They say “a change is as good as a holiday”, but to be honest – the holiday always wins out in my opinion!

A couple of weeks ago I took Night Owl out of Sydney for a weekend away in the Blue Mountains to celebrate our three-year anniversary. I had originally planned to keep it as a surprise, but with her on-again-off-again bar schedule, I needed her to save the date. Then she told me that she hates surprises and peppered me with questions until I caved and told her my anniversary present to her, and she was beautifully excited in the lead up to our drive out of Sydney. The Blue Mountains is a safe bet during transitional seasons or even any time – perfect if you just want to stay in and lounge around indoors of check out the local shops, or if the weather’s nice there’s day-long walks aplenty. There’s nothing worse than booking a beach side getaway a month in advance then having rain forecast!

I drove from the office but surprisingly the traffic out of Sydney wasn’t too much of a nightmare. We arrived in time for our AirBnB hosts in Blackheath to show us around our guest room, enjoyed the in-room jacuzzi, and shared a meat and cheese board I put together while watching Netflix. Deborah and Tony were wonderful hosts during our stay, and if you’re interested the listing is located here.

A light breakfast was provided by our hosts which we enjoyed indoors as there was a bit of early-morning dew on the deck. When we drove out to Evan’s Lookout later, the fog made for an impressive view.

After a bit of a walk to digest our breakfast, we were hungry enough for an early lunch and I drove us over to Medlow Bath. On our last visit to the Mountains we had visited Anonymous Cafe in Blackheath, and when viewers saw my Instagram they recommended I go by their sister cafe Synonymous for a visit. I drove by – only to find it closed as the barista had had a baby!

We had better luck this time. The cafe is on the opposite side of the rails to the Hydro-Majestic Hotel, and in a quaint, re-purposed local chapel from the looks of things. There’s a generous amount of seating both inside and out – much more spacious than their Blackheath digs!

Coffee is Campos and the menu changes seasonal to reflect the best of locally grown produce. There’s a generous tea menu, from Chinese loose leaf to black tea blends, and Australian herbals. I go with a hearty English Breakfast, while Night Owl fuels up on a cappuccino.

Service is chipper and friendly, and people tend to come in and out quite quickly, just lingering for coffee and a pastry. Probably because the weather was nice!

I originally had my eye on the Crispy Cubano Toastie from the online menu, but it wasn’t available in store. So I went for the Mr Green Toastie: braised greens, grain mustard and chive bechamel, gruyere cheese on sourdough served with pickles and relish ($16.50). You can add a fried egg for $3 if you’re feeling ravenous, but the sandwich is pretty generous already!

I never would have thought kale would taste so good in a sandwich, but then again what wouldn’t taste good braised in butter and sandwiched with lots of cheese and cream sauce? 😛 This was hands-down the best toasted sandwich I’ve had out. I’m glad I shared with Night Owl as not only would I probably have struggled to finish it myself, but also so that I could share her wonderful brunch.

My perception on crumpets have been those packs of five holey-toast-like things you get from the supermarket bread aisle. I remember when I was a kid I got my mum to buy a pack once as I saw them on television, and didn’t particularly enjoy the chewiness of it (although I did love watching the honey sink through the holes). I’m pleased to say that that memory of crumpets has been replaced with a much better one! These House-Made Crumpets with Whipped Butter, lemon curd, grilled peach and toasted macadamias ($17) was wonderfully buttery and like a lighter version of a pikelet. I loved it and finally understood what all the hype was about! I was so enamored with them that I went home on Sunday resolving to make them myself at home.

And I did! Here is a picture of them.

I’ll hopefully be posting up the recipe soon 🙂 However in more holiday news I’m off to Hong Kong and Japan next week for two and a half weeks! I’m due to return mid-April. I haven’t got any scheduled posts lined up and I’m unlikely to post on the road – so keep an eye out on my Facebook and Instagram for my travel eats and adventures!

Synonymous Cafe
1 Railway Parade
Medlow Bath NSW 2780
http://anonymouscafeblackheath.com.au/synonymous/