Duck Duck Bruce is by far my favourite Fremantle coffee/brunch joint. Located in a little cottage house slightly away from the hustle and bustle of the heart of Freo, the decor truly captures the essence of the charming cottage theme. Covered in plants and greenery, the bright outside area of DDB is a perfect location for a sunny day trip to Fremantle. With lots of homemade sweet baked treats at the counter, I highly recommend their rich and decadent brownies which are the most popular and absolutely to die for! (I once went to a quiz night with Duck Duck Bruce being one of the donators for raffle tickets. They donated 10 brownies to the winner, and that was one of the most popular raffle tickets brought- now that just shows how god damn good these brownies are).
Their quirky punned menu is very different to anything else you see in Perth. Some of my favourites on the drink menu is their Lassi’s (my favourite is the Old Mate consisting of mango, banana, orange, turmeric, chia seeds) which is served in the cutest hunny bear cup. The kenny juice (orange, lemon, carrot, ginger) and of course, 5 senses blend coffee are all worthy of choice. Using the Crompton road blend, the coffee at DDB is always consistent and full bodied.
Some of my favourites top picks on their brunch menu is definitely the ‘It’s not easy being green’, a beautiful smashed avo and minted pea dish with pomegranate, sheep’s feta, preserved lemon and sumac salt on toast. I usually order a side of cured salmon steak on the side which is the perfect combination to the avo. If someone asked for a great hearty smashed avo, this would be my first pick. The dish was of such large quantity and super filling, that it’s definitely worth your while. The best part of the dish is surprisingly the pomegranate seeds, which not only bring a burst of colour to the table, but the fairly sour taste really contrasts well against the soft avocado. I have ordered this dish a few times and never been dissatisfied with my choice.
Another notable dish is the ‘We’re all going on a summer hollandaise’ breakfast consisting of a stunning potato bhaji hash browns, greens, poached eggs topped off with a burnt butter hollandaise. The bhaji hash browns were nice and crispy with the gooey egg yolks really complimenting the textures together.
My favourite dish however, is now hands down ‘Orange is the new stack’. The vanilla pancake stack, burnt orange curd, toasted almonds and lemon poppyseed cheesecake is the perfect combination of sweet and decadent. I’m not always one for sweet, especially pancakes in the morning, but I had heard very good reviews about this stack and thought I should give it a go. Orange and poppy seed is just the perfect flavour combination for pancakes as it’s not too sweet or rich. The actual pancakes themselves were so light, fluffy, large and had an orange zest taste to them. While the burnt orange curd was an outstanding factor in the dish as it giving it a twang of bitterness about the dish so that it wasn’t too sweet, there was also a cookie gingerbread crumb on top of the lemon poppyseed cheesecake whip, that just topped the entire dish off making every element of this stack was just so perfectly balanced and flavoursome.
Overall, DDB is a perfect location if you’re feeling like adding some quirkiness and spice to your dish and day. The bright colours of the walls, little kids play area out the back, nature friendly flora and fauna and super friendly/helpful staff will all just brighten up your day and is the perfect start to any morning.
