Rainford Street Social, Surry Hills – Rating: 16.5/25

It was just over a year ago that Bird Cow Fish disappeared from this corner location on one of Sydney’s prime food lovers’ streets.  It is now one year later and  Rainford Street Social has recently been celebrating the occasion by offering a free coffee with every breakfast (and I commend them for the fact that they weren’t trying to lure people in by advertising this, they only mentioned it once we had our table).

There is a small number of  tables outside complete with water and food bowls for pets.  Despite the rugs on every seat which is a nice gesture to help keep you warm, we opted for the heated interior.  The interior design is great with plenty of room, comfortable chairs, window counter space and a clean, orderly kitchen.

RSS opts for the more orderly approach to breakfast dining.  Instead of a flustered member of the waitstaff stopping what they’re doing to find you a seat, our hostess was quick off the mark to provide us with menus and seat us with water immediately.

Our waitress was fun with a sense of humour, a great start to our morning!

The coffees (free but usually $3.80) had the table’s opinion divided simply due to the fact that the Numero Uno blend was very strong.  The flavour was enjoyable but be aware that it won’t be for everyone.

Speaking of strong, RSS also specialises in your early morning hair of the dog!  While we weren’t game today, the Dr Henderson (fernet branca & creme de menth, $7) and the white rabbit shake (Jack Daniels and banana cream pie ice cream, $10) both sound oustanding!

Orange juice ($5) is also available and it is freshly squeezed.

Kudos to our waitress who patiently listened to the request for English Breakfast ($4) with both the leaves and hot water on the side (and later a decaf with hot milk on the side) and delivered on all accounts.  Not the same can be said for the flavour of the tea itself which my guest did not find as good as that of other establishments.

The basic free range eggs ($10) was ordered over easy and served appropriately (despite initially looking overcooked) with delicious, runny yolks.  Some great quality cuts of bacon ($3) were added on the side while smoked salmon ($4), mushrooms, spinach, tomato, baked beans or avocado ($2 each) are also available.  Overall the ingredients on the plate were served tepid as opposed to hot and it should be noted that the toast did arrive with butter despite the request for none.

Cubby’s Middle Feast ($12) comprises kofta, hummus, baba ghanoush and pita.  The hummus and baba ghanoush are served next to each other and I found the latter especially to be very tasty with the strong unmistakable smoky flavour.  The koftas were served at about room temperature which won’t please everyone and I found them to be a bit too light on the seasoning.

The eggs Ben is offered with bacon ($14), smoked salmon ($16) or mushrooms ($12).  All three options are served with polenta as the base and of course hollandaise on top.  Unfortunately we found the polenta to be very runny inside and lacking any consistency.  I was wary of the hollandaise as soon as the plate arrived and it indeed was too liquid and had very little flavour.  The eggs were poached perfectly but we all thought that this was too little too late.

On the sweet side, we sampled the bread and butter French toast ($12) which comes topped with fresh banana and maple syrup.  The toast was moist and soft but held its consistency and soaked up the maple syrup nicely.  The banana would be better if it was fried and caramelised slightly but as a simple French toast, this looked and tasted good.

It has been a while since I tried an oven baked eggs ($14).  RSS’s version is served with imam fainted (stuffed, herbed) zucchini and I also added chorizo ($4).  Baked eggs are typically either sauce based or drier… this was the latter but it was still moist throughout.  The eggs were just runny, taken out of the oven in the nick of time!  The zucchini was delicious and the chunky, spicy chorizo is a must if you order this dish!

I left Rainford Street Social slightly confused.  The staff and atmosphere are fantastic and the pork belly roast special on the board sounds like a winner.  There was a mix of hits and misses as far as the breakfast dishes went which will make it very tough on Crown Street but I suggest that you pay them a visit to judge for yourself.  Feel free to let me know what you thought…