When both Time Out Sydney and Gourmet Traveller make an open-and-shut case about how great the weekend brunch is at Yellow in Potts Point, then it’s hard to find a watertight excuse for not going. An overtaxed diary and inability to find a free table are the only plausible defences available.

As if you’d want to sweet-talk your way out of breakfast here, anyway; those aforementioned publications are spot on – the brunch is incredibly good. Not that this revelation is any kind of spoiler. Yellow, is after all, the kind of place that aces its background check without even really having to try. It’s part of Brent Savage and Nick Hildebrandt’s acclaimed line-up of eateries, which started with Bentley and extended to Yellow’s nearby neighbour, Monopole.

With all this standard-setting cred to draw on, no wonder Yellow’s daytime menu is so inspired.

Sure, you can order muesli or porridge or a lunch-sating sandwich – Will and Chris rated the Smoked Brisket Pastrami, Cheddar, Tomato & Pickled Cabbage ($17) and Braised Lamb Shoulder, Tahini, Yoghurt, Radicchio & Cucumber ($17) as good picks.

But it’s the dishes that you don’t bargain for that are the ones that make the boldest impression.

Nick Hildebrandt recommended the Poached Egg with Charred Onion Consomme, Mushrooms & Peas ($16), which is definitely endorsement-worthy. An ace alternative to the usual toast-and-eggs staples that overtake breakfast menus, this inventive creation gets its full-volumed flavour from the tidemark of deep onion broth, ultra-savoury mushrooms and “sandbank” of toasty, gravelly grains.

Nick also singled out the Toasted Licorice Bread & Fresh Cultured Butter ($8) and, had he not namechecked it, we would have skipped it entirely. We’re not exactly love-struck admirers of licorice and its screechy, aniseed flavour – but even the most unconvinced hardliners need to try a slice of this, it is flat-out addictive.

Or as Chris said, “Apologies in advance, I may obsessively be talking about the culinary marvel that is licorice bread for the next twenty eight thousand years.”

It’s a little like banana bread – but more intense and expectation-defying; with a toasty, charcoal singe that goes well with the creamy dollop of whipped butter and constellation-shake of salt flakes. Order it. Order it twice, even. And enjoy the keepsakes of summer while you still can – try the Fresh Peach Ice Tea ($8).

The brunch menu is a fine excuse to check out Yellow, especially if it’s been a long-time fixture on your “to visit” list (something we’re guilty of, as the eatery opened late last year when we were overseas on holiday). The building still is a bank of history and memories (Peter Weir used to show his short films here, decades ago), and Pascale Gomes-McNabb’s design lets its age show through, while adding colour lamps and whimsical spots that brighten up the room like giant confetti. They’re just more details that make Yellow worth remembering.

Yellow Sydney, 57 Macleay Street, Potts Point NSW (02) 9332 2344, www.yellowsydney.com.au. Follow Yellow on Twitter and Instagram.