mixed Wild Mushroom Bruschetta with Goats Cheese and a Soft Boiled Egg ($16) 

I'm not much of a coffee enthusiast myself so all I can say is that, for me personally, it was the first coffee that I found to not be too overly bitter and was quite pleasant to drink. I probably would have bought myself one if I wasn't so full by the end of my meal. X found it to be like any other Cappuccino and agreed that it was also quite nice but there was nothing special about it. 

Cappucino ($4)

I had ordered the Bosphorous Benedict with Char Grilled Bay Lobster, Avocado, Chives, Coriander and Fresh Chilli for $24. The lobster and the omelette was cooked quite well but I found the dish to be quite plain, as the eggs and the lobster lacked any kind of seasoning or flavour and was overall a very boring dish considering the price. I would personally never order this again, however the presentation was lovely and my companion found it to be quite nice but not as nice as their own dish.

Bosphorous Benedict with Char Grilled Bay Lobster, Avocado, Chives, Coriander and Fresh Chilli ($24)

Something X and I found really amusing was how they served their water. They gave us 2 cups, each with a sprig of mint and a slice of lemon, and a bottle of water. What surprised us was the lid for the water bottle, which was a whole orange. At first I thought, maybe they want us to cut it up and add it into the bottle. But isn't that a little tedious? Do they even have a bathroom where I can clean myself up afterwards? WHAT IS THIS MADNESS?!

Rustic Pearl :D 

As we looked around at the other patrons, we noticed everyone simply just used it as a lid and nothing more. The combination of lemon, a sprig of mint and water was a little bit too sour for my tastes, and I would have preferred just plain water but it wasn't too much a big deal or anything, just a tolerable addition. Nice of them to offer though.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this restaurant/cafe as the staff were quite nice, the food came out quite fresh & quickly and the atmosphere was lovely. However, I wouldn't say it's the best cafe in Surry Hills.