Pina, Sydney

In May 2020, a very popular Potts Point cafe, Room Ten, hosted a pop-up called Pina.  Apparently it was even more successful than Room Ten.  The owners, a husband and wife team, found a way to make it permanent, taking up residence in a space just across the lane from Room Ten.  It has been a success ever since.

I didn't know any of that though when I visited Pina.  In fact, I didn't even pick the destination.  When a friend suggested meeting for brunch on a Monday morning, I quickly proposed my list of favorites: Three Williams, Devon Cafe, Auvers Cafe, Cuckoo Callay, even Bills.  I suggested a few I hadn't yet been to yet as well, that were on my "list" of places to check out.  He however came back with a wildcard: Pina.  Pina wasn't even on my radar, I knew nothing about it, and, to be honest, the menu didn't really call out.  But he had been there the day before, and said it was so good he wanted to return, and even get the same thing again.  I voiced my skepticism, it was my last day in Sydney after all, and I wanted it to be a good one, but, eventually I caved and took his word, after all, he had also recommended Cafe Paci, and I really enjoyed that a few days prior. 

So, to Pina I went, still slightly apprehensive.  Spoiler: I'm glad I went, and I'll certainly return next time in Sydney.

Storefront

Pina is located on a small lane, right across from Room 10.  The place is pretty tiny, with just a handful of seats both inside and out.  I arrived first, and was greeted by a host who offered to get me on the waiting list.  The wait was only about 10 minutes at 11am, not so bad.  

We were seated at a counter inside, facing a wall.  Perhaps not much ambiance, but, hey, it was a breakfast joint, and the outside tables definitely had some laneway charm.

Service was typical Sydney cafe - our orders were quickly taken, but we were never checked in on, and had to go up to a register to pay.  I didn't mind, but, certainly not a place where you'll be paid much attention to.

Menu.

The menu at Pina is all day brunch, with a variety of egg and toast based dishes for those who want something breakfast-y, and sandwiches and salads for the lunchy.  The offerings aren't generic though - yes, they do have avocado toast and a basic bacon and egg roll, but, they also have savory chickpea pancakes with either smoked trout, creme fraiche, etc or porcini mushroom cream, soft boiled egg, etc.  They have a giant sweet sourdough pancake, with instructions that its best to be shared, after a meal, as a dessert.  Even the breakfast porridge sounds pretty good, with fig, chestnut cream, strawberries, and hazelnut.

If I had just been picking based on the menu, any of those fascinating pancakes, sweet or savory, or the porridge would certainly be what I ordered.  But, there is one dish that folks just rave about, and is all over Instagram ... the scrambled eggs.  Yes, the scrambled eggs.  I'm not even that much of an egg person, and certainly not a scrambled egg person, but you see, those eggs were why we were there.  More on this soon.

The menu also allows you to add on a variety of goodies to any dish, like halloumi, wagyu pastrami, charred miso cabbage, and more.  The menu really is pretty extensive and unique.  Sydney really does brunch so very well.

Long Black, Decaf. $3.50 + $0.50 (decaf surcharge).

Pina uses Mecca coffee, which is generally regarded as some of the best in Sydney, but I've never really cared for their decaf.

This was no different - I don't blame the barista, I just don't think Mecca's decaf is a style I like.  High acid, very sour tasting.  The long black was also very strong, I believe two shots for the small size.  I suspect I would have liked it more if I had asked for extra hot water and balanced it out a bit, but, I didn't bother.   I would not get coffee, at least decaf, here again.

**+.

Scrambled Eggs & Toast. $20.

So, behold, the scrambled eggs.  Available as just a side, or as a meal with toast.  I opted for the later, as I had seen photos of the toast, and it did look great.  Plus, as it was approaching lunch time, I wanted more than just eggs to eat.

Starting with the toast - it was high quality.  Nicely crusty bread, perfectly toasted, good crumb structure inside.  I loved the thick cut slice.  It was NOT sourdough (yay!).  That said, as good as the toast was, I didn't find myself really wanting it.  It turns out, that large pile of eggs was more than enough for me, and although I had a few bites composed with the eggs on toast, I adored the eggs/chili oil so much, I didn't want to "dilute' them with the toast.  If I were to return to Pina and get this dish, I'd opt for just the side of eggs with chili oil, not the toast.  If it was breakfast time though, I can definitely imagine enjoying the toast more, just with spreads. ***+ toast.

Now, those eggs.  Ok, if you are going to go out for scrambled eggs, they really must be great, and, honestly, they don't get much better than this.  They were as silky smooth as they looked in all the photos I had seen, no rubbery or tough consistency.  Very moist, no dried out edges, no dried out bits to be found.  They tasted like, well, real eggs, no powder obviously.  They were clearly enriched with likely copious amounts of butter and cream, and were drizzled with oil.  Clearly not healthy eggs, but, basically as good as they are going to get.  I appreciated the chives on top for a bit of flavor.  I did wish for a touch more pepper, as I just really love pepper on my eggs, and none was available on the table.  That said, it might have clashed with the chili oil.  Because, now I am getting to the good part.  The eggs alone though, ****.

The chili oil.  OMG.  My dining companion had been to Pina before, and when his dish was set down in front of him, he immediately used all the chili oil on his eggs, distributing it well.  I'm not going to say I judged him, but, I thought, "wow, that's a lot of condiment on those eggs you proclaim are so good ...".  I had my first bite with just a little, and very quickly I found that I too had used my entire, generously sized, bowl of chili oil.  Every last bit.  I could have used more.  It was that good.

I'll admit, before I tried it, I thought "Yeah, yeah, yeah, chili crisp/crunch/oil, it is good stuff, but this is a lot of hype, probably just people not as familiar with it", yadda yadda.  I have a jar of chili crisp on my counter at home, I use it regularly.  This is not new nor novel to me.  But ... well, Pina's version did blow me away.  I think it is the best I've ever had.  Only lightly spicy, but an overall flavor explosion, definitely lots of garlic.  What made it unique was an underlying sweetness too - which made it, in my eyes, absolutely perfect to go with the eggs.  I often drizzle maple syrup on my eggs, so this was the compliment I was looking for.  I think this chili oil may not work as well for dumplings due to that slight sweetness, but, paired with the eggs, wowzer. *****.  Yes, perfect *****.

If you like scrambled eggs, and you like chili oil, or honestly, even if you don't like chili oil, this dish is worth trying.  It is likely the most I've enjoyed scrambled eggs in years (the only other very memorable great scrambled eggs I've had were at Bills about ... 12? years ago, and they were phenomenal).  I did find that about 3/4 of the way through I was getting a bit sick of eggs ... but damn, I wanted to keep eating to enjoy more of the chili oil.  I think in the future I'd get this dish and one other (the pancake perhaps? The porridge? So many options) and go with a companion who wanted to split both.  The dish overall, definitely ****.

You can buy the chili oil by the jar, to take home, for $30, which I probably would have done, had I realized it at the time.