Brighton the Corner and The Pig and Pastry, Petersham

There are supermarket crumpets. And then there are homemade crumpets. They're about as different as chalk and cheese. If you've only ever known supermarket crumpets -- soft and flabby in the packet and kinda doughy unless you toast them extra long -- your life is about to change. For good.

Because homemade crumpets are a completely different experience. They're fluffy, tall and toothsome, like an English muffin crossed with sourdough. Even better news? You can get them at Brighton the Corner in Petersham - because if anything trumps homemade, it's getting someone else to make them for you.


Brighton the Corner on the corner of Brighton Street and Palace Street

I used to go to school in Petersham and the steep stretch that is Palace Street was a regular climb each morning. Back then, there were no coffee shops along this strip. Brighton the Corner was a corner shop, dark and dim but still holding allure with its freezer filled with chocolate and rainbow Paddlepops. Now it's a bright and airy space filled with locals: couples, young families and groups of friends clustered in corners or gathered around the communal table in the middle.


Flat white $3.50 and watermelon and basil house made soda $4.50

The breakfast menu runs all day with additional lunch menu items (a Smokehouse beef burger, three kinds of sandwiches and a roast cauliflower salad) kicking in from midday. There's an impressive selection of drinks too, including three kinds of house made sodas. The watermelon and basil soda is perhaps a little muted but the combination offers welcome early morning refreshment. They also do lemon thyme and apple ginger sodas plus a range of Tippity teas.


Babyccino

The cafe is reasonably busy by 10am but even then, we weren't expecting our coffees and drinks to take 20 minutes to arrive. We feel for the kitchen, a tiny allocation of space with just two chefs manning a barrage of dockets, but we're definitely ready for food by the time our meals arrive, about 45 minutes after ordering.


Sausage and beans $17
Morcilla, butifarra, white and black beans, two fried eggs and green tomato salsa

Sausage and beans is probably the heartiest item on the menu, a South American fiesta of morcilla blood sausage, butifarra Catalan sausage, two fried eggs and an avalanche of white and black beans.


Hot-smoked salmon with pickled radish, fennel, peas, quinoa and poached egg $17

A little lighter on the stomach is the hot-smoked salmon, hidden within a tangled garden of watercress, fennel ribbons, pickled radish and peas.


Braised brisket with potato hash, mojo verde, poached egg and onion rings $17

If you're looking for an excuse for fried, the braised brisket is for you. It's covered with a golden plank of hash brown and three fat onion rings sheathed in crunchy batter. There's a little zing from the drizzle of mojo verde and the poached egg yields a perfectly runny yolk that oozes languidly over everything.


House made crumpets with caramelised pear and Dulwich Hill honey butter $14

But whatever you do, make sure you order the house made crumpets. They often sell out, so order them when you sit down, not a minute later.

The crumpets might be small in diameter but they more than make up for it in taste. Their toasted surface gives way to a dense but pillowy core, still riddled with familiar plunging tunnels that soak up lashing of honey butter. The honey comes from urban beehives down the road in Dulwich Hill. Hunks of caramelised pear will give you all the vitamins you need for a healthy start.

The Pig and Pastry


Cheesecake with lavender and honey $5.50

The Pig and Pastry sits on the other side of the Petersham Park, only a stone's throw from Parramatta Road, but blissfully quiet of traffic noise. It's a seven minute walk from Brighton the Corner, and the well-equipped playground provides a handy pit stop for kids big and small. Cricket buffs will know that the cricket oval -- ringed with a picturesque white picket fence -- is where Don Bradman made his first class debut.

By time you've had a go on the swings and the roundabout, you'll definitely have worked up an appetite for dessert.


Meringues $4

There's a lovely old-fashioned feel to the display cabinet here, heaving with housemade sweets presented on mismatched vintage crockery. It's like you've just stumbled into a Country Women's Association fete. We spend several minutes with our noses pressed up against the glass trying to make a decision.


Gluten-free pistachio brownie $4.50

There are giant chocolate chip cookies with sea salt the size of your palm, clouds of meringue and miniature turrets of carrot cake that look far too cute to be eaten.


Mini carrot cakes $4.50


Gingerbread milkshake $6.50 and housemade lavender lemonade $4

And then there's the gingerbread milkshake. It's a genius idea that's executed with aplomb, gutsy with cinnamon, cloves and allspice that feels like Christmas and hugs from grandma all at once. House made sodas are all the rage these days too. We're relieved to find the lavender lemonade has only a gentle hit of lavender, presented in a glass jar with a paper straw for maximum hipster appeal.


Strawberries and cream brioche cake $4.50

While I'm almost tempted by the Pig and Pastry beef burger with triple cooked chips ($15.50) and the pork and apple sausage roll ($6), we stick with desserts.


Cheesecake with lavender and honey $5.50

Between us we order a host of treats, from the old-fashioned simplicity of a strawberry brioche cake with a side dollop of cream to the elegant lavender and honey cheesecake graced with an undulating cats tongue biscuit.


Chocolate coffee cake $5.50

The chocolate coffee cake is a wedge of spoon-sinking comfort, garnished with cream and glistening glace cherries.


Lemon drizzle cake $4.50

The lemon drizzle cake is the surprise winner though, the syrup-soaked hunk deliciously chewy and caramelised at the edges.

If you needed more incentive to visit, The Pig and Pastry is celebrating its first birthday this Saturday 26th July. They'll have a kindifarm (10am - 12pm), face painting, balloons, mulled wine and... a pig on a spit! Whaddya waiting for?

EDIT: The Pig and Pastry birthday party has been rescheduled to Sunday 27 July. Details.






The Pig and Pastry
1 Station Street, Petersham, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9568 4644

Opening hours:
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 7.30am - 4pm
Saturday and Sunday 8am - 4pm
Closed Tuesdays




Brighton the Corner [facebook page]
49 Palace Street, Petersham, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9572 6097

Opening hours:
Tuesday to Friday 7am - 4pm
Saturday and Sunday 8am - 4pm
Closed Mondays


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