Egg Break, 1st May

My insta feed is always full of eggy goodness pictures from newly opened Eggbreak in Notting Hill. So it was the logical choice for a brunch date a few weeks ago.

Of course, I had to choose an egg dish. I had the corn cakes with poached eggs and sriracha hollandaise. I have to say, the cooking was uneven. One of my eggs had the most watery yolk when I pierced it. It gushed everywhere in a way that was almost offputting enough for me to send it back. The other egg, however, was overcooked and didn’t ooze anywhere at all. Flavourwise, the dish was fantastic so I forgave them the consistency. The hollandaise had a pleasant piquancy to it and the corn cakes had a lovely texture and flavour.

My friend had the crunchy French toast which was stuffed with banana and blueberries. If I liked berries then I would have had complete food envy, the bite I had of the plain French toast was divine. Crunchy is the way forward.

I ordered a bloody mary as well (it’s brunch – dem’s the rulz) but it wasn’t anything to write home about.

The place had a bit of a country pantry feel to it, bright but homely. And our waitress was super – she bonded with my friend over shared travel experiences.

The friend I went with came from way out West to meet me so Notting Hill was kind of in the middle for us. I did like the place and if I lived locally I’m sure I would give it another shot or two. I especially like that they do eggs all day – I wouldn’t have to worry about sleeping all day and missing brunch o’clock as I often do. 

Morning Gloryville and Electric Diner, 20th June

Morning Gloryville is not on my List and would never have been put on my List because I would never realistically get up at 6 am just to go raving. Before work. I barely like getting up that early to go on holiday, let alone something I do most weekends.

But, they decided to launch a weekend version, which – provided I didn’t go out to all hours the night before – I thought wouldn’t entail getting up too unreasonably early for me. Of course, me being me, I didn’t end up going to sleep until around 3 am anyway on Friday night, but I was up at 9 the next day and at the venue just after 10. (Why oh why when it is normally held at Oval Space, within walking distance of my flat, did it have to be all the way over in West London?!)

Anyway, I went and I had an amazing time. I danced from the moment I got there to the moment they finished. At first I was worried. I had been concerned it would be a bit too hippiefied for me and the song playing when I arrived was something ‘uplifting’ which is not my thing. I like bass and I like it dutty. But soon they were playing all sorts, especially a lot of drum n bass and I didn’t want to stop dancing. Right at the end it all got a bit too spiritual for me, with everyone participating in a ‘grounding’ but overall I really loved it.

And what was especially good about it was that after three hours of solid dancing, I felt I could treat myself to a brunch at the Electric Diner, a short walk away. I went for a slightly healthier option as I fancied getting a milkshake too, so I had avocado on toast with a poached egg. The place was pretty buzzing but they managed to squeeze me in at the bar, which is perfect for solo dining.

I have to say I didn’t love it. It just wasn’t hot enough! A less than lukewarm poached egg is not optimum and the toast could have been… toastier. The avocado was nice enough but the chilli did not have a big enough hit. My Oreo milkshake was pretty good. It was certainly thick and creamy and had actual ice cream in it. The only thing I would say about that is I had to ask for a spoon because all the oreo collected at the bottom and it’s a bit odd they didn’t provide one with it straight away. All in all, it didn’t leave me with a desire to rush back and try everything else on the menu. 

Hash E8, 18th October

When I first saw the pics London the inside instagrammed from Hash E8 I got super excited. I immediately suggested we go and try it out, the very next weekend. Stat!

And so we did, this weekend falling on the one Saturday in about five weeks I’d been horridly hungover, and meaning I wasn’t able to get myself out of the house much before 3. (And I returned to bed straight after brunch.) So, was it worth leaving my bed for however briefly? Yes, I think so, although  it was a little rough around the edges.

They do brunch all day on weekends, and in the week as well, although they also do normal lunch options then. At the moment they only stay open until 5 but we were told they have plans to extend that and have their license all set up, they’re just still quite busy getting it all properly running. They must only be a few weeks old.

So, we rocked up just an hour before they shut. They have a couple of sweet options that sound delicious (stuffed French toast!) and many savoury options that sound equally tempting. They clearly also have a fondness for pig, with a piggy treat or option of adding one on nearly every dish. All music to my ears. Stephen had the special – a plate of pulled pork, potatoes, mushrooms and onions. I had the Hash benedict. With pork belly slice.

I sometimes think the foodie gods do not smile upon Stephen. I’m often more than happy with my choice while his is underwhelming. And so it was the case here, but mainly because the advertised mushrooms weren’t present, meaning his plate was a little meagre. We asked the waitress about this and she was duly mortified (especially as they’d kinda forgotten my pork, although it was brought out just as I was peering under my egg to see if it was there). They quickly rustled up a side of mushrooms with parsley, and Stephen added them to his plate. He said they made all the difference and seemed much happier after that. Our waitress (who was lovely, really) also gave us a complimentary diet coke each to make up for it.

But what about mine? Well, mine was pretty fab to be honest. Atop two fat, crispy hash browns sat a mound of kale, giving the dish a hefty iron tang, with two perfectly poached eggs. I highly recommend adding the belly pork – I got two bits which slotted easily under the eggs and gave the whole thing a nice salty, meaty high note. I was stuffed by the time I’d finished it all. The only thing that I would have added to both dishes was some hot sauce, but we could have just asked – we noted someone else did just that.

You are also welcome to add whatever sides you might want and pretty much every ingredient listed in the dishes can also be added as a side so you can mix and match to your heart’s content.

Hash itself just feels like a cute little café, not overly trendy, just basic and friendly. My seat had colourful astro-turf style upholstery but apart from water being served in milk bottles and a big slab with the special on it, there was no uber-quirkiness going on.

I think they may still be finding their feet but even with our little mishaps, I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt. Anywhere that does brunch all day is A-OK in my book, and I just have to try that French Toast!

Riding House Cafe, 23rd August

I can’t remember where I read such good things about the brunch at the Riding House Café that I put it on my list, but I kind of wish I hadn’t bothered.

Not that it isn’t a nice set of surroundings to eat in with its rustic/deco furnishings. Considering we just about made it in, and had to sit at the bar, plenty of people clearly really like it. But I was underwhelmed. Both Alison and I ordered the lobster benedict, which sounded gloriously indulgent. Instead, on two dry, unbuttered muffins were a few flaky, dryish bits of lobster, two smallish poached eggs and some hollandaise. I don’t often say this about lobster but – ‘meh’. It was alright. Not the decadence that you expect when you order lobster. And not cheap either, two eggs were £16!! I had also ordered some mashed potatoes with olive oil. Tasty enough but strangely dry considering the amount of oil it arrived in. 

Alison’s chicory salad was nice and fresh though, and I really enjoyed my bloody mary. Alison had a Prosecco which doesn’t require much remarking upon except to say that our bartender forgot to bring it to her and we had to remind him.

I fear we have been spoiled for brunch places of late with the likes of 100 Hoxton, L'entrepot, the Ginger Pig and Caravan, all of which I'd return to in a heartbeat.

100 Hoxton, 29th June

So, I’ve kinda gotten into brunch in a big way lately, mostly because for the first time in a long time, I’ve not been going out until all hours on a Saturday night, meaning I’m up early enough to take advantage of brunch hours. Also, I had always assumed because I know the Breakfast Club always has queues for brunch, that everywhere else does too, and I would have to be up with the birds in order to get in anywhere. The last few weeks have proved otherwise. And it’s been great. It cannot last however, and I will soon be returning to my partying ways, but before I do I can probably squeeze in another couple of brunch destinations.

Last week’s was 100 Hoxton, the sister restaurant to a place Alison and I discovered and delighted in on Upper Street called Zilouf’s. In the evenings they serve small plates with a Turkish twist but on the weekends they do their own take on some fabulous brunches. We met at about quarter to one, and the sun was shining. It was threatening to disappear though so we didn’t eat outside, instead choosing one of the many scandalously empty tables inside.

Sunday has a more limited brunch offering than Saturday, as they then start doing roasts from 1 pm. But it had enough to satisfy us. I had the 100 Hoxton Big breakfast and Alison had mushrooms on toast.

Both plates were very generously sized, and a decent price – mine was £9.50 and Alison’s was only £6.00!

I can’t fault my brunch – a decent slab of pork belly croquette, two fried eggs done just right, a slice of sourdough with plenty of butter, a mound of avocado and tomato salsa and hidden underneath all that the finest, densest hash brown I’ve ever had. It also should have come with mushrooms but I don’t like them so requested mine without. Drizzled all over was a jalapeno sauce with a heavy dose of coriander. I enjoyed every mouthful and thought the portion was just right. Big enough to sate but not too big that I couldn’t finish it all (it helped that I hadn’t yet eaten anything).

Alison’s mushrooms came with two eggs and roasted tomatoes and, like mine, a heap of cress on the top as garnish. As just stated, I’m not a mushroom fan so I didn’t try any of this dish and can’t comment on what it tasted like, but it looked beautiful and Alison polished it off no trouble and proclaimed it lovely so who am I to argue?

I was off the booze as I attempt to get myself into some semblance of my former shape so we didn’t try any of the cocktails, which is a damn shame. But I would like to come back in the evening to try their interesting small plates and I’m sure when I do I’ll be allowing myself an alcoholic treat.

Find the menu & restaurant information on Zomato

The Diner, 20th November

Ok, so I know this is beginning to look suspiciously like a food blog. And the next few posts are not going to do anything to dissuade you of that notion. But bear with me - I will have non-food related posts very soon. I'm working to a backlog so this is not an empty promise - I have something in mind I will write up very soon.

Right. On to the topic in question - The Diner. For brunch. 

I've actually been to the Diner once before years ago, but I didn't have anything to eat. My companion had a burrito. This same companion was with me when we went back the other weekend for brunch. We had first tried the Breakfast Club in Liverpool Street but there was a pretty big queue so we had to find somewhere else. The Diner in Shoreditch also had a bit of a wait, but only about 15 minutes. I didn't remember what the menu was like before, but the Diner had been popping up in recommendations for brunch in stuff like Secret London and Yelp so I wanted to give it a try.

The menu for the breakfast type stuff was extensive. It was quite a task to decide. I thought I was in the mood for pancakes but after careful perusal the western eggs seemed to be calling me. Western eggs - scrambled eggs with onions, peppers and cheese. Stephen, for some strange reason decided to go for the burrito again. I didn't think this was really in the spirit of brunch but he seemed to recall the burrito being good and couldn't be convinced to order otherwise.

I also ordered a side of toast and some hash browns.

This was a mistake. A slightly embarrassing mistake. I did not realise that the portion of eggs would be phenomenal and that they would also come with a side of home fries with onions. I looked like a total greedy pig. I forgot to take a picture and I deeply regret it. The food looked delicious when it arrived and it tasted even better with my mouth than it had with my eyes. The toast and hash browns were completely superfluous, though I did my best to get through them.

As it happens, it was quite fortuitous that I ordered the sides - not for me, but for Stephen.

His steak burrito was a disappointment. He gave me some precise adjectives to use to describe it but I can't remember them now.* It didn't live up to his memory of it and I think the problem was this: he had last eaten the burrito before the proliferation of all the very good burrito places over here. He had nothing to really compare it to at the time. But now he did and it was found sadly lacking. As I said before, I had over-ordered and this was lucky because he made up for the lack in both quality and size of the burrito by finishing off my hash browns. They were tasty.

So, to conclude - I shall be going back to The Diner. There are many more breakfast items that I have faith they do very well that I wish to sample. But I will probably stay away from any of the other things on the menu... apart from the hard shakes. I bet they're good.
*I consulted stephen about his burrito and he wishes me to say that there wasn't enough rice, not enough steak which was dry anyway, and too much of that crappy American cheese.

Tea at The Wolsley, 5th November, Part 1

My boyfriend's mother and her husband (obviously not Stephen's father or it would have been easier for me to say 'parents') were visiting over the weekend, partly because they hadn't for a while, and partly because it was the mum's birthday on November 5th. So we wanted to line up something a bit special for their visit. Stephen's mother and step-parent are not the easiest to entertain. It's not that they're picky exactly, it's more that they're not particularly interested in anything. They come to London to see Stephen and they could really be anywhere. They're not particularly interested in food, or drink, or art, or music, so coming up with something spectacular (other than Stephen becoming the model son overnight which was unlikely) for her birthday was a challenge. But we thought we had a pretty darn good solution: Tea at The Wolsley. What mum doesn't like the idea of afternoon tea and the kudos of saying their son took them to one of the better known venues in London?

We were booked in for tea fairly late in the afternoon because we wanted to take them up the road to Broadway Market, our new favourite market. The amount of food on offer up there is ridiculous. I was very much looking forward to it and had even dreamt about it (well, I dreamt about food, I'm attributing it to excited anticipation). Last time we went I had vowed to have a Scotch egg as I'd seen someone eating a fine looking specimen but in the end I was sidetracked by Banh Mi 11 before I got round to the scotch egg stall. It was a most enjoyable diversion - I reckon it's the best Banh Mi in London. To commit full disclosure, I had eaten a Banh Mi from them before at Field Day and it was a very disappointing experience - all carrot and not much else. But I was prepared to give them a second chance, suspecting that they didn't bother to live up to their usual high standards for a bunch of drunk festival-goers. And I was right.

But anyway, I digress. This time around, I wanted to try a scotch egg, or perhaps a Yum Bun, or  a sweet potato flatbread. Or a brownie. Or a pie. Cripes there's so much there. In the end though, the in-laws were after a Full English. We managed to persuade them not to stop in the 'caff' and instead go to the Dove where the Full English boasted components made up from the produce being sold on the market outside. I'm not a massive fan of the classic English B so I opted for some eggs benedict on toasted muffin. Was not overwhelmed. My second egg was cold by the time I got to it and my muffin was using a different definition of toasted to one I am used to. There was also way too much hollandaise for me. But the Breakfast looked good and the others seemed pleased with it. 

And now I am going to build an element of suspense into my blog by not actually writing about the Tea until my next entry! I like keeping you on your toes.