Fields Cafe

Let me start with a confession. I wanted to loathe this place as it seems to specialise in painfully hipster touches such as serving tap water in carafes with ‘government juice’ written on them, but ultimately the high quality of the food and the location right slap bang in the middle of the common won me over…
(On that note, I would say its location is something a mixed blessing as it means that over half of the seating is outside… not a great option for a rainy day).
There was also some confusion over the loos as they are styled as old fashioned paying public toilets, but obviously customers aren’t expected to pay so the process involved going to the counter and picking up a token… a rather overly complicated system all for the sake of having some ‘vintage’ style loos I thought!
That said, the food really was excellent, so a lot is forgiven. I had the eggs benedict with a side of smashed avocado — both the best I’ve had in a while.

I never actually realised that this place was a café. In fact I was under the impression it was a public toilet. Turns out it is my new favourite place to eat breakfast.
The first time we visited was directly after football training, I think there were six of us. People were sprinkled across the picnic style tables in pairs, so we were sort of loitering at the edge hoping there was a pair in there who had only ordered coffees. The staff were extremely attentive, bringing us menus to look at while we waited and offering us a detailed rundown on ingredients.
We ordered at the counter, which is both good and bad, because this counter happens to be covered in extremely tempting baked goods, including giant ANZAC biscuits… And they are delicious!
And so was my breakfast. Perfectly poached eggs, sourdough toast and a very decent helping of almost impossibly perfect smashed avocado. Five stars again and again and again.