I’m eating the best breakfast I’ve ever had in my entire life with the Sakuma’s and drinking the most delicious affogato on a chilly autumn morning and I’m happier than a pig rolling in the proverbial stuff! 
Devon Cafe is a trendy breakfast spot located at Surry Hills. The shape of the cafe is slightly unusual due to the extensions, and they have parts in the middle where it’s almost al-fresco, except for the camouflage nets thrown over the ceiling in an effort to keep the heat in.
We were seated at the back, where lots of interesting graffiti graces the walls but unfortunately, a member of our party (her first time in Australia) couldn’t really tolerate the cold so we all shifted to a table beside an industrial heater.
You can actually see into the courtyard beside the cafe since it’s practically al-fresco, with just netting and fences, which reminds me a lot of the inner-courtyard of Adolf Wagner in Frankfurt. Devon Cafe is listed under Modern Australian in The Good Food guide and they deliver a short and concise but immensely delectable selection of breakfast dishes.
BREAKFAST WITH THE SAKUMA’S (AUD 27)
miso grilled king salmon, smoked eel croquette, 63′ egg, radish petit salid & kewpi mayonaise
I asked our very bubbly waitress for a recommendation and she suggested this. I was torn between ordering this or the Eggs Blini and I’m glad I followed her recommendation coz this is one divine dish, as expected from ex-Guillaume chefs.
The delicious 63′ egg shimmered on my plate and it was the perfect combination of runny and soft textures. A proper 63′ egg has the *same* consistency for both the yolk and white and takes at least an hour to prepare. I’ve seen a lot of local breakfast places attempt to do this with an off-the-shelf vacuum sealer and sous vide combo (about RM 2,000 from your friendly neighborhood appliances store) but they’ve all failed miserably compared to experience and skill with a bain-marie.
However, the most wonderful component of the dish was the miso grilled salmon. I have never thought it possible for salmon to taste this good. I don’t even like salmon (and won’t eat it unless it came from Devon’s). The salmon here is sweet and grilled to perfection, before being given the sous vide treatment and it practically falls apart when I gently applied pressure with my fork.
It’s salmon perfection on a plate! The miso gives the entire piece of king salmon a strong dose of umami as well, making you want to eat more. I have yet to find a better tasting salmon and our guide (who has a Norwegian boyfriend who cooks fish well) even said this tastes better than his and she’s not one to give compliments to fish lightly. It’s so tender, moist and flavorful it’s amazing!
The crispy smoked eel croquette was so good I could happily eat 3 plates in a single sitting.
LITTLE LOST BREAD (AUD 18.50)
PB&J brioche French toast, warm banana, nutella, jam, peanut butter ice cream with bacon
This is just awesome. There are no other adjectives to describe it – the PB&J is “de-constructed” e.g. the peanut butter is actually an ice cream, and there’s a dollop of jam as well as a very generous smear of Nutella on the plate and piles of bacon on top.
LAMB SANDWICH (AUD 20.50)
slow roasted lamb garlic confit, roasted capsicum, cheddar cheese, spinach with chips
This didn’t go down very well, but the chips are good and the aioli dipping sauce is wonderful.
KAYA TOAST (AUD 13.70)
coconut jam, butter, light soy 63′ eggs, brioche toast
It’s not 100% authentic since the coconut jam is actually mixed with butter but they made it even better and I love the sous vide egg.
I also had Devon’s Affogato (AUD 7) – a wonderful concoction where 3 perfect coffee beans are put on top of two scoops of artisan ice cream, a cup of melted chocolate with a shot of Five Senses single-origin espresso on the side. Devon’s Cafe has a barista on staff and they only use Alchemy beans and Five Senses single-origin coffee. It’s sinfully good.
We had a change to speak with the owner and it turns out that the husband-and-wife duo is Malaysian and Indonesian, respectively. However, their chefs are all poached from Guillaume Bistro and their barista used to train others at Toby’s Estate (still have an unopened tin of single origin Ghana drinking chocolate in my pantry by them).
Devon’s Cafe is also very famous for their muffins and we had one to share. It’s best eaten while hot – this is Devon’s Magic Muffin (AUD 4). Seriously, that’s what it’s called! There’s neither THC/CBD nor psilocybin inside (you should head to Amsterdam for those, I had a really good magic muffin while I was there) but it’s still magically delicious.
I would seriously recommend a trip to Surry Hills to check out trendy Devon’s Cafe if you’re in Sydney and into a modern twist on classic Australian dishes. It’s near the station and located right on Devonshire Street so it’s hard to miss. The breakfast here is to die for.
Devon’s Cafe
76, Devonshire Street,
Surry Hills, New South Wales
Wow! What a big statement that was the best breakfast you ever had in your life! Fly me there next time or rather, I follow your trails. I thought my best breakfast was at Antipodean’s in Bangsar which has quite similar settings and fusion food.
The Sakuma Breakfast and Devon’s Affogato are really tempting to me. Being a glutton, I can easily spot good food from photos using my calories antenna. I am a serious coffee addict.
Yeah, this is really the best breakfast that I had! 🙂
I’ve had a lot of breakfasts too, and a lot in Melbourne and I think this was the best. Awesome execution, but it’s not very cheap if you pay in MYR coz AUD 27 is over RM 81!
However, that’ll be the best RM 81 you’ll spend – Breakfast with the Sakumas really is an fabulous dish due to the way the salmon is cooked.
Devon…Surrey…for a while, I thought you’ve hopped over to the UK.
Ooooo…that bacon for me please, drooling plus-plus! You can have the salmon. Hehehehehe!!!!
Ya, kaya on toast – if you have a slice, yes a slice of butter on the hot toast, put a generous layer of kaya and sandwich that with another slice of hot toast – that would taste so good. Even better if the bread has been toasted over hot charcoal – they have that at one shop in Sarikei. Hope to drop by to try one of these days.
Yeah, that PB&J with bacon is awesome! 🙂
I had a bite and it was delicious. I wanted that as my first order but decided to go with Breakfast with Sakumas since a friend was ordering that and we’ll just share the plates.
Their kaya execution is pretty good, probably a bit Aussi-fied since the chefs are all from famous restaurants in Melbourne/Sydney but the owner is an Indonesian woman with a Malaysian husband so the kaya creation aspect is from “our country” kinda, mixed with the Indonesian concept of kaya.
Oh yeah, I remember the proper toasted bread, those are really good.
ooo, if i’m ever in surry hills, i’ll try my best to remember this post and to head here! could almost imagine wanting to have breakfast here two days in a row, since who knows when we’d be able to get salmon that good again, right. also feeling very tempted by the thought of peanut butter ice cream, it looks luscious 😀
Yeah, it’s one of the best restaurants in town! 🙂
The Good Food guide gives Devon’s Cafe a lot of good reviews too. They have it pasted in the front. Heh.
I have a copy of the most recent guide from my latest trip over and this indeed is one of the best salmon in town!
Most places serves smoked salmon for breakfast, its a rare chef who serves a whole serving for breakfast!
The bacon surely looks good. What an awesome breakfast! 63 degree egg? hmm… sounds special!!
Yeah, it seems to be the perfect temperature to cook an egg! 🙂
63 degrees is the exact point where the egg yolk and the egg whites are the same consistency.
Everything looks great, love the ambiance as well… but maybe… not too wallet-friendly.
Haha! Yeah, AUD 27 translates to RM 81. 🙂
However, if you don’t convert, most mains in Australia are around AUD 20 anyway, and so are dishes over here.
Ahh.. would love to try the kaya and toast!! The food is surprisingly quite reasonable. I had few very mediocre breakfast when I was in Perth and it costed me nothing less than AUD 20. :/
Yeah, it’s different from the Malaysian version! 🙂
We don’t use actual butter in kaya but they mix in real churned butter, which tastes quite good. A friend ordered this and I had some of the awesome kaya.
AUD 20 is about the standard price for a main in Australia, regardless of the city.
did you guys end up eating outside? i read that someone within the group was cold, so i wasn’t sure.. in any case, photos look BOMB as always.. (((: natural light is so so pretty. but i can tell flash was used on Little Lost Bread lol. your dish looks amazing though!!! i LOVE salmon. but i can’t take it smoked at all (strange, right?? haha!) i think miso grilled sounds ABSOLUTELY lovely. nom nom nom! love all these posts on breakfast. it’s my favourite meal of the day but ironically, i don’t eat a lot of breakfast due to choosing to sleep in whenever i can & being too lazy to prepare my own. bahahaha!!
No we were eating inside! 🙂
It’s her first time to Australia and I think the first time overseas to a four season country too, so she was really not used to the cold. I only needed a jacket, I’m fine with cold since it’s autumn and it’s not too bad. She was wearing several layers and still complained of the cold.
It was technically “inside” but it’s also OUTSIDE since the place is kinda open e.g. it had a camo mesh and walls but you can see out to the skies and there’s gaps in the walls (it’s not a full length wall).
Yeah, I accidentally used flash on that one, good eye you have there! I forgot to take one without flash to boot.
I sleep in a lot too but I’ll get up for a good breakfast! Or at least a good brunch on the weekends.
Breakfast with the Sakumas is the best dish I ever had for breakfast. Imagine a full salmon serving for breakfast (instead of the usual smoked salmon offerings). It takes a very special chef to think of doing that.
Dang it. I’m kicking myself for not trying this place before I left Sydney for good and relocated to Melbourne. That looked so f-cking good I wanted to lick my screen. Thanks for tormenting me! No, I’m just kidding. Glad you enjoyed it! 😀
Yeah, that Breakfast with the Sakumas dish is absolutely fabulous! 🙂
Hey, you can always drive down to Sydney! It’s not that far. Haha!
Well, it’s quite far but it’s definitely do-able. We did a road trip to Sydney twice and even once to Perth (which was very ill-conceived coz we almost spent a week on the road).
I was based in Melbourne for 4 years too.