How to poach eggs like a cafe

June 11, 2025
8:03 am

Three egg-sperts spill the secret to cooking cafe-style poachies that are as round and bouncy as ping pong balls.

For many, the ultimate brunch pleasure is slicing into a perfectly poached egg: the delicate resistance of the white, followed by a glorious golden yolk spilling onto the plate. It’s a spectacle usually reserved for cafes, with home cooks often feeling intimidated by the process. So, we asked the experts for advice.

At Dawn Cafe in Melbourne’s bayside Elsternwick, up to 80 per cent of brunch customers order poached eggs. “Every single one needs to be done perfectly,” says co-owner Allan Hwang. “Poached eggs are everything to a cafe.”

For Jesse Orlean, co-owner and chef of Happyfield in Sydney’s inner-west, the absence of poached eggs on a cafe’s menu is a definitive red flag.

Happyfield goes through about 4860 eggs a week, up to 60 per cent of which are served poached.

The cafe’s signature combo is poached eggs with dukkah-sprinkled avocado and Happy Shrooms, which are cooked with garlic butter, sage and a splash of sherry vinegar.

Smashed peas on toast with citrus labne, pickled beets, puffed wild rice, halloumi, chilli oil and poached egg at Yolk Group cafe Tinker in Melbourne’s Northcote.

Melbourne’s Yolk cafe group (Terror Twilight, Convoy, Ophelia, among others) takes eggs extremely seriously, as you might expect from the business name.

“A poached egg should have a bounce when you touch it,” says Yolk Group executive chef Mitch Velo. “The egg white should have a slight snap, and the yolk should be a bit thicker than runny.”

Good Food asked three poaching pros for their top tips, then combined their wisdom into this handy cheat sheet for home cooks.

Seven tips for poached egg success

Use fresh eggs at room temperature. Free-range eggs taste best, and have better colour and are more consistent than either caged or barn-laid eggs.
Bring a large, deep pot of water to the boil. Add white vinegar (chefs differ on the proportion but use at least 1 part vinegar to 10 parts water, and at most 1 part vinegar to 4 parts water). “Add enough vinegar to the water that your eyes water when you smell it,” says Velo.
Keep the water to an active simmer (not quite a roiling boil) as you crack in the eggs, one by one. Drop each egg into the most tumultuous part of the pot (they will move away as they cook). Most chefs crack eggs directly into the water, but you can also crack them one by one into small bowls, then tip in from there. If the water is hot enough and the pot deep enough, the egg will coalesce into a neat, round shape. There is no need to swirl the water. “With a deeper pot of water, the shape forms as it drops to the bottom,” says Hwang. “It should look like a ping pong ball.”
If you’re poaching several eggs, continue to add them to the pot, working swiftly so they are ready around the same time. Keep the water just boiling.
Cook the eggs for between 2 minutes and 2 minutes 30 seconds, depending on how runny you like the yolk. “This part is feel and experience,” says Orlean. “I might touch an egg and drop it back in for a bit longer. It’s a game of cat and mouse.”
Scoop the eggs out of the water with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels or a clean kitchen cloth. If an egg has a “tail”, cut it off with a knife or spatula for a neater shape.
Serve as quickly as possible, because the egg will keep cooking out of the water. “A good poached egg and a piece of streaky bacon, that’s the perfect breakfast for me,” says Orlean.