Wake up to brunch with a difference by Sydney's best chefs

Brunch: the final frontier. A meal that travels far beyond breakfast, a meal that's not quite lunch. A meal where drinking before noon isn't just welcome, but actively encouraged. A meal that says: "I am launching into this Saturday afternoon with intent."

And so here we are upstairs from Automata, on the old Silvereye site. Clayton Wells and compadres have definitely breathed new life into the place. His gang of chef buddies from restaurants across the city are making appearances each weekend until Christmas. Last week, it was ACME's Mitch Orr. By the time you read this, O Tama Carey (ex-Berta) will have finished up her stint, with a menu of Sri Lankan/Chinese deliciousness. Just as it says on the box, it's all about the collaboration.

On my visit, Pasi Petanen​ (Cafe Paci, RIP) was on the pans, serving a blood pancake, sitting all puffed up like an edible garnet topped with lingonberry jam and a perfect poached egg set against a miniature spray of herbs. Very pretty. And apparently a lunch box special. Which makes me wonder if all Finnish children are actually vampires.

And if there's another snack that's as comforting as the ugly-delicious karelian pie, I'm yet to meet it. Think of this loosely folded savoury pastry as an individual pie, not to be shared. Here, it's made on a rye pastry filled with finely diced potato, then baked till slightly caramelised. You'll be instructed to then smother the entire thing with butter that's been mixed up with boiled egg. Do it. Get excessive. Regret nothing.

Special snaps, too, to the "sandwich cake". A layered celebration of white bread and ham, tiny prawns, pickles, salad and mayonnaise-laced egg, it's a sort of schizophrenic picnic party. Snaps again, to Petanen's flipped down and reversed steak, diced down to a tartare, then reformed and fried, covered in a perfect sunny-side-up egg.

Oh, and there's a great opportunity to get sauced here, too. On top of a neat wine list heavy on the natural gear, there's a cocktail list from the crew over at This Must Be the Place. Double up on the nectarine bellini that's as close to a fizzing, gin-fused alcoholic breakfast as you could wish. While the michelada sounds like a spicy, funk-driven good time (how can you go wrong with a spicy beer?), it's surprisingly sedate. That said, they're also offering nips of Jack Daniel's. Good morning, liver. See you later, memories.