Dining / A different start to the day

I LOVE going out for breakfast on weekends, but sometimes find menus stock standard and, well, boring.

So I was delighted, when kick-starting the day at Ona on the Lawns in Manuka with three friends, to hear everyone comment on how refreshingly different the all-day menu was.

The black-bean burrito was a great combo of flavours. It wasn’t wrapped in tortilla flatbread but served “open” ($17) with a mini mountain of beans and other ingredients. I dived in without manoeuvring the wrapping (too early in the morning for such fussing). I loved it.

The chicken congee – a rice porridge popular in many Asian countries – was piping hot and soul satisfying ($18) and appropriate given my friend was on her way to Malaysia later that day. The side of mushrooms added additional interest, as did the bowl of kimchi. For crunch there was a decadent fried breadstick.

The North African poached eggs, baked with tomatoes, sumac, shallots, red peppers and mixed herbs, were another winner ($19). Gorgeous looking and high on taste.

The only disappointing dish was the pumpkin tortilla ($18). The chef had one thing in mind and the diner another. It was more a big serve of pumpkin mash, making the dish sweeter than expected. It came with poached eggs, smashed avo, oven-roasted tomatoes and the tortilla. Sometimes that’s life in the café fast lane.

Other intriguing dishes include a ham hock benedict ($19), eggplant and beef salad ($20), pomegranate salad ($19) and a chicken pot pie ($20).

Ona on the Lawns has expanded fairly recently, taking over what was a dress shop. You can sit outside (it was packed even though it was a chilly morning), at the bar overlooking the lawns, at a big communal table, at tables for two, or tables for four, which is where we sat. It was pretty cramped, especially when the food arrived, with some dishes served in wide bowls and some on big wooden boards.

Sasa Sestic, the founder of Ona Coffee, is the world’s best barista (truly; he has the trophy to prove it). He can’t be in all of the Ona locations to make every coffee, as we discovered. My cappuccino was great. The two flat whites fell flat. The piccolo was pretty good.

The drinks menu includes black coffee, with different “single origin” beans poured each week. The house blend for milk-based coffee is “Don Organic”. You can indulge, if you dare (I’d get the jitters) in the coffee experience menu ($10) which includes 1 espresso, 1 milk-based coffee and 1 batch of brew filter coffee. For something different, try the carbonated cascara, dried coffee cherry tea ($6).

Ona on the Lawns, Shop 4, Palmerston Lane, Manuka. Call 6395 0057.

 

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