Bowie, Hamilton, Newcastle

Bowie is a café on Beaumont Street in Hamilton, Newcastle named after David Bowie and Beaumont Street on which it sits. We decided to stop there for brunch while on our New Year holiday as it is dog friendly and the menu had me intrigued with caviar topped dippy eggs, fried chicken burgers and crab and zucchini fritters. So what was it like?

It was our last day on our new year’s holidays in Newcastle and we wanted to go somewhere fun to eat. My friend Sheriden who lives in Newcastle gave me a big list of places to try and Bowie fit the bill perfectly. It was dog friendly and the menu was full of interesting sounding drinks and food. Bowie has an indoor section, an outdoor street section and an area down a laneway. The neighbourhood is quite vibrant but also still a bit gritty so it’s a bit quieter sitting down the laneway or inside.

The service at Bowie is super friendly and they bring water and menus to the table as soon as we sit down. The menu has some interesting drinks and I start with the cascara ice tea (cascara is the sweet pulp around a coffee bean that when dried looks like cherries). It’s sweet and refreshing and the flavour is enhanced with cranberry. Mr NQN loves his banoffee smoothie with salted caramel, fresh banana, cream and crushed pretzels that isn’t too sweet, it’s more in between a banana smoothie and banoffee pie.

I had already mentally bookmarked the 63° dippy eggs when I saw the menu. It is 2 eggs with buttered brioche toast soldiers with avruga caviar and truffle and chive butter. It’s like a decadent version of egg and toast soldiers and the consistency of the eggs is custardy, even the whites.

My favourite dish apart from the dippy eggs was the crab and zucchini fritters that are paired with a delicious Old Bay sour cream, fennel, roquette and chilli salad, tempura crumbs and lemon. We added a poached egg although that’s not strictly necessary and it would more lunch-like without it.

The fried chicken burger is a southern fried chicken thigh fillet, shredded iceberg, pickled crystal cucumber, honey mustard aioli, eschallot, brioche bun and skin on fries. Mr NQN takes a bite of this first and he notices that the bun is a little wet, I think from the pickled cucumber or lettuce. The fillet is very juicy though and it is tasty, I think the wetness of the bun was the only negative. What I really liked was the sauces with the fries had interesting flavours-the fermented tomato sauce was delicious as was the mustard aioli and there’s also a tequila mayonnaise on the menu (which we didn’t try). I loved dipping the fries into the fermented tomato sauce and I forgot to ask if they sell it because I would totally buy it in place of regular. Teddy and Milo manage to procure a chip each and prove quite the hit with passersby!

So tell me Dear Reader, how often do you eat out when you go on holidays? Do you eat all three meals out?

This meal was independently paid for.

Bowie

79/81 Beaumont St, Hamilton NSW 2303

Open 7 days 7am-2:30pm Monday to Friday. 7:30am-2:30pm Weekends

https://www.bowiecafe.com.au/