Week 31: Highgate Hill to Billykart Kitchen: (15km, 1hr 40min)

I am tempted to bypass our training details to go straight to describing our delicious breakfast. Nonetheless I will stay true to my original blog intent and try not to bore you with a few of the running particulars.
Despite the prediction of forty percent chance of rain, Zeus was kind and the morning was crisp with clear skies.  As I am both geographically challenged and a little lazy with maps, I sought help from the Husband to set the trail today, with a particular request for a fairly flat comfortable run.  We achieved our destination, but the requested gradient was a little overextended with quite a few hill climbs in the back part of our course.  I should have become more suspicious with road names such as ‘Beverley Hill Street’.
Kilometre one to three took us from home down to the river and Kangaroo Point. There was a noticeable reduction in running persons about this morning because the Bridge to Brisbane fun run was on concurrently.  At Thornton Street we climbed the little sharp hill to the pedestrian tunnel under Main Street and the Story Bridge and joined Ferry Street and on towards Mowbray Park.  We passed through Churchie School with the intention of crossing Norman Creek on the bridge, only to find it had been demolished for a new cycleway construction.  We re-joined the path along Norman Creek for kilometres six to ten.  We turned into the sharp mountainous-like Newington Road, followed by a solid hill climb up Tarragindi Road and then onto a short bush trail through the Tarragindi Reserve that dropped us out onto the start of Beverley Hills Street.  I’m enjoying the discovery of the pockets of peaceful and pretty suburbs on our weekend morning meanderings and Beverley Hills Street is one such example.  It is quite a long rolling street with plenty of interesting flowering gardens and homes to peruse.  Perhaps the enjoyment was enhanced in the knowledge that breakfast was around the corner.  We eventually arrived at our destination after a quick trek up and back on Glendale Grove to help me round the distance up to 15km on the too-honest GPS tracker.

Smoked pork hash

Billykart Kitchen is perfectly situated in a picturesque spot opposite a little park on the quiet corner of Glendale Grove and Sarah Street. It’s a Café that colleagues and friends have heard and admired so it seemed like a prospective contender for perusal. A scan of the menu highlighted some exciting possibilities and the BOTR team negotiated our choices amongst ourselves to ensure maximum exposure.  The Husband, who had provided us a 15 minute start hadn’t yet appeared, with a text revealing he was lost and still finding his way.  He was only planning on a coffee so we proceeded with our decision making.   Caitlyn ordered the smoked pork hash with avocado, tahini, yoghurt, green harissa and poached eggs ($18.50).  The dish looked and was declared delicious.  Bronwyn’s Mexican Breakfast contained a tasty chorizo sausage, beans, chipotle salsa, avocado, two poached eggs and tortillas ($21.50).  All morsels on the plate were devoured with delight.  My dish was awarded the prettiest plate. The soft boiled eggs ($17) was a simple, effective combination of smoked salmon, fresh asparagus and crusty sourdough bread.  The togarashi salt created a perfect accompaniment for a zing of flavour.
Despite Billykart Kitchen having a generous amount of seating there was standing room only by the time we finished.  It looked like additional staff had been called-in and were arriving to respond to the influx of hungry people.
The minor irks of delayed table service and a long wait to pay our bill were unable to detract from the positive vibe that had emanated from the fantastic breakfast in delightful surroundings. Billykart might well end up securing a place in the BOTR top 5!

Soft eggs

Mexican breakfast