orto trading co.

More Sydney eats! After being placed in a one-hour wait for the ever busy Devon Cafe (weekend brunching can be a waiting nightmare), we decided to try out our luck at Orto Trading Co instead.  It's about 5-10 minutes walk from Central Station, straight up Devonshire Road and turning left on Waterloo Street.  Greeted by a bright display of white wicker crates and plant decorations, we promptly changed our minds and walked straight in without a second thought.  The fact that there was no line was a definite plus, but everything in general looked so welcoming and happy.

The word 'orto' actually means vegetable garden in Italian, and it's clear that that was the theme running through the cafe.  The ceiling in the cafe is super high and every table was decorated with a fresh, yellow flower.  With only two people eating, we didn't think it was socially acceptable to order everything on the menu no matter how much we wanted to!  So we did our best and narrowed it down to four.

Carrot Cake Hotcakes: $18.00

Wow.  Heaven.  On a plate.  With vegetables.  Mind is blown.  Who knew the humble carrot cake could taste so amazing?  Beautifully decorated with cinnamon sugar and gingerbread crumbs, the hotcakes were our favourite dish out of the four.  They were thick, fluffy and yet somehow incredibly dense and packed with flavour.  The mascarpone had a hint of cinnaon to it and was the perfect complement - cream and pancakes anyone?  Also loved the addition of toffee pecans to bring a sweet crunch to the plate.

Scrambled Eggs with Sourdough Toast, Chorizo & Wild Mushrooms: $21.00

A simple dish, yet every part of it was executed well.  The toasted sourdough was just the right balance of a crunchy crust and a soft interior with the medallion of soft butter spreading easily over the three slices.  A good mix of different wild mushrooms were nicely sauteed with butter, although perhaps a little too much butter.  The scrambled eggs were very light and creamy and the chorizo was nicely spicy.

Scotch Eggs: $12.00

Out of the four, this was the least preferred dish.  That's not to say, however, that it didn't taste good. The eggs were perfectly poached, covered in a soft radish/cabbage (not entirely sure) layer and deep-fried to a golden crunch.  Maybe it was because I ate this last and it became cold, but I wasn't too sold on the flavours in the middle layer.  It tasted like reheated potatoes after being frozen overnight.  The curry on the right was also cold and had very strong, herb-y taste.  It wasn't really to my liking.

Truffled Polenta Chips with Buttermilk & Blue Cheese Sauce: $9.00

I've only ever had polenta in a soft form, so eating them deep-fried was quite exciting.  The chip, by itself, had a subtle truffle flavour to it but definitely needed the buttermilk and cheese sauce to give it some sort of impact in terms of taste.  I really enjoyed these and probably could have demolished the whole plate if I hadn't been so full.

Cappucino & Mocha

Highly recommended.  Both of us left Orto's feeling extremely full and extremely happy.  Service was quite quick considering the amount of people they had and it was reasonably priced for brunch.  While we were eating I actually had a moment where I just stopped eating and smiled like a fool because I was that happy.  Weird, right.