Standing at the front door of Noon, on a sunny little corner, you’re in a prime posi: just a few blocks back from Manly’s waves. The just-opened cafe is from Good Good Company, the hospo team behind a favoured clutch of north-side restaurants: Chica Bonita, Sunset Sabi and Busta. But it was time to take on the morning crowd.
Luke Miller, Good Good’s owner, has been in the restaurant game since 2012, with the foray into the daytime scene – a spot where people can drop in before going about their day – driven by his love of community. There was no question about the location (“Everything we do is based in Manly”) and the menu has been a joint effort, based mostly on staff favourites. There’s also a focus on going over the bridge to source from smaller suppliers, to find produce that differs from other cafes in the area.
“We’re making an effort to get suppliers from outside of the northern beaches,” Miller says. Enter Noon’s bacon and egg roll, with focaccia from Pyrmont’s Pioik, eggs from Peats Ridge, and bacon from Marrickville’s Whole Beast Butchery.
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SIGN UPThen there’s the slightly more out-there cafe fare. A mince-on-toast dish, which Miller calls “a big warm hug”, nods to something one worker makes frequently at home. Blackmore Wagyu beef mince is spiced and served with toasted almonds, currants and crème fraîche on Pioik’s “really good” sourdough.
“We’re offsetting that with some lighter options, like a house-cured trout with a boiled egg, hempseed loaf and some Turkish tzatziki,” says Miller. That’s the picnic-y breakfast plate – the stuff of minimalist breakfast dreams – that is already popular with on-the-pulse locals.
It’s too early to tell which items will become signatures, but other Broadsheet picks include the vibrant green zucchini toast – sourdough topped with creamy pea pesto, oven-roasted and marinated zucchini, stracciatella and lemon – and the atayef, Middle Eastern pancakes filled with ricotta and roasted grapes, and sweetened up with orange and almond blossom.
Then there’s the dish that takes inspiration from Chica: potatoes carnitas. Potatoes are pan-fried with the slow-cooked meat, then finished with a fried egg, hollandaise and crispy buckwheat.
The Noon team makes sweeter things in-house, like banana bread topped with espresso and maple butter, and spicy ginger cake cut through with a dollop of double cream. The coffee is from Melbourne’s Seven Seeds, and there’s an assortment of teas (warm and iced) and cold-pressed juices. (Or go large with the salted choc shake made with Messina’s dark chocolate sorbet.)
Miller built most of Noon’s fit-out, thanks to his pre-hospo life as a builder. The space is polished yet welcoming, with a ’70s edge courtesy of comfy leather couches and a wall of glistening glass bricks. It’s the kind of space you’d be happy to settle in for a while, just as Miller intends.
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