Brooklyn Hide

Bagels, coffee and doughnuts : the three essential fuels of life. A short life, perhaps, but hey. When Brooklyn Hide opened in Surry Hills in July, they did other things, too, such as avocado on toast and lasagne. But everyone does avocado on toast and lasagne, and not everyone does bagels, coffee and doughnuts. So chef/owners Matthew Forsdike and Michael Munro took the less-is-more route and went back to basics.

So, bagels already. First choose from sourdough rye, poppyseed, the multifarious-seeded  "everything", or if you must, blueberry (the devil's work). They're New York style, boiled with barley malt syrup for that distinctive hint of sweetness before baking, and – controversially – toasting. With a spread of cream cheese, dill pickle cream cheese, marmalade or even peanut butter, that'll be $5.50, thanks.

Filled bagels are $10, cutely named for the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Make mine a Midtown on ``everything"; split, toasted and filled with beautifully cooked corned beef, mustard, just-melting Swiss cheese and a lurid red cabbage sauerkraut, with dill pickles on the side. The Manhattan is good, too, with its soft house-cured salmon, cream cheese, rocket and honey. The bagels themselves are respectable, although the chew is a little unsatisfying, short rather than long. And unlike New Yorkers and Brooklyn boys, we have no sense of bagel etiquette.

One bloke picked up his stuffed bagel with both hands and ate it like a burger, another attempted to eat it with a knife and fork. Please. It's a bagel. If you're just having it with a smear of cream cheese, then top and bottom are eaten separately, by hand. If it's filled, then cut it in half again and eat by hand, allowing both bagel and diner to retain self-respect.

Next, the coffee, which is good enough to pull you into the cosily warm and woodsy, bar-and-stooled space in its own right. This is coffee for those who have tired of the tea-like qualities of the lighter roast. Instead, Little Marionette's blend number one ($3.50) delivers a compelling little piccolo that's like dark charcoal and Brazil nuts stirred into cocoa.

Finally, the doughnuts. They're super cinnamon-sugary, yeasty and so small you can eat the first one or two without actually noticing; a good thing in a doughnut.

Bagels, coffee, doughnuts. Done. 

THE LOW-DOWN
Do... check out the rawhide coffee counter
Don't… eat your bagel with a knife and fork
Dish... Midtown bagel with corned beef, slaw $10
Vibe... Backwoods via Brooklyn