Il Paradisso, Military Rd, Neutral Bay

Il Paradisso, Military Rd, Neutral Bay
Sunday 2 July, 2006

After sitting through the Swans game is sub zero temperatures last night (they won!) I felt energised and ready to take on the new week. I decided to get up early (well, for a Sunday I thought it was early) and run some errands...dry cleaning, papers, milk, bread, coffee.....

In Neutral Bay there are few good cafes that offer breakfast - if there are I don't know about them, so please send me your recommendations if I am missing something here. I walked across the main intersection past the Starbucks and entered the open arcade. At the rear is Il Parasdisso.

I decided to take a punt but regretted it almost as soon as I entered. The front door had trouble closing so they have done a dodgy brothers job of patching it up with paper and sticky tape. There is indoor and outdoor seating and only 4 tables were occupied. The decor is basic with chairs that squeal as they are moved in and out and tables that are not balanced, so there is folded up paper squashed under the table legs on every second table. Nice...

I said hello to the gentleman behind the coffee machine and he grunted back. I picked up my own menu and sat down. It's a basic menu with eggs, toast, museli & fruit on offer. Fortunately I had the Sunday papers with me as the surroundings were bland. After a short while a women occupying one the other tables stood up, collected her pen & paper and came to take my order. She had been reading a magazine and drinking coffee and I'd interrupted her morning by coming in for breakfast. Right.....so that makes it 3 tables occupied.

From what I could tell it's a family run business - Dad's on the coffee machine, Mum's taking care of orders and delivers food to the tables and the son does a bit of everything. I couldn't see who was in the kitchen.

I ordered turkish bread with butter & vegemite and a skim flat white. The coffee was delivered to the table semi warm so I sent it back and asked for it to be prepared really, really hot please. This worked but why do you have to ask for your coffee to be hot these days - isn't it a given? The turkish bread was OK but could've done with an extra 30 seconds under the grill - I didn't send it back.

During breakfast many more people arrived and the place was bordering on half full by the time I paid and left. Breakfast cost $7.40 (coffee & toast).

One to avoid.

Il Parasdisso - 202 Military Rd, Neutral Bay - (02) 9953 6986