Scott's Epicurean, Hamilton

By BRENDA WARD for canvas

For an hour or two we escape the small, tornado-like tormenters that rule our lives. It's quiet and peaceful in Hamilton on a Sunday at midday. We find a character-filled little cafe and settle back on a banquette to look at the menu, having a pleasant conversation and a coffee, as grown-ups do. Then what happens?

I end up eating green eggs and ham ($9.50).

Okay, like the "Sam I Am" of the Dr Seuss story, I'm instantly suspicious when I read it in the menu. "I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them, Sam I Am," I find myself chanting, from half-forgotten bedtime stories. Of course, green is the colour of slime, of little men from outer space and the cheese the moon is made of. But it's been translated into adult as "Scrambled eggs with parsley, and honey-cured bacon", which sounds like just what I need for brunch, so I order it out of curiosity and a sense of childlike wonder.

However, there's nothing infantile about this cafe, with its villa-like pressed iron ceilings and wooden floors. We'd found a brunch strip running one side of Victoria St, so we'd browsed doorways.

One cafe is cheap - but is suspiciously deserted. Another is crowded, but the menu features little under $20. Could this be mission: impossible? Then, suddenly, there is Scotts Epicurean, long and narrow, and not a table to be found.

The locals must know something we don't, so we put our trust in them. The journey past the counter cakes and savouries is a tantalising experience on its own (look, chocolate marbled cheesecake), so when we spot a table coming free, we snaffle it.

Our food comes almost disappointingly quickly, the fastest Green eggs and ham in the West, along with Bruce's Creamy mushrooms on toast with grilled kabani sausage ($11). The eggs are tossed into a tasty omelette roll, sprinkled with parsley (not too green), and the bacon comes in sparse curly rashers. The mushrooms must be delicious, as one side of the conversation stops entirely for minutes. The sausage is nicely spiced and has the coarse, juicy texture of a southern European chorizo.

The coffee, again, is delivered at the speed of sound, but hot and good. Before we leave, we have time to ponder that it's just as well children don't rule the world, or we'd never eat green eggs and ham - and all the chairs would be much too small.

Parking: On the street, if you're feeling lucky.

Open: Weekdays 7.30am to 5pm, weekends 8.30am to 5pm.

Ambience: Turn of the century chic

* Read more about what's happening in the world of food, wine, party places and entertainment in canvas magazine, part of your Weekend Herald print edition.