Brunch – A Turtle Stranger

A few weeks back it was my birthday, and there’s nothing that young females living in Sydney love more than a good boozy brunch to celebrate their birthdays. Most people will know the basic ones you can go to (The Winery, Darlo Country Club, etc.) but my sisters messaged me asking if I wanted to go to Panama House for my bday, which is one I hadn’t heard of. My main thought about this place is that they should be much more popular and well-known then they are. With a view of Bondi Beach and the blue ocean that accompanies it, and a $30 bottomless menu covering food, tea and coffee this place has everything you need for a great morning. For the price of $50, you can also add on bottomless drinks for 2 hours including mimosas and bellinis.

Even though it was winter, I was grateful for the outside seats, as the patio area has the view and a much better vibe on a sunny day, and with heaters and blankets provided, the winter chill wasn’t too bad.

Panama House’s focus is on Latin American food, which isn’t exactly synonymous with brunch, which might be why it hasn’t kicked off yet. The bottomless menu had 7 courses which you had to work through before you could start ordering more. You had enchiladas, croquettes, and then the more exotic dishes like chilli baked beans with a fried egg on top. The food was delicious, albeit a little unusual for a brunch, and definitely had a kick to it to warm you up in the winter weather.

The catch with the bottomless menu (because you know there always is a catch with something like this) is that the food is extremely slow coming out. We hadn’t had breakfast before going and had an 11 o’clock sitting so we were definitely hungry by the time we got there, and after we arrived we waited twenty minutes for the first dish, which is fine. The next dish, however, took another 40 minutes to come out and when it did, it was a very small dish. By this time, there was some definite ‘hanger’ rippling throughout the group. One can only assume that this is done to limit how much time at the end you have to order more rounds off the menu. Luckily, by the time you got through all the dishes, you were pretty full anyway so we only ordered one more round of one dish, but the slow start at the beginning was frustrating.

The good thing about a place like this with bottomless offerings, is that they didn’t make everyone opt into everything. Only two of us decided to go for bottomless drinks, whilst the rest opted out and that was fine. The service of drinks was great too, in that we just got given a bottle of champagne and juice and could serve ourselves, and the refills on these was very quick too. So if your aim was to go and get super drunk at a brunch, that was very do-able here!

All in all, it was a pretty good experience, although their food service could have been quicker, and they didn’t do split bills.

I give Panama House in Bondi 8 out of 10 for a boozy weekend brunch!

Anyone that knows Sydney knows of the Grounds of Alexandria. If you can brave the crowds then it’s always a great experience, but this weekend I got the rare chance to check out the little sister, Grounds of the City. I have visited here before for the odd coffee here and there, but this was the first time I have been here for food. I potentially also picked the worst day for going here, Saturday morning. Not only are most of the cafes in Sydney CBD closed on a Saturday, but also then you have the added attraction of a Grounds venue, so we ended up waiting 40 minutes for a table.

We finally got seated, right next to the waiter’s stand, which means that as the waiters hustled and bustled past, one of my companions kept getting hit by the drawers or the waiters themselves. At the same time, the service wasn’t particularly great. Ordering was slow and things like getting water at the table was a bit of a chore. Don’t get me wrong, the staff was pleasant, just a little slow and understaffed.

The vibe of the Grounds of the City is its main appeal, as they call it, the ‘old-school charm’. It makes you feel like you have stepped back into the time of prohibition, and honestly they have done a really fantastic job creating that vibe. I would love to check this place out at cocktail hour, because I can imagine the atmosphere is even more magical then.

In terms of the menu, the choice of coffee is so diverse; cold brew, filtered, batch brew, and then all your usual suspects like your Cappuccinos and Long Blacks. The coffee is good, maybe not the best in Sydney but definitely a good quality. The menu is fairly ritzy too. You know how normally you can go to a cafe and get a nice bacon and egg roll for $8? Not here. Here, a bacon and egg roll served on a pretzel bun will set you back about $20. Not to say that’s a bad thing, but just to give you an idea of the menu. Myself and one friend went for the Hash Potato Stack, which was poached eggs and a manchego sauce with wilted spinach and a potato hash. It was delicious. I am pretty partial to a potato hash but this met my high standards and I devoured it quickly. Our other friend got the steak and eggs, which is certainly not something that I would ever opt for at breakfast time, but he said it was all cooked well, and he is a chef himself so I would tend to trust his judgement and might have to check that out myself next time.

Overall, Grounds of the City was a great meal. Service could be better and I definitely know to book a table in advance next time (or go in an off peak time), but I would definitely be very keen to go back and check it out again. If anyone wants to take me for cocktails there, then that would be very much appreciated!

I give it 3.5/5 stars.