Sebastian's Food & Wine

HOW long is too long to wait for breakfast? On my Sunday-morning visit to Sebastian's Food & Wine there was a party in the long, skinny front room - a group of 22, almost all eating scrambled eggs. The fabulous umbrella-sheltered courtyard was at capacity and there were bottoms occupying every other seat.

The waiters, a switched-on, friendly crew, were running flat-chat - topping up water, ferrying corn fritters and brekkie crumbles with Hampton Hives honey, dodging the toddler moshpit and doing a sterling job. It was so seamless you'd never guess Sebastian's was only two months old.

So it's a bummer that among all those timely meals it was mine that happened to take 55 minutes. I wish it hadn't - this was an obvious aberration, ''one of those days'' at the hospo coalface.

Owner Rebekah Malherbe, 33, knows her stuff. With stints at St Jude's, City Wine Shop and Cavallero, she brings an inner-north sensibility to the space but - born and bred in Hampton - with a deep understanding of the area.

''I didn't want to take a northside-style bar and plonk it in the south,'' she says, adding that ''comfort'' played a huge role in the fitout. Working with a cast of mates, her interior-designer mum and ''handy with a hammer'' dad, Malherbe had the space gutted and reopened in 10 days. Rustic planter boxes now grace the courtyard, green with a bay tree, herbs and local sea succulents. The bar is inspired by Hampton's speckly grey seawall and, outdoors, smart French blue-grey paint has replaced cack terracotta.

Families are lucky with the kids' menu, which is based on local, seasonally driven produce, like the rest of the food. ''Secret recipe coco pops'' are made from organic rice puffs and there are old-fashioned lemonade icy poles and a cheeseboard that includes sultanas, celery and peanut butter. And - right at Hampton station - the ''ding, ding, ding'' of trains hurtling past is catnip for nippers.

The superfood smoothie, chockers with blueberries, kiwi fruit, banana, flaxseed oil and maca and cocoa powders, is a meal in itself.

Fluffy bechamel, gruyere and ham are the makings of a great, closed croque monsieur and lunch items include hand-cut ''fat boy chips'' with house mayo; big salads, such as nicoise-style tea-smoked Atlantic salmon; and generous wraps, such as made-here chickpea falafel.

Spaghetti with prawns, scallops (roe on), calamari and mussels in a classic garlic and olive oil sauce with lots of parsley was lovely - there could have been a bit more. Sebastian's is buzzy, cruisy, licensed - everything you want from a local. I'd wait here again - happily.

nrousseau@theage.com.au