Pyrmont is one of those places that will always be close to my heart. Living there for nine-or-so years will do that to you. Located at the more touristy-end of town, the dreaded Darling Harbour, the peninsula has come a long way since it was sold to John Macarthur for a gallon of rum back in the late 1700′s.
While she was sloshing it up at some picnic at Cockle Bay back in the early 1800′s, one of Macarthurs’ lady companions was reminded of the spa town named Bad Pyrmont, in Germany, by the natural spring that flowed from the granite out-crops. From that, Pyrmont in colonial Sydney-town was born. Fascinating stuff.
Pyrmont has come a long way from all this fundamental colonialism … land sub-division … industrialization … sugar refining … delapidation … regeneration. Take your finger off the fast-forward button and you arrive at a much more polished place densified with apartment buildings, a nasty casino, local pubs and tree-lined streets woven with the odd sandstone cottage converted into an IT buisiness and finger-on-the-pulse swanky food venues satisfying our modern culinary cravings.
I don’t make it to the peninsula as often as I’d like now that we live in the more gritty Erko, but when a revisit is due, the place we stop at first is our trusty old reliable caff – Concrete. This really is a place you want to press the pause button for a lazy breakfast or brunch, preferably outside on one of the terraces under the leafy trees and spots of sunshine.
For as long as I can remember, Concrete has been dishing up their signature scrambled eggs with goats cheese and leek confit on turkish bread, and I’m sure it’s consistently delicious today as it was ten years ago. The silky ribbons of egg and warm goats cheese and leek are enough to get you all pleasured and ready for the day.
Seeing I’d already done the breakfast thing at home I thought I’d go for one of the lunch options – Crab linguini with chilli, coriander, spring onion and lime. Absolutely divine. The tender chunks of crab played perfectly with the sharp flavours of coriander, parmesan shavings and zesty lime. A far cry from what those colonials would have been grazing on two hundred years ago.
I can’t help but wonder whether John Macarthur had premonitions of things to come after he traded that gallon of booze for some rocky piece of harbourside land back in 1799.
224 Harris Street
Pyrmont 2009
9518 9523
Mon-Sun 7am-4pm
Corkage $2.5 per person
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
The steak sandwich is great for lunch – especially the crispy onion rings that they serve in the sandwich.
i’ve been wondering what this cafe is like when i pass by it in the car. the chilli crab linguini sounds great. i’d want to try that dish for sure if you recommend it
love that shot of the lone pineapple! and the linguini looks fantastic!
I must admit, Pyrmont is not somewhere I end up frequenting very much but that Scrambled Egg dish w/ leek & goat’s cheese is having a bit of a Pied Piper effect and is convincing me that I need to see that end of town more often!
The name Concrete Cafe isn’t all that appealing but the eggs and linguini both look really good for a Sunday morn!
the scrambled goats cheese looks like a winner to me
My fave at Concrete is the Italian fried eggs, and I always check the specials board. Chip in another recommendation from me!
Nice. Have added Concrete to my mental list of breakfast places to try…
Hmmm personally I havent been too impressed with Concrete and honestly I tend to avoid it. Ive been there about 3 times now and the coffee is still bad. I also wonder if they’ve changed owners in the past 2 years.
I totally agree with ilivetheretoo. I was surprised to see their name in this food blog to be honest. Their coffee was consistently aweful. I ordered Ice Latte. They served a hot latte. I asked them for cold one. The lady came back with the hot latte (one they previously served me. Yes, serious) poured into a tall glass with cold milk over. Not even ice cubes. It was warm. My last visit was two year ago and never returned even though I lived only 3mins away from them. I never forget the experience.
Hi Sabina,
Just bear in mind this review was written a year and a half ago and judging by the more recent comments, things at Concrete appear to have gone pear-shaped. I haven’t been back since and it clearly sounds like I shouldn’t