THE tiramisu at Pear Tree had sold out, leaving D’Angerous Dave despondent, but the smile was restored to his dial with a gluten-free brownie.
“It’s not quite tiramisu, but it’s not bad,” he said, which is high praise for a reticent pom.
The D’Angers-plus-friend were breakfasting, but the good thing about a long brekkie is it runs into morning tea, making cake essential.
The Pear Tree is a trendy little cafe in an untrendy part of Hamilton Hill, and it’s always busy because the food is so good.
Carnivorous
The breakfast menu has the usual suspects including a vego and carnivorous big breakfast ($20), along with French toast ($12) and the popular wood-fired eggs ($16), baked with tomato sauce and feta.
There was nothing usual about my mushrooms ($15), which were marooned in a hot-pink circle of beetroot hummus and sprinkled with feta and sesame seeds.
The fungi was firm and meaty and the balsamic reduction added a great tang.
Our friend went for smashed avocado ($13) and it arrived looking like Christmas with green avocado, bright red cherry tomatoes and white feta.
“It’s so fresh with just the right hint of lemon, and the poached egg is cooked perfectly,” she said as the yolk languorously oozed down the avocado mound.
Dave had the eggs on sourdough with mushrooms on the side ($15).
“The mushrooms are toothsome and the bread has a great nutty, oaty taste,” he said.
We shared some house-made hash browns ($3 each), which were nothing like the sort you get in fast food chains.
Chunky
Dave usually hates hash browns, but these chunky patties of grated potato and onion were so good even he demolished one.
For round two we shared a brownie, friand and pecan maple plait (all $5).
The plait was sweet without being cloying and had a delicious spicy flavour thanks to a generous dollop of maple syrup in the baking, while the friand was moist and topped with a generous amount of berries.
The D’Angers enjoyed a particularly fine earl grey tea while our friend thought her coffee was great.
by JENNY D’ANGER
Kerry Street, Pear Tree
1 Kerry Street,
Hamilton Hill
Mon–Tues 6.30am–2.30pm,
Wed–Sun 6.30am–8pm