Urban was recently voted the best breakfast in Adelaide, so our course, my fellow Gastronomy students and I had to put them to the test. I have never eaten at Urban before, but it was recommended by a few friends and I have drooled fully over their menu online. I was pretty stoked to try some decent brekky for once…at least something more than the traditional Aussie brekky of sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes, fried eggs and toast. Urban has a slightly trendy, sophisticated decor. It is modern, sleek, and subtle. I dug it.
Our experience at Urban was quite nice, but I would go so far as to say it blew me away. I have noticed in my travels that creative Australian breakfast tends to be variations on a set menu: corn fritters, scrambled eggs with bacon or smoked salmon, ricotta pancakes, beans on toast and a few omelets. This is understandable…I don’t imagine that Australians are terribly risky when it comes to breakfast making, and hey, you could go into any American brunch place and see a set menu of pancakes, waffles, eggs, hash browns, etc. But you could also find a place that serves fruit sushi with a trio of pumpkin pancakes (one with a ginger creme anglaise, one with candied ginger, one with chives and mascarpone. Urban definitely had more than a few of these traditional Aussie breakfast items, but overall, it did a good job at sprucing them up with a few surprises. The scrambled eggs were good with both crispy Aussie bacon and smoked salmon, but the salmon was bit fishy for a few of us. Both presentations were simple and beautiful.
The ricotta pancakes with blueberries were delicious. The batter was super light and the cakes were huge–I think they may have folded in egg whites at the last minute to help lighten up the batter. The blueberries were spiced with a hint of Chinese five spice. I totally support the use of Chinese five spice on fruit, as you may remember from my last crisp.
My favorite was the Asian omelet with crab. This was definitely the standout dish of the morning. The Asian flavors sang out nicely against the rich egg. It was stuffed with bean curds, greens, crab and topped with a hit of sesame oil that really made this dish perfect. I would go back just for this omelet!
Urban was a good but not great experience, if only for their slight hesitation to think outside the Aussie brekky box. But definitely worth a try…dinner is next! ~LTG
