Healthy(ish) Brunch Dishes to Make You Feel Human Again After a Night Out

Anything deep-fried comes highly recommended as hangover comfort food, but a fry-up on its own isn’t going to restore you to your former glory. In this sense, Lankan Filling Station’s deep-fried eggs are somewhat of a miracle cure, managing to combine grease with goodness to satisfy and detoxify all in one. The light and crispy eggs are paired with kiri hodi, a flavourful coconut gravy with a big hit of turmeric — the anti-inflammatory that is so good for you, it’ll probably even help that tequila headache that’s threatening to tip you over the edge.

The most compassionate thing you can do for yourself after an especially brutal wake-up is to find yourself a quiet, dimly lit brunch spot and eat away the pain. Brunch is where eggs get the appreciation they deserve, but it’s poached eggs that define a chef’s ability to provide the perfect lazy breakfast. West Juliett’s buckwheat benny is a lavish guilty pleasure, but it’s also relatively healthy — the gluten-free buckwheat pancakes and blood orange hollandaise sauce are a supersized serve of vitamin C and the classic eggs benny is transformed into the holy grail of healthy hangover food, without sacrificing the appeal of the best brunch dish in the books.

It takes a special kind of person to get through a hangover unscathed; strength is a must in the battle to outrun that ‘ugh’ feeling. That’s why Circa Espresso’s protein-packed ottoman eggs are a staple in this fight to survive. It’s served still in the pan for easy access, marrying buttery poached eggs with a crunchy helping of crumbed eggplant and spongy sourdough to please the fibre-gods. For that extra hit of energy these guys also serve an entire flight of coffee for $10 that’s sure to bring you out of that coma.

Gentleness is key when everything else feels very, very delicate. Surry Hills longstanding cafe Reuben Hills is here for you, with a delectable plate of soft-baked eggs and greens — plus a substantial list of sides, including LP’s chorizo, a sausage that’s spicy and salty enough that you almost forget about that sore head. Plus, the cafe serves it all day, ready for you whenever you manage to roll out of bed.

The most satisfying thing you can eat when hungover is something that packs as much goodness as humanly possible into your system, as fast as you can. Café Kentaro’s Japanese-inspired shakshuka — traditionally a punchy dish of poached eggs in tomato, garlic and chilli — is your best shot at getting ahead of last night’s bad decisions. It features vitamin-rich silken tofu, gut-friendly miso and a dollop of goats cheese that melts effortlessly with the eggs. It’s definitely one of those dishes that defies the ‘healthy means boring’ cliché, somehow managing to transform a superfood into a hearty hangover meal.

When trying to curb the plight of the hangover, it’s important to look to our elders, whose wisdom often provides the antidote to our own wry ways. Blackwood Pantry’s Turkish eggs seems like it was invented solely for the cause of restoring us from a deathly hangover. Delicate but rich poached eggs are combined with biting chimichurri and a pinch of paprika on a silky dollop of Greek yoghurt. It hits the spot before you’ve even fully woken up, working wonders on your gut from the moment that first bite of tangy goodness hits your tongue.