The best healthy breakfasts in Sydney

Bill’s isn’t just a hotcakes and scrambled eggs affair, you know. Try the quinoa, amaranth and buckwheat porridge, which is topped with ruby-red rhubarb and a silky dollop of Greek yogurt. 

Gratia is the sister restaurant to Folonomo, and both give 100 per cent of their profits to charity. So there’s that, but the food here is also delicious. Try the garden bowl, which sees seasonal greens tossed with fermenty sauerkraut, mixed grains and beetroot, all brought together by a nutty, sesame-infused dressing.

They’ve just opened up in Rosebery in the old Kitchen by Mike site, and the wood fired bowl is health on a plate. In there you’ll find roasted cauliflower, baby carrots, smoky eggplant, mixed grains, pumpkin, yogurt and beetroot sauerkraut, along with a spicy seasoning of dukkah. Trust us, once you have a salad for breakfast, you’ll wonder why you never did it before.

The fish cracker at Berkelo is a cracker made with veggies and flax (but the recipe changes with whatever's good that day) topped with house-cured moonfish, crunchy fennel, creamy avocado, peppery mizuna and miso sesame powder for extra umami. It’s a truly beautiful little plate of food befitting of any fancy restaurant. But here it is in Brookie for $12.

The fisksoppa soup at Edition is a chowder by a different mother. It's a loose broth that packs a punch of flavour: oceanic, creamy and salty. In it are hunks of lightly cooked blue cod (skin on – hello omega threes), steamed carrots, rings of caramelised shallots and leek, cubes of potato and on top a sculptural decoration of vertically upturned, paper-thin pastry, amongst fragrant dill and watercress garnishes. It's the style of soup that comes from that latitude – chowder in Maine, Cullen skink in Scotland and this, fisksoppa, from Sweden. As is known in those parts already, it's a warming and beautiful way to start, or continue, the day, and we’re pretty pumped it has made its way to Sydney.

Idli is a nutritious, healing, traditional breakfast from the south of India. The batter is made of fermented lentils and rice and is cooked using small moulds, so that the result is like soft little rice cakes, ready to be dipped and guzzled. You get dips of sour veggie sambal, chilli sauce and cooling coconut chutney, plus a coriander chutney to keep things herbal. And speaking from experience, this is as close to the idli you get in Kerala as you’re likely to get in Sydney.

Cornersmith make much of their own products, such as pickles and ferments, so whatever you order here (the menu changes virtually daily depending on what’s good that day), it’s set to be a health-charged feast. If you see something with pickled green tomatoes on it, don’t think, just order it.

Ora is all about health and ethically-sourced produce, with an emphasis on flavour. Grab a cup of bone broth and an Ora Bowl and you’ll be set for the day. The Ora Bowl is a big bowlful of fresh greens: peppery kale, rocket, sour sorrel and mizuna lettuce, as well as a heap of herbs: mint, coriander and parsley. Tossed through are little hunks of roast cauliflower, vivid yellow from a dusting of turmeric, and fine rounds of crisp radish among pink-toned, housemade sauerkraut and toasted sesame and sunflower seeds. There are spoonfuls of dips on top – one of nutty beetroot and another of creamy kumera – and you can choose between shredded chipotle chicken, haloumi or avo as your protein component. Whatever you choose, it’s dressed with tahini sauce infused with coriander and lime essential oils (genius!).