The Duchess Cafe

We came to this beautiful historic home for breakfast and dined on the verandah overlooking the lush garden. We both had ‘the duchess’ which the menu says is a smaller version of ‘the duke’ consisting of egg, bacon, sausage, homemade beans, mushroom and tomato on toast. While it says it’s a small version, don’t be fooled, it was a pretty large breakfast. We both thoroughly enjoyed our meal and coffee. Service was good, we only wish the weather was better!

We went for breakfast which is located in a nice house. On a nice day one can seat along the verandah and garden. Coffee was well made. Food was delicious.

Nice breakfast spot in Sandy Bay. Had the avocado on toast and poached eggs and both were lovely.

Food came out quickly and reasonably priced.

Was pleased to be recommended this place for brunch in Hobart and would likely pass on the tip to future travellers. The house has been various different businesses in its life and now on a sunny Sunday morning the current proprietors have a real gem of a place to relax. Enjoying the shade of the verandah, or lazing back in a deckchair on the lawn, the front yard is blessed to be shielded from Sandy Bay Road with lovely big trees, but yet is still drenched in sun on the right days. Inside is beautifully furnished and is a nice break from the pub/restaurant style breakfasts in Hobart or the emerging Melbourne hipster-style cafes starting to arrive here. This is more in the style of my other new regular at the Signal Station Brasserie.

Our staff were very friendly and looked after us well. The coffee was adequate, maybe not as flavoursome of some of those aforementioned Melbourne-style roasters, but well made for what it was. We had some simple breakfasts, eggs on toast with bacon and mushrooms. Out came two stacks of eggs on a lovely rye toast, and although my scrambled eggs were polished off easily with some deliciously crispy streaky bacon, Mum's poached eggs looked a little lonely with only one mushroom (albeit big and tasty) and probably not quite enough bread to soak it up. Still, the food was executed perfectly.

One surprising pleasure was seeing the presentation of the $10 children's lunch for my nephew. Great idea from management providing family friendly options, and his face was delighted when he too was able to feel like a grown-up enjoying modern cuisine: a toastie and small fruit salad served on a wooden board, accompanied by traditional chocolate milk (with paper straw) and some lollies to do for him what caffeine does for us.