Settling into The Embassy Cafe on Hunter Street is still among the most familiar and comforting dining experiences in Newcastle.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
It's not just because the coffee, eggs, hamburgers and sandwiches are all served exactly like they were 60 years ago.
It is a comfort that emanates from somewhere else; from old spirits and a natural generosity, from an atmosphere that only a proud family can flavour over time.
It is a place that is more sentimental than decorative or sensual. A place in which waitresses stand proudly along the wall, smiling from faded photographs made misty from the kitchen.
It is a place where culinary trends have consistently, even proudly, been cast aside. In these fickle, digestively-obsessive times, few things are less stylish than seeing a side of beef, carved and then layered with gravy, sloshed upon a huge, white, glutinous slab of bread roll.
But the Embassy, their steadfast customers and the Greek circle of relatives who have owned this cafe since 1942 have never really concerned themselves with appearances.
They keep carving it up and the city adores them for it.
"You get all these trendy cafes in Newcastle now that are doing all of these fancy foods," says Embassy owner and manager Jerry Douglas.
"I can understand that, but sometimes people just want something basic, something that's not a bircher muesli bowl or quinoa.
"Simple bacon and eggs is still what people come into this place to get."
The moment this simple breakfast arrives you might quickly find yourself having a unusual realisation. If you are in any way like me and afflicted with impatience, it will most likely be that you have just saved half an hour waiting for a pair of perfectly cooked eggs.
The creamy, tangerine yolks arrive in just five minutes.
At the touch of a knife they bulge and then gently burst over their crispy-edged whites. They will soften the crunchy straps of bacon, then get sponged up by mounds of buttery toast and salty, crispy fries.
They might even remind you of a time when breakfasts were made unpretentiously and with only the most basic elements at play. Eggs, bacon and black coffee with a smile.
It's a breakfast at sweetheart's. The best in town.
Everything made and served at the Embassy seems to originate from this single idea - that the most comfort is to be found in the things that are the most familiar.
The coffee cup symbolises this as much as the breakfast plate does.
Amid the exciting, but sometimes bewildering, flux of coffee fashions being proudly flaunted around Newcastle any morning, take a minute to consider this - the Embassy Cafe, which will soon mark its 80th year on Hunter Street, only turned to espresso a decade ago.
"Up until the late 2000s we only served instant coffee," says Douglas.
"We used to make around 200 cups of it a day. I remember as a teenager that it was the first coffee my Mum taught me how to make in a cafe. And people couldn't get enough of it."
Although Douglas now serves his coffee from a limited edition, azure Elektra espresso machine, he proudly pours with one eye trained upon his past. Out the front, set midway along the counter like a sapphire in the family crown, the Elektra fits the philosophy here perfectly: a manual, lever-press machine like his father used to use.
Out the back - and even more fittingly - sits his father's old machine, a simple lever press that he brought from Greece to Australia, by boat, more than 40 years ago.
And just like his dad, his uncles and the rest of his family have always done, Douglas has managed to keep a distinctively Greek style of coffee very popular at his cafe. Poured here is a double sugared, syrupy black tincture of deliciousness.
It is a quick, carefully measured cup encompassing the best of the Embassy traditions - gritty, strong and inspired by the homeland.
"Even more than the espresso, the Greek coffee is actually becoming more and more popular with the university students and office workers around here," Douglas says.
Reflecting on how the least fashionable coffee in town has been steadily catching on, he can't help but acknowledge the irony.
"Well, I guess our traditional coffee is completely lactose free," he jokes.
