Three Blue Ducks is a bustling beachside cafe by day that transforms into a charming, smart-casual restaurant by night. The place was started by local mates Sam Reid-Boquist, Chris Sorrell and Mark LaBrooy (a former Tetsuya's chef) in 2010.

The trio spent three months stripping back the former convenience store to create the edgy, graffiti-decorated interior with timber tables they built themselves. The cafe has blossomed from these humble beginnings to become a Sydney favourite, with sisters in Rosebery and Byron Bay.

Newer partners Jeff Bennett (who turned his neighbouring pizza restaurant into an extension of Three Blue Ducks), Darren Robertson (former Tetsuya's head chef) and Masterchef judge Andy Allen strive to make every area of their business sustainable. This can be seen in the cafe's backyard kitchen garden filled with banana trees, herbs, vegetables, beehives and chooks. They also try to minimise waste, using entire vegetables – from the stalks to the leaves – and secondary cuts of meat.

The cafe draws a large breakfast crowd with its signature scrambled eggs with black sausage, pickled pear, herb salad and toast. Other ticks include Single O coffees; a poke bowl with poached egg, avocado, macadamia miso, brown rice, seaweed and gluten- free toast.

For lunch the menu moves into vibrant salads, seafood dishes and curries. The ever-changing dinner menu is designed to share and is made up of “smalls”, “bigs” and “sweets”.

Three Blue Ducks’ beer list is completely NSW-based using brewers such as Stone & Wood. The wine list is largely organic and biodynamic.