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Wake up to a beaut brekkie

Picture: Gerald Moscarda/The West Australian.

Breakfast is my thing. As Robert Henlein said: "One should not attend even the end of the world without a good breakfast."

If my thing is breakfast, though, I have a thing about poached eggs. The white must be only just set, and must quiver ever so slightly on the slotted spoon as you take it gently out of barely simmering water.

The yolk must show absolutely no signs of congealing so that when you put your knife into it, a full river of liquid gold cascades gently over your toast.

I quite understand that to achieve this level of perfection in a restaurant kitchen would require the rather unrealistic employment of one chef exclusively for the purpose of poaching the eggs.

The nearest I've come to this is at the Intercontinental in Singapore, where indeed, there is a breakfast chef on hand to cook your eggs.

Since, however, he is also doing the omelettes, the scrambled eggs and the fried eggs, he can never quite achieve the perfection desired.

The poached egg at Metrio and Co, while not in my perfect category, is certainly in my top 10. The yolk was congealed slightly but still sufficiently molten to dribble onto the plate. The breakfast it adorned is probably in my top five.

This comprised a chunkily textured potato cake beautifully seasoned with grain mustard, parsley, chives and spring onions; bacon, glisteningly fresh spinach, asparagus, and the aforementioned poached egg bathed in a more than serviceable hollandaise, all for $18. Oh, I forgot: also a side of earthy chipolatas ($4).

Before this I had polished off a refreshing seasonal fruit salad with yoghurt and berry coulis ($11).

As I said, breakfast is my thing.

My beloved is not quite so enamoured of breakfast, yet she very much enjoyed her spinach and fetta omelette with bacon ($16), although you will forgive her for remarking that the accompanying tomato salsa should come with a chilli option.

Fabio and Eleanor Hupfer of Hubble's Yard fame in East Fremantle opened Metrio and Co two-and-a-half years ago and brought their flair for rustically sophisticated food with them.

With the exception of the bread, everything is made in-house, and a display cabinet showcases their remarkable array of very tempting wares, including quinoa and ricotta patties; chicken, pumpkin and coconut patties; fig, prosciutto and goat's cheese quiche; lentil, fig and celery-leaf salad; and bean, beetroot and cranberry salad.

There is also a range of cakes and slices, and we did have room left to sample a densely chocolatey brownie with a fetching biscuit crust, and a sumptuous white chocolate and raspberry coconut slice ($4.50 each).

This is a busy, no nonsense, order-at-the-counter-pay-as-you-go kind of place populated by youngish trendies, who appear to engage with each other instead of gazing fixedly into their iPhones, and the not-so-young trendies who prefer to engage with their food.

Service is brisk and impersonal, and instead of being given a number to put on your table after you have placed your order, you are given a playing card.

A nice touch, we thought. "You are more than a number to us," I think it says.

Metrio and Co

Address 36 Angove Street, North Perth

Phone 9227 0077

Open Monday to Friday: 6.30am-5.30pm; Saturday and Sunday: 7am-5pm

The buzz Angove Street in North Perth has become something of a mecca for caficionados, and may almost make a claim to be breakfast central - MilkD, Fiorentina, Il Circolo - are some of the stars on the street, but Metrio and Co is certainly jostling for top spot.

13.5/20