Casual Mondays
344 Darling St
Balmain, Sydney
Darling Street in Balmain has you spoiled for choices these days. With an array of shops, pubs, bars and restaurants, it’s both trendy and popular. Quite a difference to what was considered a wharfie’s suburb all those years ago. Despite the myriad of eateries, Casual Monday’s definitely stands out from the crowd. Right on famous Darling Street, they’re located within the Balmain Uniting Church (but they operate separately to the Church). The building is quite beautiful, Medieval even, with high ceilings and grandiose fireplaces, a perfect spot for those colder autumn or winter days that are coming up.
We arrived for brunch on a sunny Saturday morning and chose to sit outside in the beautiful garden, underneath a giant tree offering natural shade from the sun. As we took our seats, we noticed a colourful hammock swinging quietly and we could even hear a few birds chirping in the background - such a good vibe to enjoy a meal. We thought we’d start with a drink and today, rather than a coffee, we were looking for a juice or smoothie. Fortunately for us, Casual Monday’s has quite selection of both to choose from (Count N couldn’t keep his mind off the Nutella milkshake on the menu) but after a few internal debates, we both chose a juice.
Count N loves everything green, so it’s no surprise he went for the Super Green Juice, a refreshing mix of spinach, kiwi, apple, pear and mint. It tasted great and the mint added a real cooling sensation. Count J loves ginger so he opted for the Italian style juice. With fresh carrot and orange, it had a good mix of flavours. Both juices were obviously fresh and bursting with colour. If you like mixing and matching flavours, you are also able to build your own juice as well. There were quite a few options available. As we finished our juices, our food arrived.
Our first dish was a special from the board, a mouth-watering mountain of pulled pork, shaved fennel, apples and lots of fresh figs, all beautifully placed on a thick piece of multigrain sourdough bread. The combination of flavours in this dish are nothing short of heavenly. The sweet soft figs contrasting with the aniseed hint of the fennel all mixed really well with the pulled pork, which was so tender it was just falling apart.
Next up we tried some eggs benedict and here at Casual Monday’s, eggs benedict is a bit of a specialty. Served on the most delicious cheddar scones (yes, you are reading correctly, cheddar scones), the eggs were perfectly poached and smothered in the creamiest hollandaise sauce. This was definitely our favourite of the day, probably due to the perfect combination of cheese scone, fluffy egg and the hollandaise sauce not being too think or heavy, which can actually ruin the dish. Just a warning about the cheese scones though, they are only available on Saturdays and only until they run out, so get in early if you want to try them (and believe us, it's worth it).
In the end Count J was able to fit in a macchiato and we can tell you, the coffee here is just as impressive as everything else we tried. We thoroughly enjoyed our brunch at Casual Monday’s. These guys are onto a good thing, serving delicious food, where everything is made in house from scratch (except the Nutella), have great friendly service and all within a great casual setting, perfect for any occasion. Causal Monday’s is open Monday to Saturday for breakfast and lunch so be sure to check it out soon, it won’t be long till we’re back.
The Counts, who review for Sir and Mlady Dine Out, dined as guests of Casual Mondays. Special thanks to owners Robert and Helen Reid for this invitation.