MARY STREET BAKERY
507 Beaufort Street, Highgate; 0499 509 300 marystreetbakery.com.au Open seven days for breakfast and lunch
Mary Street Bakery might have outgrown the corner site for which it’s named (since opening in 2013, the Highgate original has sired spin-offs in West Leederville, as well as in CBD landmarks QV1 and Allendale Square, which launches this month) but the original remains the weekend brunch crowd’s destination of choice. Much of the menu is designed to show off the bakery’s handiwork – soft-boiled eggs with golden soldiers of buttered toast, say, and steak sandwiches freighting thick wads of grassfed beef – but recently appointed chef Gerrard Mitchell ensures all plates are equally gratifying. A neatly trimmed finger of pork belly lacquered with tamarind and served with kimchi and coconut rice stays faithful to the café’s flavour-first mantra. And just-cooked prawns with rags of citruscured baby snapper, crunchy discs of fried masa, brightly coloured vegies and orange juice is a fun take on ceviche.