A Morning That Forgives Itself

Some mornings ask for pepper and a fried egg. Others — a holiday, the slow day after a long walk, a Tuesday that simply needs saving — ask for something sweeter. There is nothing dishonest about that second kind of morning. At Dear Breakfast the sweeter register of the menu sits quietly beside the sourdough and the smoked trout, waiting for whoever needs it.

If you have already read our note on where mornings happen in Lakeside, you will know we take the first meal seriously in either direction — savoury or sweet. This letter is for the sweet one, and for the powdered sugar that gets away with quite a lot before noon. No apology is required for wanting dessert at breakfast; the plate does not know what hour it is, and neither, on some mornings, should you.

Caramelized Banana Crepes

The Caramelized Banana Crepes are the gentlest argument on the sweet side of the menu — thin, warm and folded around bananas cooked down until they soften and darken at the edges, finished with Nutella and a last snow of powdered sugar. Crepes ask to be eaten slowly, in small torn pieces, which makes them a fair choice for a morning with nowhere urgent to be. There is a lightness to a crepe that a pancake does not attempt — it folds instead of stacking, and it disappears in fewer bites than you expect, which is its own quiet argument for ordering a second.

Banana & Nutella Pancake

For a heartier version of the same idea, there is the Banana & Nutella Pancake — a stack of fluffy pancakes built for a fork rather than fingers, with banana and a Nutella drizzle over the top rather than folded in. It is the plate that tends to arrive at a table shared by two people who both insist, unconvincingly, that they only want a taste. By the third bite the fork has usually crossed sides of the table more than once, and the insisting has quietly stopped.

Banana-Nut Waffle & Ice Cream

And then there is the one that admits it is dessert outright: the Banana-Nut Waffle & Ice Cream — a buttermilk waffle, still warm, carrying a scoop of vanilla ice cream that begins to soften into the grid of the iron, scattered with nuts and a run of chocolate syrup. It is the plate for a holiday breakfast, a birthday breakfast, or any morning you have quietly decided deserves one. The warmth of the waffle against the cold of the ice cream is most of the pleasure — eat slowly and you get to watch the two meet in the middle.

  • Caramelized Banana Crepes — caramelised banana, Nutella and powdered sugar
  • Banana & Nutella Pancake — fluffy pancakes with banana and a Nutella drizzle
  • Banana-Nut Waffle & Ice Cream — buttermilk waffle, vanilla ice cream, nuts and chocolate syrup

What's Waiting at the Counter

Beside the sweet plates, the counter keeps its own quiet offer — croissants and pastries from the same kitchen, set out for whoever wanders in wanting only coffee and a small sweet thing rather than a full plate. It is the same house that bakes its croissants fresh each morning, so what is there is whatever came out of the oven that morning — so it is worth asking when you arrive.

Choosing, or Not Choosing

You do not have to choose only one. A crepe shared with a coffee, a waffle split two ways, a pancake stack with nothing else on the table but forks — a holiday morning is allowed to end in powdered sugar, and no one at Dear Breakfast will raise an eyebrow. Pair whichever you choose with something from our slow mornings and coffee letter, and let the rest of the day start a little later than usual. Bring the friend who always orders savoury and see whether the crepe changes their mind; it does not have to, and either way there will be coffee, and either way the morning will have gone slowly, which was the whole point of ordering dessert first.

Yours, every morning.

Yours, every morning,
— Dear Breakfast