generous serves of goodfoodand friendly service
contessa balmain is a cafe/restaurant serving breakfast and lunch 7 days a week. it is small cafe with limited seating available inside and outside. it is located on darling street, balmain.
we came for brunch as it was suggested to us to try and reviews were positive, so we had to give it a go. we were meant to go to devon on danks but i'm glad we went to contessa as it was a nice experience. we found off street parking and were seated immediately. throughout our time at contessa, there was a consistent flow of customers.
we ordered the ultimate bacon and egg roll, contessa corn cakes with chorizo, and the contessa fry up. to drink, my child had the contessa froggicino, i had a large chai latte and my husband had the seasonal fresh fruit freppe.
the servings offoodwere generous, we didn't end up finishing everything. the ultimate bacon and egg roll came with hickory smoked bacon, fried eggs, provolone cheese, caramelized onion (we asked for it to be on the side), tomato relish and mayonnaise on a toasted brioche bun. it was a big serving, no way could you get your mouth around it without pressing it down. a bit messy to eat but was nice. the bacon was smokey and plenty of it. i would have preferred a runny egg. everything tied nicely together.
i tried the contessa corn cakes as a review suggested to try it. i normally wouldn't order this kind of dish but decided to give it a go and i actually enjoyed it. but one cake was more than enough, the dish came with two corn cakes. it was served with guacamole, baby spinach, tomato salsa, and balsamic reduction with a choice of hickory smoked bacon, chorizo, mushrooms or smoked salmon. i chose chorizo and i'm glad i did as we quickly polished it up. it was yummy, flavours weren't strong, it didn't leave an aftertaste and were cut in nice thick pieces so it wasn't dry. there was plenty of corn in the corn cakes and was a nice sweet and savoury dish, however, eating both cakes would make me feel sick so i left the other one. the fresh element of the avocado, spinach, and tomato helped cut through the oil for me in the dish.
the contessa fry up or big breakfast came with x2 fried eggs (you can't change how the eggs are cooked), hickory smoked bacon, mushrooms, grilled tomato, hash brown, house relish and sourdough bread. i prefer my egg runny and because they put the relish on the eggs, i didnt touch much of the egg as the relish was not to my palate. the bacon was smoky and was nice. the mushrooms were good and plenty of it. the hash brown was nice and crunchy. the sourdough bread was nice toasted and buttered.
the froggicino or babycino was a cute and novelty way to put a smile on my child's face. it came with two marshmallows and a face drawn with chocolate sauce. it was thoroughly enjoyed as it was polished up quickly. a definite hit with the kids.
my chai latte was nice and it came out quite hot as requested.
the seasonal fresh fruit freppe was nice and not overly sweet. tasted like it had mango in it.
staff were friendly and a table check was done.
verdict: if you want goodfoodand have an appetite, this place is worth a try and it won't hurt your wallet either.