First up on my new neighborhood (Inner West) is a local favourite. Local Press absorbs a lot of foot-traffic from the Lilyfield Food Markets, just 50m away.

The Local Press - Lilyfield

I pitch this to a hungry wife as a safe bet: solid spoon rating, #1 pick of our neighbours and mid-range pricing.

Menu is high impact and features house cured salmon. So I ponder - 'is curing is better than smoking?' No idea, but I love my $30/kg smoked salmon from Aldi. On this basis, the skepticism of my wallet is only matched by the curiosity of my palate.

I make the choice of the salmon with tabouli and poached egg. 18 min 45 seconds later, I'm served art on a plate.

Quinoa, tabouli with house cured salmon, candied walnuts & egg – $16.50

'Moderation' rarely (if ever) has a place on my plate, but there were too many walnuts! First bite amazing, then comes the onset of caremalised sugar-induced fatigue.

Does half a box of Krispy Kreme donuts deliver 6x the pleasure of the doughnut #1? Not even close ... I hit that inflection point of diminishing pleasure after candied-walnut #9.

It's hard to critique an egg, but the cured salmon was a let-down for me. Without any saltiness, I was effectively eating an egg, on top low-grade sashimi, on top tabouli!

Corn fritters with salmon, poached egg, avacado tomato & salsa - $15.50

Lorie's fritters dish was solid but unremarkable. Positive - tomato salsa was nice and yes, the kitchen successfully sliced an avocado. Negative - bland salmon and small serving size.

A classic 'what if' scenario came to bear as Lorie and I waddled home $32 poorer and 75% less hungry...

How much better would life had been if we instead invested 4 x $7.50 bacon & egg rolls at the local markets. Queue for that was 40m long...

Score summary below:

Food - 6/10 - store-bought smoked salmon easily trumps house-cured salmon.
Value - 7/10 - mid-teens pricing. Can't complain.
Other - 7/10 - service acceptable, nice setting and even a Spanish dance studio 10m away.
Overall - 6.5/10 - big shrug on satisfaction and willingness to return.

Barisa in action but zero interest from me unfortunately.

So there completes a somewhat disappointing end to a 3 week brunch drought for us. Greener pastures elsewhere.