I usually arrive in the city quite early on Friday mornings, so I recently used this opportunity to treat myself to breakfast at Ducks Nuts on Mitchell Street. Unlike most places for breakfast, you get table service here and there are plenty of friendly staff who will take your order and put a bottle of water on your table. There aren't that many tables to sit at and they are all outside, meaning you get treated to the not so lovely sound of traffic. At least there are fans that will keep you cool though.

My first visit I get the eggs benedict with "nitro" hollandaise. Presentation is beautiful with some fanciful squiggles of brown sauce. The hollandaise is ridiculously smooth in consistency which is an achievement in itself, although I thought that there was way too much on the plate and scraped roughly half off to the side. It has a very tangy/tart taste to it, which would explain the "nitro" in the name - I'm not that fond of it but it may appeal to some. The eggs were poached perfectly and there was a good amount of ham to round of the dish.

My tall machiatto had a lovely earthy, caramel like flavour to it and I quite enjoyed it. My stomach hasn't agreed with my milk intake lately, so I've been trying the less milky coffees. I'm still getting used to the stronger flavour, but the machiatto here at Ducks suits my taste buds nicely. My second visit had to wait a few weeks, but again I was greeted with the same prompt friendly service as I encountered on the first visit.

I go the breakfast bruschetta,  I say it "bru-sket-a" but the waiter calls it "bru-shet-a". I'm pretty sure I get it right though... Anyways, the presentation once is again is really sexy, with the poached eggs silky smooth, everything diced and chopped to perfection and the squiggly brown sauce makes another appearance.  Some chefs like to draw in circles, this one obviously is a zig-zagger. The tomatoes could be a bit riper and some more  herbs would have been great, but overall with the poached eggs and avocado I really loved this dish. I refreshing change from the usual fry-ups and eggs benno, quite healthy as well.

My coffee again is good, this time I opt for a latte. Strength is good without any bitterness - too bad it's so far from my office otherwise I would visit more often for my morning caffeine fix. Other items on the breakkie menu include the usual fried fare, but you'll also find French toast and bircher meusli. Long gone are the days where I would get hammered here at night and puke on the bushes on the adjacent side street, I now instead would rather a nice breakfast meal and Ducks Nuts is worth a visit in the morning before you head off to work (or as a hangover destination for you party animals). Heck, even if you aren't early, go anyway and just rock up to the office late.