La Renaissance Pâtisserie Française, The Rocks

The Family Pea takes advantage of cheap Sunday travel to spend the day in The Rocks. We're actually there on best man and matron of honour duties to taste wedding food at Wolfie's Bar & Grill, but before that we have time to meet a friend for coffee, and it has to be the Renaissance. When I worked across the road from here my colleagues and I enjoyed many a morning tea supplied by this French patisserie, but that was more than five years ago.

It's market day and sunny and all the tables on Argyle Street are taken. We carry the pram and Baby Pea through to the leafy back courtyard with bigger tables and winter-friendly heat lamps.

I love a bowl of coffee, though it's probably not the easiest thing to drink with a baby on your lap.

I have a major weakness for gruyere so the ham and cheese croissant has my name on it. Pea Pa gets a shock when he sees it come out, all buttery and smothered with melted cheese. He's glad he didn't say no though when he tastes the creamy, ham-flecked bechamel filling - it's heaven. Definitely one to share.

Naturally we can't leave without sampling something sweet, and the almond croissant beckons. I cut it into little squares so we feel less guilty, or perhaps so no one notices me eat the last piece.

La Renaissance Patisserie Francaise
47 Argyle St, The Rocks, Sydney NSW 2000
p. 02 9241 4878

Fishermans Wharf restaurant, Pyrmont

Lazy as we are on Sunday mornings, if dumpling cravings strike we don't usually venture further than the Chinese restaurant down the road, but an interview at Fairfax's Pyrmont HQ for Sydney Story Factory volunteers provides the perfect opportunity for brunch at our new favourite yum cha venue in the fish market.

Arriving just after 11am, we're lucky to snag a small table at the back without having to queue. We're immediately offered a plate of takoyaki and don't say no. I first tried these fried octopus balls topped with mayo and bonito flakes at the Marrickville festival a few years ago and have had a soft spot for them ever since.

Apart from our favourite BBQ pork buns, the rest is pretty much a prawnfest - a mini crustacean degustation, with rice noodle rolls, dumplings and funny fat little sweet corn cakes that need a savoury splash of soy to make them interesting.

As you'd expect the prawns are great here. We love the plain har gow with a dab of chilli sauce but the prawn and chive dumplings stand out for their extra garlicky flavour. 

We leave the back way but on our way out to the car park we see the queue at the front entrance now goes all the way to the bottom of the stairs, so go early if you don't want to miss out.

Fishermans Wharf Seafood Restaurant
Level 1, Bank St, Pyrmont NSW 2009
p. 02 9660 9888
w. http://www.fishermanswharf.com.au/

Clipper Cafe, Glebe

This cute cafe at the southern end of Glebe Point Road attracts a quirky crowd. How do I know? Well, the other day I saw a guy perched on one of the footpath tables holding a kitten on a leash. OK, it's not as odd as the guy I saw in the Harajuku area of Tokyo dragging a leek on a leash, but it's still not something you see every day. The kitten was very well behaved, so the trick must be to start them young. It didn't work when I tried it on my cat Chilli a few years ago – she got startled and jumped clean out of the harness, Houdini style.

Anyway, Clipper is clearly a great place to go for a coffee and a chat (ha ha). It's certainly busy on a rainy Friday afternoon and my friend and I don't fancy our chances getting a table until a kind couple relinquish theirs and we're in.

 
After a quick coffee and catch-up we order two dishes to share from the all-day menu - a panini with salami, tomato relish, feta and babaganoush and baked eggs with lamb sausages.

Baby Pea is a bit cranky and I'm distracted by feeding but the sweet garlicky sandwich hits the spot. Once I've settled him back in the pram I can enjoy the eggs - they're perfectly cooked and taste great with the soft sausage and chunky tomato sauce. You can also have them with chorizo or sauteed mushrooms.

Next door is a fantastic French patisserie selling proper baguettes and classic pastries such as pain au chocolat - they even make mini versions, which I've never seen anywhere else.

Clipper Cafe
16 Glebe Point Road, Glebe NSW
p. 0411 800 063

Sideways Deli Cafe, Dulwich Hill

I conceived the idea for this offspring of food and "mommy" blogging (fomo?) a few weeks ago, and the first post-baby meeting of my RPA Parent Education group was the excuse I needed to get started. But where to meet? I'd already suggested locals Bourke St Bakery and Miss Petty Cash when my husband – let's call him Pea Pa – pointed out this SMH review. Pram-friendly? Perfect. After a leisurely stroll from Marrickville to the busy corner cafe, I loitered outside, unsure how they would accommodate four people plus prams. Not a problem. A smiley waiter guided me in to a large table in one corner. Cheery service - tick. Behind me lay two boxes full of toys and a stack of kids books, clearly part of the attraction for local parents.

With Baby Pea still asleep in his pod, I quenched my walk-thirst with water and ordered a flat white, which came with a Tiny Teddy on the side. Good coffee - double tick.

Foodwise, being 2pm on a Thursday afternoon I had a lot of options. The lunch menu offers plenty of choices including Greek favourites from mezze to moussaka. I was also tempted to go straight to dessert, despite having gorged on homemade apple strudel and ice-cream a couple of hours earlier. But my lactation-led sugar cravings were beaten by blog logic as I'd spied something on the all-day breakfast menu - Green Eggs. What could be better on St Patrick's Day? My Irish friend would probably go for the Potato Stack, but that wouldn't justify the title of my blog, so the pesto and feta scramble was my pick. It arrived with piles of bacon, thick toast and roast tomatoes.

My fellow mums chose a special of pumpkin and goats cheese tart, and the famous steak sandwich times two. 

I soon learned my first fomo-blogging lesson - food should be easy to eat one-handed and still appetising at room temperature. Baby Pea's pressing need to be fed and held meant my knife was redundant as I made do with forkfuls of cooled egg. I soon abandoned all manners to tackle the toast and tear off pieces of fatty bacon with my fingers. The salty combination of pesto, cheese and bacon was good, especially with the tangy tomato, but I couldn't finish the generous plateful.

The tart got the thumbs up, but the steak sandwiches divided opinion. The mum whose bub slept through lunch enjoyed hers, but the other thought the aïoli was too garlic-heavy - and to be fair, hers had gone cold by the time her baby let her eat. Luckily the staff were lovely and let us linger as long as we needed to. 

I'll definitely be back with my tea-loving mum-in-law to try as many cakes as I can.

Sideways Deli Cafe

37 Constitution Rd, Dulwich Hill NSW 2203

t. (02) 9560 1425

e. mail@sidewaysdelicafe.com.au

w. http://www.sidewaysdelicafe.com.au