WHO
Alex "Chumpy" Pullin, Olympic snowboarder from Dee Why
WHERE
Sea Bar, Dee Why
WHY
"I like having a bit of a local and my girlfriend, Ellidy, and I started going along to this cafe. I can stop in for coffee - it's something I miss when I'm away; Australia has really good coffee. Often I'll come and have a late breakfast after an early training session. It's not hugely gourmet, it's just fresh; it's good food.
I really crave fresh veggies and good bread when I'm away - it's usually winter and veg is off season.
They do a quick, good lunch menu and salads, not to mention it's on the beach at Dee Why within walking distance of my place. And they always remember my coffee order. That's a good feeling when you've been away."
WHAT
"There's a really good BLT, which I sometimes add avo too as well, and really good smoothies, too. It's hard to go past the avo on sourdough toast with poached eggs - it's fresh, it feels like it's you would have at home. It's simple, but that's the best thing in food, for me.
On the road, you crave getting fresh veg, fresh eggs and good colour,
I get away with eating quite a lot - we are told to be on a 'see food' diet - see food and eat it. I like a good, healthy burger.
I mix it up when it comes to coffee: sometimes I get lattes, and - this isn't going to go down well with coffee lovers - I love a dirty chai, where they add one shot of coffee to chai. You definitely need a sugar in that, but it's tasty."
ABOUT
"I surf most mornings, sometimes twice a day, which is certainly good for training as it's related to my snowboarding skills. I love surfing, I love being in the ocean and making the most of the warm weather whenever I'm back.
Training varies, I've been training for three hours a day plus two surfs, six days a week. Quite a lot of activity, therefore quite a lot of eating. I can feel it straight away if I am not eating right.
I don't really have a meal plan, I just know what I need to eat. Lots of avocado and banana. If I make a pasta, I'll try to get a lot of veggies in there; a lot of meat, protein and mixes that add up to good energy and good food. It's critical to focus on refuelling and listening to your body.
The snowboarding World Tour is due to begin in Austria next week. I'll be home for Christmas, then the World Championships in Austria after New Year, then Aspen for [the Winter] X Games, then following that there's a World Cup stop in America, then the European leg. Thinking about the whole season is crazy, I can't even think about March right now!"
SEA BAR
20 The Strand, Dee Why 9982 8016
2.5 OUT OF FIVE STARS
[5 New Olympic record
4 Gold medal
3 Silver medal
2 Bronze medal
1 Podium miss]
There's nothing quite like the appetite that comes with a big day on the mountain, snowboarding or skiing – as "Chumpy" Pullin (left) would attest. It's large. It demands warming, nourishing food. It calls for energy reserves and back-up snacks. It's incessant. It occasionally desires Jaegermeister. Which is all well and good, but mountains also mean a lack of fresh fruit and veg and sun-kissed, warm-weather produce - exactly what our guest restaurant chooser and snowboarding champion this week loves to eat.
It's no surprise, then, that his go-to cafe close to his home and his home surf break in Dee Why combines hunger-staving portions and lots of the fresh, healthy foods we take for granted here in Australia. Oh, and decent coffee - also something that's generally hard to find in ski resorts. Ditto the ocean view
Any job that includes surfing as part of a training schedule is, in my book, a bit of a lottery win. Combine that with a place to refuel that is perched over Sydney's third-busiest beach and your daily routine is teetering into the almost unrealistically enviable.
So, Sea Bar. One of many breakfasteries along the strip, it's simple to the point of utilitarian and the menu doesn't stray from the tried-and-tested set pieces that have come to define Sydney daybreak (avocado on toast, corn fritters, fresh fruit bowl) and the globally famous (eggs benedict, pancakes).
I try my first dirty chai, a predictably calorific and just a bit Starbucks-y drink, proud of its identity muddle. It's something that only an energy-burning sports person could get away with on a daily basis.
Pancakes are dressed by a banana doing four-way splits and some slightly sad strawberries. The whole lot is wolfed up by my teenage dining companion (and cousin). My pancakey corn fritters are a breakfast order too far - too much batter, not enough love. I prod and poke and eat around them and their bacon sidekick, finding a friend in the cooked tomato and the obligatory mound of wilted spinach. Watermelon juice is, I think, one of summer's most perfect partners. It's even better after a salty swim on a hot day in Dee Why.
Winner of the morning is the avo on toast. I would say you can't go wrong with this combo - but, like all cooking, it's all in the provenance of its parts. This version and its tomatoes, avocado, eggs, feta and sourdough isn't a gold medallist, but it is a sizeable, neatly done and inexpensive classic - and probably full of all the protein, fat and fuel an Olympian needs.
Granted, there's a huge selection, with plenty of lunch options, but I can't help wanting a little more pizazz with my plate. Some herbs or seasonal market dalliances or creative flings - a judicious twist of cracked black pepper, even. But then, this is reliable, popular stuff, and fanciness isn't the point. It's fast and unfussy, delivered in unfussy surrounds by unfussy, efficient waiters. And the view - ah, the view. What a spot, looking onto beach, waves, headland and horizon - as good as any mountain vista.
