Call us crazy but this brown rice bowl is the pick of the brunch

The moment we step inside 169 Darlinghurst, I am gripped not with physical hunger, but with wild interior envy. I covet the slate-blue walls, the dull brass fittings, the suspiciously French oak-looking parquetry.

Not to mention the half a flowering cherry tree stuck in a vase on the big communal table. The sawn-off branch is as thick as my arm and reaches high, its translucent pink blossoms glowing.

Designed in collaboration with exuberant event-planner Tony Assness (think Baz Lurhman meets Akira Isogawa), the whole place looks like an Impressionist painting crossed with a Cartier-Bresson photograph.

We do not sit beneath the blossom tree. The kindly hipster waiters takes one look at our four-year-old, brewing some mighty preschool plague, and puts us at our own beautiful small table in the long rear of the restaurant. This section – the narrow end of the wedge-shaped cafe sitting above the iconic Tatler nightclub (both places owned by hospitality stalwart Tim Clark) – has low arched windows facing a bougainvillea-covered wall outside.

I am so thrilled by the space (despite the full rush of William Street roaring just beyond the wall) that I barely notice what we order. But in fact the food is as delicious as the decor, with a strong emphasis on organic, locally sourced and house-made ingredients.

The sweet corn fritters with zucchini, spring onion and avocado salsa, are crispy-brown on the outside, the zucchini adding a creamy freshness to the inside. Paired with crunchy bacon and kipfler potatoes, it's hard to imagine a better breakfast.

That said, French toast with brioche and poached strawberries really gives the savoury dishes a run for their money.

The brioche alone is wonderfully soft and puffy – like eating sweet, foamy cloud – but the addition of honey, hazelnuts, and cream whipped with tonka beans (a wrinkled South American tree nut that tastes like a gloriously caramelised vanilla bean) is almost too much to bear.

Even the four-year-old raises herself from her banquette death bed to eat several mouthfuls.

Somehow, in the midst of all this decadence, I also manage to order the Brown Rice Bowl. This is, indeed, brown rice in a bowl. But it's also salty grilled asparagus, velvety slow-cooked egg, and "Japanese flavours" – a fantastically powerful paste of fermented plum.

The more I eat, the more delicious it is, with the added advantage of allowing you to feel wildly healthy, and thus morally superior to everybody else at your table.

I immediately destroy this feeling by eating most of the brioche and all of the leftover fritters (servings are generous).

The coffee is also excellent, and as we sit over a second cup, we wonder how we can get our lives to more closely resemble this cafe: grown-up, low-key but sophisticated, aesthetically gorgeous and physically satisfying. Or at least I do.

My partner is noting the 24-hour liquor license – there is a Bloody Mary special on during our visit, and the only possible way to improve on the 169 Darlinghurst experience might be to add alcohol – and the fact that it's also open for lunch and dinner. Oh happy day.