Before we embarked on a day All About Women, we shared breakfast with Another Outspoken Female and her Significant Eater. AOF recommended Barmuda for its veg options. Barmuda is tucked away on Australia St near Newtown's landmark intersection. It looks less slick than its neighbours Black Star Pastry and Oscillate Wildly, but we found a comfortable spot with sturdy wooden furniture and lots of sunlight upstairs.
Though they're not explicitly marked, we did indeed find plenty of veg options to choose from (gluten-free dishes are helpfully labelled). Granola, sour cherry loaf, vanilla rice, French toast and ricotta hotcakes were a promising start, extending to a breakie wrap, eggs, mushrooms, beans, and a big plate called The Local. The all-day lunch menu of toasties, falafel and hefty salads looks more vegan-friendly.
Michael took on the gluten-free potato stack ($16.50). The potato cake was particularly memorable, two squares of finely layered potato rounds, fried to a golden crisp. These were interspersed with tomato relish, rocket, grilled eggplant, scrambled eggs and a roasted tomato. Michael was very, very happy with this departure from his usual poached eggs and toast.
I deviated from my breakfast habits too, bypassing the sweet stuff for some gluten-free corn and chive fritters ($15.50) from the lunch menu. The fritters were as golden-fried as Michael's potato cakes, and bursting with corn kernels. Generous spreads of tomato relish and salsa verde effectively cut through the fried flavour, there was more roasted tomato, and I also added an avocado half for $3.
Barmuda doesn't have much of a web presence, and I gather that it's been around at least 15 years. The atmosphere certainly evokes a late '90s-early 2000s cafe to me, in the nicest nostalgic way. The food's not stuck in any kind of rut, thankfully, with a wide selection of tasty and satisfying veg meals.
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Barmuda's had a mixed reception on blogs over the years. It's won fans on Diary of a Ladybird, two tasty sins, Locomunching, sugarlace and electreats. Less impressed are I Am Obsessed With Food, lateral eating and Jugernauts.com.
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Barmuda
283 Australia St, Newtown NSW
(02) 9516 3341
food, drinks
Accessibility: The entry has a small lip (see top photo). Downstairs tables are densely packed, stairs are steep, and upstairs tables are more spaciously arranged. Ordered at our table and paid in a narrow passage way. We didn't visit the toilets.
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