The Office on Harrogate

I am so entirely on board with pre-work breakie catch ups with friends. Life is such a blur these days and sometimes finding time after work can be a battle, so it is lovely to have a fellow early bird who doesn’t mind setting the alarm for 6am for a 7 o’clock breakfast kick off.

So we have been keeping an eye out for places that open at this time and making a short list of spots we would like to visit. So far we’ve been to Sayers Sisters, La Veen, Toast, Foam, Uncle Joes Mess Hall, Addison & Steele…… And a recent addition to the wish list was a place we’d seen on social media called The Office On Harrogate. Roll up, roll up. I was grateful I had a GPS to steer me to this selected venue’s door, because otherwise I might have gotten lost. It is in a fairly unassuming little back street, just off Cambridge. Clearly a popular addition amongst the locals as I noticed a steady stream wandering inside for a coffee while I was there.

Arriving first, I ordered a flat white that was promptly delivered in a pretty turquoise cup. It was an ok coffee. Didn’t knock my socks off but I’ll admit that I am no coffee aficionado so it takes a mighty fine brew to make it memorable.

When my breakie buddy arrived she gave the menu a quick look and we headed up to the till to order. I decided to mix things up with a little corn fritter action. Corn Fritters – Poached, Crispy Bacon, Roast Tomato Relish, Rocket, Avocado ($17.50)  and Mrs P ordered the Herb Scrambled Eggs – Baba Ganoush, Roast Red Pepper, Grilled Haloumi, Balsamic Glaze, Toasted Olive Bread ($17.50).

You couldn’t fault the size of the meals. These breakfast options would surely mean that morning tea wouldn’t be required and that lunch would be light. The added bonus for me was that Mrs P doesn’t eat cheese so she graciously offered me her haloumi. She could have asked for it be taken off her dish but she knows I’m a cheese fiend, so left it on for me. She’s just that kind of gal. Good value. And she seemed very pleased with her choice, commenting that the olive bread was a pleasant addition and the babaganoush was wonderfully smoky. I thought it was quite a creative pairing with the herbed scrambled eggs.

My meal was an artfully arranged tower of chunky corn fritters, two perfectly poached eggs, half a vibrantly green avocado that was elegantly fanned on the plate and a generous dollop of rich tomato relish. There were a lot of flavours going on and it kept things interesting as I powered through this giant breakie. I don’t think I’d ever ordered corn fritters before, but I quite enjoyed the sweetness that they brought to the dish. And bravo on the lovely eggs. I’d recently been somewhere else and the poached eggs had been a little light on the cooking side. A perfect egg for me I have decided is when the white is thoroughly cooked and the yolk is a molten golden river spilling onto my plate. So that’s my two cents on poached egg preferences.

I enjoyed my dish and definitely left with a very full belly. So if you have a big day ahead and need some extra energy, then you know where to find very filling fare!