You might lean away from porridge when you’re eating brekkie out – it’s so easy to make at home, after all. But when you’re desperate for winter to ease, a steaming hot, creamy bowl can be just as big a winner as the eggs.

But not all porridge is made the same, and some serves are a cut above. We four make like Goldilocks, and we’re sharing our picks of the city. With toppings spanning poached rhubarb, roasted banana, mascarpone and even bacon and eggs, these seven are hits. Best enjoyed in winter, so scoot.

Gertrude & Alice, Bondi

This bowl’s particular charm comes from the fact that you’ll be eating it surrounded by stacks of books. The adored bookstore-slash-cafe brings a trio of flavours for you to top your $16.50 serve of slow-cooked oats with. Will it be banana and peanut butter? A golden combo of maple syrup and almonds? I usually pick the third: seasonal poached fruit, which last week was a tangy mess of rhubarb and slices of pear. Heaven. – GM

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Reuben Hills, Surry Hills

Light as foam and yellow as butter, this winter warmer is the distant cousin of your water-and-oats porridge. Its base is a dairy-free combination of sago (similar to tapioca) and corn milk (hence the sunny colour). It tastes like buttery popcorn and the sago pearls give it a bubble tea-like texture. Each spoonful dissolves in your mouth in seconds, but you’d be wrong to assume this is a light lunch or brunch option. It’s incredibly filling, and that’s because it’s topped with chunks of biscuity oat crumble, crunchy almonds and pistachios, cinnamon-spiced apple, and a roasted banana that’s caramelised on one side. All that fruit for $18, in this economy, is bang for buck. – EJ

A.P House, Surry Hills

Say hello to the quintessential comfort feed: filling, rich and warming. Like most things from the AP team, the breakfast congee is visually stunning. Served in a big bowl, the thick, pudding-y congee is topped generously with both a crack of pepper and a snowfall of cheese. And in the centre? A big dollop of chilli crunch, ready to be stirred through. On one side of your bowl is a halved soft-boiled egg, with a vibrant jammy yolk, and on the other are several rashers of crisp bacon. There are thinly sliced rings of white onion, too. The savoury serve will set you back $18 and is filling enough that you could split it between two. (Or down the whole thing and leave feeling very full, and very happy.) – LBB

Pina, Potts Point

Porridge has always fallen into the category of things I don’t order when I’m out because I can make it at home (muesli is its DIY, oaty summer sister in my mind). But this $15 bowl changed that. The sweet and tangy stewed blueberry and rhubarb dances with the nutty butter. And then there’s the whipped mascarpone. It turns out you can buy happiness – via a bowl of creamy oats with a creamier topping on a blustery day in Potts Point. – AJ

Tita, Marrickville

This rich $13 serve comes in a deep bowl at the Donut Papi team’s Filipino inner-west eatery. The lugaw (a congee-like rice porridge) is made with a spicy, deeply savoury mix of safflower, ginger, fish sauce and garlic, then spooned into a bowl and topped with a gooey boiled egg (with lemon on the side to cut through the salt). Vegan? Opt for the fritter lugaw, which trades the egg for an enoki fritter and fried tofu. Or supersize your brekkie with the fried chicken option. – GM

Splash, Petersham

At the risk of sounding like Goldilocks, the temperature and texture of this $16 bowl of creamy oats is just right. It’s not too sloppy, not piping hot, not at risk of hardening into concrete before you finish the bowl. It’s reassuringly simple and well made, but not boring. At its centre is a generous dollop of tart blackberry jam, warm toasted granola – with whole cashews, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds – and chunky portions of kiwi fruit and mandarin. And it works. It feels fresh thanks to the citrus, and the oats are as good eaten in as they are taken away. Borrow a rug and take a bowl to the park. – EJ

Superfreak, Marrickville

The butter-coloured walls here mirror the melty round of butter that crowns the standout bowl of oat, rye and buckwheat porridge. There’s stewed rhubarb here too, offsetting a layer of brown sugar that slowly turns to syrup once the bowl hits your table. This recipe’s from Aplenty’s Michaela Johansson, who captained the menu at this fresh cafe. The warming brekkie’s even better right after a Pilates class at Scout out the back. – GM