Even year round morning people like myself fall under the spell of perfect Saturday mornings.  I was filled with the spirit of adventure when I stepped out for breakfast this morning.  Rather than taking the mum-mobile on a familiar left turn to our usual cafe for breakfast, I threw caution to the wind and took a right up the road and onwards to the other end of our suburb.

The Hunters Hill end of Gladesville Road has had a rebirth in the last few months and it’s been such a huge success it’s permanently buzzing with the foot traffic of the hundreds of locals I never knew actually lived in the area.  Three major mixed purpose developments have appeared as if from nowhere and they house at least five cafes and eateries.  And that’s on top of the four that were already there.  That’s more than enough places to get you through the week in coffees.  For those of you who have to do weekend coffees on toddler time, most of the places in the area are happy to start taking your orders at around 6.30am as they go about preparing for the mid morning rush hour.

Toddler SSG and I began our exploration of the new cafe strip at Stone Ground Bakery.  It’s a beautiful light and airy space with a bakery at the back of the store which you can look into from behind a floor length glass window.

Handy toddler tip – bring an Ikea plate with you when going out for a meal.  They’re light and easy to tuck into the baby bag.  They also save you the stress of watching  a cafe’s tableware like a hawk in case something gets dropped or thrown from the table.  I usually bring mine in a plastic bag in case there are leftovers that need to be transported home for a snack.

The pastries were just beginning to come out of the oven.  Toddler SSG scored a ham, tomato and basil square ($5) which he loved for all its different textures.  Normally one for picking out the cheese and ham from his breakfast bread scrolls, he was more than happy to eat the light and flaky pastry upon which the super fresh fillings were baked.

Never one to be unpredictable, I had an almond croissant ($4) with my skinny cap.  They’re a crunchy, caramelized croissant at Stone Ground and I enjoyed the lighter texture with my coffee which was smooth and mellow.

You know what?  I do believe Hunters Hill is ahead of Surry Hills in the quirky artisan coffee roaster stakes.  I’ve ever seen 1/2 teaspoon raw sugar sachets anywhere else in Sydney.  I opened three because I needed them, not because of the novelty factor.

Toddler SSG’s babycino arrived in a stoneware espresso mug atop a matching saucer.  I almost drank it myself.

So many beautiful cakes and a very appealing breakfast menu but so little time.

Though I do think that the cherry, chocolate mousse tart has my name on it.

An empty parents with prams parking spot – highly prized at Westfield’s old but very driver friendly car park.  I’m still recovering from Bondi last weekend.

Relaxing breakfast eaten, it was time to join the Saturday Chatswood Crush.  Shoppers, seniors, fitness class participants, children going to weekend classes – I like how you can do it all in Chatswood and know that you’ll be guaranteed to find a great place to refuel with food, coffee or both.

Cardi – Zara, T – Withchery, necklace – Lovisa.

Look!  It’s a Saturday morning and I’m not wearing polar fleece!  I don’t know who I am these days.  The sunny springiness of the air must’ve gotten to my head.  Anyway, that piece of Marni via Lovisa came into my possession for the princely sum of $7.

Lovisa are having a huge sale at the moment and I’d been eyeing the red version of this necklace for months.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t part of the sale but this pink version was so I snapped it up.

www.labellemel.com

You’ll be proud of me.  I stayed true to my ethos of masstige for eyeliner and walked right past the very tempting Benefit counter and they’re $39 push up gel liner in a wind up pen wonder product.  ‘They’re Real’ has cult status in the beauty blogging world and I was this close to testing it out but I stayed firm, googled the reviews on Makeup Alley and walked away.  It’s a great concept but it still sounds too fiddly for me.

Have you tried ‘They’re Real’?  Did the earth move?

Found anything amazing at Lovisa?