Breakfast in the CBD

C says:

Over the period of the recent F1 road closures, we decided to come into work extra early to avoid the traffic mayhem, and had breakfast in the vicinity. Over a period of 5 working days, we tried three places so here’s a quick write-up on each of them.

Jewel Coffee

There’s been a fair amount of press about Jewel Coffee since it opened at One Shenton.
It's one of a number of artisanal coffee joints that have sprouted up recently. They have pretty good pastas and a yummy ribeye sandwich at lunchtime, but we had some of their breakfast fare – brioche toast, and pancakes.



Portions are hearty but probably not the most suitable for an everyday brekkie before work. They seem more appropriate for a lazy weekend brunch. They served salted President butter with their brioche, so big thumbs up there.

Their coffee is excellent. We both had the Brazilian beans which had a slight nutty, chocolatey flavour; it was strong, complex and not unduly bitter.

Basil Leaf

This is an unassuming little joint in the basement of The Sail. The coffee was ok, but what stood out, and had us coming back 3 times, was their English muffin or bagel with egg, bacon and cheese.



As far as bagels go, the one they use here is good, but I still prefer the muffin - less chewy and easier to eat in a hurry in a limited amount of time.

The Muffinry

A works across the street from this newly opened joint selling (duh) muffins of all kinds.

I much prefer savoury things to sweet, so I was psyched to try some of their savoury muffins. Those took a while coming out of the oven, so in the meantime we had the chocolate and the banana walnut ones.



They were good, nice and light, but they paled in comparison to the Green Eggs and Ham one. Chunks of ham and spring onions in a light fluffy muffin, this was a winning combination.

They have all sorts of interesting sounding flavours, like Apple Blueberry and Lavendar Lemon. My only criticism is that the muffins are quite small, so at $2.40 each, you don't get a lot for what you pay. Still, in the interests of making the most of your calories, I maintain that it’s better to have a small but really good muffin, than a big but mediocre one.

A says:

All good. Jewel Coffee was probably the best, but most expensive. Basil Leaf was a surprising find. And Muffinry has great muffins (like duh!).