The Five Best Porridges in Sydney

It may have dawdled getting here, but it now seems winter is coming. And when it’s unforgivingly cold outside and emerging from the snuggery of a warm bed causes acute physical suffering, the prospect of a bowl of porridge can really turn the morning around. Warm, filling, rib-stickingly comforting, porridge is — when done well — the perfect meal to start a winter’s day with.

Taking inspiration from Goldilocks, we went in search of the best porridge in Sydney and found five bowls that were just right.

Sweet + Scandinavian: Fika Swedish Kitchen

Tucked away in Manly’s Market Place, Fika Swedish Kitchen feels like a sunny beach cabin decorated by Ikea. Their semolina porridge ($12) is exactly what you’d need if you had to ski to school every morning. The creamiest texture imaginable, it’s served with a cute bottle of cold milk, generous fleshy strips of caramel-drizzled pear and candied almonds. And not individual almonds; think more of an almond brittle smashed into rough chunks and used as a garnish. Crunchy to begin with, once you swirl them through the piping hot porridge they melt into a glorious chewiness. Just two mouthfuls are enough to insulate you from crown to toe; by four mouthfuls you’ll be removing a layer of clothing. Not the healthiest breakfast option perhaps, but a very delicious one. Warning: don’t attempt a swim afterwards. You may sink.

Fika Swedish Kitchen, 5b Market Lane, Manly

Tropical delights: Porch and Parlour

If you spent the summer ploughing through their brown rice porridge with star-anise poached pear, you should try the winter offering from the Porch and Parlour kitchen. A sensibly sized portion of oatmeal, it’s served with lightly caramelised banana, coconut (instead of milk or cream), lashings of lime and a tempting side dish of brown sugar. Pretty much the closest a porridge could ever come to tasting like a cocktail, and at $12, roughly the same price as one. Flavour is what makes this a winner: lime zest keeps the dish light and refreshing — two things porridge so rarely is — while the banana, coconut and oats satisfy even the most intense hunger pangs. The brown sugar is optional, but this writer highly recommends a generous sprinkling. You can always wash it down with their green juice to balance things out.

Porch and Parlour, 17/110 Ramsgate Avenue, Bondi Beach

Taste of Arabia: Kazbah

You may know Kazbah for the delectable tagines and incredible shakshouka, but don't ignore the sweeter offerings at this Balmain institution. The banana porridge with date compote and stewed rhubarb ($15) is a photo-worthy marvel. Served with the banana already mashed up and swirled within the rather chunky oats, it’s topped off with milk and what tastes like a liberal splash of cream. A little accompanying dish of brown sugar and slightly sweet, slightly tart stewed rhubarb finishes it off perfectly. The best part though is the chewy, fudge-like date compote sitting slap-bang in the middle of it all. Advice: one bowl is big enough to pop buttons, so if you're in constrictive clothing you may want to share it. And if you start feeling woozy, pull yourself together with one of their signature Turkish coffees.

Kazbah, 379 Darling Street, Balmain

Health-conscious: About Life

Some mornings you might be more in the mood for a porridge that leaves you feeling health-guru smug rather than teddy bear-esque. And if you like your breakfast vegan, gluten free and dairy free, you’ve probably already visited your nearest About Life cafe. These guys make “warming” coconut chia porridge with banana, walnut, chia seeds and cinnamon ($11), which manages to be extremely healthy while tasting anything but. Served with all the visual appeal of a mouth-watering dessert, its flavour is best described as “Christmas-meets-tropical-island”, what with the festivity of the walnuts and the dusted cinnamon dancing around the soupy quinoa and fatly shredded coconut. It is extremely filling (banana + coconut + chia = waddle to the car then no appetite till dinnertime) so you may not finish the whole thing. But you’ll certainly have fun trying.

About Life cafes are in Cammeray, Bondi Junction and Rozelle.

Rice to meet you: Bills

Famous for their ricotta hotcakes drizzled in honeycomb butter, Bills also serves up a mean porridge, using brown rice instead of traditional oats. Decorated with mango when in season, it’s currently bedecked with slices of reddish orange and perfectly ripe papaya. Texturally, it’s more like a rice pudding, or a less sticky version of Thai sticky black rice. The papaya provides a nice tangy flavour, heightened by a generous squeeze of the accompanying wedge of lime. Don’t worry about the lack of milk, as the sweet white miso and coconut yoghurt lend a creamy quality to the fibrous, chewy rice, without weighing it down too much. Overall, it’s a simple, fortifying dish that leaves you feeling full but not stuffed. It comes in two size options: a very generous small ($12.50) and, for the ravenous, what they call 'regular' ($15).

Bills, 359 Crown Street, Surry Hills, and 433 Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst.

Look out for

Oats-obsessives should keep their eyes open for the next pop-up porridge event in Sydney. It’s the brainchild of friends Stella and Babs, two porridge-lovers who spring up every now and then to craft magnificently topped porridges in biodegradable bowls for $6 or under. Think banana with raspberry coulis and other such delights. To be in the loop, sign up to their newsletter.

Top image: Pop-up Porridge