Sean Moran makes the living look easy. Sean’s, his landmark Bondi Beach restaurant, opened 23 years ago with a commitment to produce-driven plates and home cooking, and it remains packed every weekend at lunch and dinner to this day. The only thing Sean’s wants for, really, is more of it. And now our prayers have been answered. After a 15-year hiatus, Moran and his team are opening again for weekend breakfasts.
In typical Sean’s fashion, the menu will change depending on the season and availability. This weekend’s carte comprises just five or six simple dishes (“done well”, says Moran), including house-made crumpets with blueberry compote, cultured cream and honey, and gougères with scrambled eggs and spanner crab.
“We won’t meet everyone’s needs,” he says with typically refreshing candour. “We won’t have turmeric lattes or even toast, which is a bit radical, but I do have five buckets of roses in the back of the van from the farm. I want it to feel real simple and be done our way.”
When Moran is not rocking his chef whites at Bondi, he can be found in the Blue Mountains, either at his farm, or at his restaurant at the Mount Tomah Botanic Garden. Much of the produce for the breakfast menu at Bondi will come from the mountains, too. On the first menu, that includes the cherries from Bilpin topping a malted macadamia granola, and eggs from the farm, poached and served in a potato “nest” with a choice of dill-cured trout, watercress and roe, a side of streaky Wessex saddleback bacon (from the Moran pigs) or chef John Hicks’ lamb sausages.
“Back in the day we’d go from 7am till 3pm and do everything from making the bread, buttermilk pancakes and smoothies, with lunch at the same time – it was complete chaos,” says Moran. “I get overwhelmed with all that choice. This will be more true to our style.”
On the drinks side, there’ll be a juice of the day – this week it’s blood orange – along with The Little Marionette coffee, and booze. “You can come and have a Champagne, of course,” says Moran. “Once the tomatoes are ripe and in season, I’m sure we’ll be doing Bloody Marys, too. We’ll feel it out and see want people want.”
Breakfast will be served Saturday and Sundays from 7am until 11am. Friday lunch is also scheduled to kick off from 18 November.
“It’s certainly a new era for Sean’s,” says Moran. The prospect of true believers coming for breakfast and rolling straight into lunch is flattering,” he says. “The enthusiasm is certainly there.”
Sean’s, 270 Campbell Pde, Bondi Beach, NSW, (02) 9365 4924, seanspanaroma.co; breakfast Sat-Sun 7am-11am, lunch Sat-Sun from noon, dinner Wed-Sat 6pm-9.30pm
