Breakfast has been called our most conservative meal; the one for which we are happy to eat the same thing day after day and to which we are least likely to introduce the latest culinary trends. It’s also likely to be the least convivial meal of the day. Even the most together families and couples are likely to do their own thing at breakfast time.
That is changing; now we have power breakfasts, before-work fundraisers and at weekends we like to go out together or do something special at home. In The Breakfast Book (Hodder 2003) Sue Radd says between 1998 and 2001 there was an 80% growth in the number of breakfasts eaten in cafés and fast-food outlets.
In Hobart, Kate Fotheringham at Retro Café and Tom Otte at Zum Café have seen this change at first-hand, as Salamanca Place has become a “breakfast stripâ€.
When Kate and Bill Andrews opened Retro in 1990, breakfast was not such a big thing, but in the past few years it has become the biggest focus for the café. Panfried mushrooms, French toast, Eggs Benedict, vegie stacks are all favourites. On weekends, which are extremely busy, chipolata sausages and flapjacks come out, and during the week there are daily specials to cater for the people who arrive every morning at 8am as the café opens.
As breakfasts became big, Kate and Bill were advised to put muesli on the menu. “You won’t sell any, but it should be there,†they were told. “In fact we sell bucket-loads of it,†said Kate. And it is the sweeter options, such as pancakes and waffles that have become less popular.
LUNCH still is the busiest time at Zum Café during the week, then breakfast, but at weekends breakfast is biggest and four or five breakfast options remain available throughout the day.
“It’s a bit of a treat before you face the day,†says owner Tom Otte. The café goes through 100 dozen free-range eggs a week and 40kg of bacon. Classic Eggs Benedict is there but the best seller is Eggs Nova Scotia – poached egg, smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce on nutty Finnen bread.
Each day, the café sells a couple of large bowls of Bircher muesli – the muesli that’s soaked in fruit juice overnight, for a soft, sloshy consistency the next morning and served with yoghurt and fruit in season.
Zum opened 15 years ago, and has gradually dispensed with the retail and deli functions it used to have. Bread is still baked on the premises however, and customers enjoy the lovely smells from the oven. Zum opens at 7am, but customers start arriving as the tables are being set up at 6.30am. “Tasmanians are hardy people,†says Tom.
When Retro opened it was at the “unfashionable†end of Salamanca and had only a couple of cafés at the other end as competition. “Every time a new café opened we would think ‘this is it’, but really all it made us do was try harder,†said Kate. “I think competition is fantastic, it forces people to keep their standards up.â€
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