Presentation is a tricky thing, and too many restaurants wind up so obsessed with their slate or salt bricks that they forget what they’re putting on them. This morning Mrs Prick and I had this brought home when we wandered over to the other side of Parramatta Road to check out the recently-arrived Leichhardt outpost of Glebe’s Well Connected Cafe. We have a theory – and, given the offerings on the strip, something of a quiet hope – that Norton Street’s frankly tired Italian joints will soon make way for a more Annadale-style scene. Based on our breakfast, however, I’m not sure we’re quite there yet.

I mean, who puts pancakes on a cutting board? With a hole in it, no less? I mean, syrup, people!

Bad idea.

Fortunately, Mrs Prick is a clever sort, and figured out a solution: Build a “dipping well” out of bananas:

Good idea!

Really, cafe-goers looking for a bit of brekkie shouldn’t also have to undertake hydraulic engineering at the same time. Meanwhile, I had the eggs benedict with prosciutto: Good, but not great. Eggs perfectly cooked, but not enough unctuous oomph (nor lemon nor seasoning) in the hollandaise. Not enough prosciutto, either, and what was spinach doing there? As Frank Sinatra may or may not have said before he socked a bartender in the jaw after being served an olive in his martini, “If I’d wanted a salad, I would’ve ordered one!” And I’m not sure about this whole increasingly popular idea of serving eggs bennies on sourdough bread, because the whole affair quickly became a soggy mess. Memo to breakfast chefs everywhere: If you want to go off-recipe and avoid English muffins, go a good brioche.

In any case, I’m glad to see Well Connected come to town, and the Pricks welcome the Sonoma Bread crowd to Norton Street and hope it portends good things for the area. But there’s still some work to be done: As a correspondent who was recently at Surry Hills’ Winery,a burger can go on a board. Not breakfast.

Right idea.