Brunch @ Etcetera

Between Dalston Junction and Stoke Newington there are have been an astonishing amount of new cafes, restaurants, bars an hipster hangouts opening up.

Brunch Heaven @ Salvation Jane

I’ve eaten at Salvation Jane on many an occasion, but like most places in London I have forgotten to do a write up.

Joseph's Cafe

After a quality fry up of egg, bacon, sausage, black pudding, beans, tomato’s and sometime a slice of fried bread only a cheese omelette comes close to this piece of heaven.

Brunch @ Lantana

Through some weird set of events we ended up eating Brunch at Lantana a couple of times in as many weeks. I’d been meaning to eat there forever but other things got in the way. Mainly the Breakfast Club and Caravan. But finally we did it and again.

Lantana is small, and I mean small. After queuing for 30 minutes we were asked if we didn’t mind sharing a table (to eat now) or wait even longer for a table for just us to become available.

I don’t mind sharing but as the room is pretty small and everyone is closely packed together, my ribs took a beating from the guy next to me, as he seemed only to be able to use a knife and fork with his elbows stretched out.

The food at Lantana is really good and a far cry from the normal English fry up. All hail to the down under brunch set I say.

My favourite is the slow cooked Boston beans with some pork belly topped off with a poached egg. I mean how can this combo not entice even the strictest vegan into meat eating. OK slightly dumb comment but it is a bloody good dish. Unxious beans with a tender and soft piece of pork belly, and you get to mix in egg yolk as well. Heaven pure heaven.

The baked eggs are another winner, especially with the lovely feta they use. The posh version of bubble and squeak is a far cry from my Sunday night suppers as a child. I wish then we would have had black pudding, but my parents looking back on it seemed to have a dislike of it.

If I had a quibble about Lantana is that the portions are on the tad small size for the prices, but the cooking is exquisite. So cannot grumble too much. But I felt I had to.

Lantana is a great place and I’d love to try it in the week, when I hope the queues are not too large. Weekends can be a bugger. But as it is absolutely nowhere near my house, a special visit has to be made, but as the Breakfast Club and Caravan are so much closer, we always get distracted.

Brunch @ The Big Chill House

I was supposed to have written and published before our 3 week trip to China, but with last minute preparations at home and work shelved all thoughts of that.

So here it is.

A week or so ago I was contacted by a lady from fourteenten.com, who sent me a card offering me to try #breakfastmyway at the Big Chill House in Kings Cross. Who am I to turn down a chance to sample a place offering a new take on one of my favourite meals of the day.

Thankfully this was not just for breakfast, but they do brunch at weekends as well. Phew, as working in West London it makes KX a difficult place to get to for a quick brekkie.

I managed to fit in a couple of visits to the Big Chill House. It’s more known for its weekend gig nights than breakfast. But this they are trying to change.

I love nothing more than watching the world go by and this I did very easily with their large windows facing onto Pentonville Road.

The menu is pretty extensive ranging from the Full English to Boiled Eggs with Soldiers and everything inbetween.

I can personally recommend the Homemade Rosti of grated potato, onion and egg served with mushrooms and top with a fried egg. Delish.

Also the Muffin was a star. This is the Big Chill’s take on the Egg Benedict. A lovely toasted muffin topped with a fried egg and streaky bacon. No hollandaise sauce but a good dollop of brown sauce surely made up for it.

There are also some healthy options on the menu as well, the cereals and the Greek yoghurt berry compote all look pretty good if you are into healthy breakfast. Unfortunately I am not. So my next visit I will be having the full English.

Before I forget the @BigChillHouse are giving away 3 free breakfasts each week to people who tweet what they had for breakfast using #breakfastmyway. This goes on until the end of October. So get tweeting now.

Brunch @ The Riding House Cafe

The Riding House café has been on my radar since it opened earlier this year, but for many reasons, some best not mentioned we’ve just never managed to go there and eat. These things happen you see. But finally we managed it. About time.

So this Sunday we turned up with reservation in hand for Sunday lunch, which actually turned out to be more of a brunch event instead, as we were still kinda heady from dinner the night before at Bistro Du Vin. We were coming to an end of a celebratory weekend for welcoming my wife back from 3 weeks in Ecuador. She was in need of some good food.

So with slight hangovers and really not wanting to eat that much we opted for their lighter options. Not their small plates I might add. I am kinda getting tired of small plates at the mo, I long for the day when small plates are so last year. So a while to go then.

We were seated in the rather opulent but not dining room, with its large red padded seats and quirky lamps made out of old plumbing parts. Very snazzy.

This lunchtime it was full of well-heeled-twenty-something-girlies having their weekly-brunch-gossipy get together. If I would had known, I’d have just turned up and gone into the main dining area and ate there. It seemed a lot more casual and less formal, but where we were provided a lot of people watching. A fave hobby of mine.

So on the Sunday lunch menu there are some breakfast/brunch items on the menu, these are on till mid afternoon. This is what we were in need of.

I’d already checked out their menu beforehand and noticed they had a smoked haddock kedgeree on the billing. I cannot remember the last time I ate this or even saw it on a menu. Wow when was that. We are talking years, and I mean years. This I had to have.

After 3 weeks of eating some of the worst food on the planet and being sick for it, the wife was more than happy to eat just about anything, but she opted for the delightfully sounding eggs Hussard.

My kedgeree was a reminder of how those Victorians knew a thing or two about breakfast dishes and how good they are to cure a mild hangover.

The flaked smoked haddock was wonderfully smoked and gave that all important taste to this Anglo-Indian dish. The rice was just as wet as it should be and well spiced and seasoned. The added pea shoots on top were a needless decoration. They seem to be this year’s garnish as 2 of the 4 dishes at Bistro du Vin the night before had then as well. One year it is chervil, the next its pea shoots. Whatever next.

The only downside to this dish was the not runny boiled egg on top. I prefer my eggs to be a slightly set but still runny. These were well cooked eggs. Not my style at all, but other than that it was damn good.

The hearty eggs Hussard with that marchand de vin sauce was delish. I actually wished I had ordered this. Although I did eat about ¼ of it after Lina was too full to go any further. I love dining with people who are just getting over an illness. This is now my fave hangover dishes. Definitely beats a full English, but in a more decadent way.

I’d never come across eggs Hussard before but I will be having it whenever possible. Basically it run like this, two poached eggs napped with hollandaise sat on top of a portobello mushroom, which was on top of an ox heart tomato. Beneath that was ham and baby spinach, which was nestled on top a doorstop slice of bread and this was mopping up all the juices from above and the marchand de vin sauce underneath. Awesome. Man I’m hooked. A greedy guts version of eggs benedict.

We really liked the Riding House Café, and already planning a return visit, as I want to try their burgers and maybe those small plates.

But for Sunday brunch, not so sure as it is sooooo far way from home, and Caravan and the Breakfast Club are just so much closer.

Breakfast Club @ Artillery Lane

My hangovers are not what they used to be. I now wake up feeling fine and as the day wears on it kicks in, and by the end of the day I am as rough as I should be in the morning. Must odd.

I totally believe the best hangover cure of all is a good fry up. My aches and pains seem to vanish away with the consumption of mounds of fried food. Some of the best fry ups I’ve ever had have been eaten whilst I have been at my most worst.

I am a big fan of the Breakfast Club, as they do one thing and do it so bloody well. I’ve visited all of their branches now, including the branch close to Spitalfields Market, which unlike their normal feel of being at home in your front room. This one has an industrial feel to it. I quite like it actually. The starkness of the room fitted well with how I felt. I especially love the Roland Rat wallpaper in the toilets.

Thankfully and amazingly this was the first one we never had to queue up to get a table. I really wasn’t looking forward to that. As this is a new branch and it is down a very quiet street parallel to the market entrance, unless you knew it was there you would not come across it. This was to my benefit.

I really don’t know why I even bother looking at the menu, as I always have the same things every time. The Full Monty, flat white and an orange juice. It works a treat on my soul and I don’t see the point of deviating from it.

As with all the other branches the Full Monty is fantastic, although they did forget my mushrooms, which I only noticed as I was looking at the menu by the front door as I was leaving. I thought something was missing. Hey ho.

Thankfully with further expansion their standards have not dropped and they still deliver a fine breakfast on a large scale to an eager audience.

For a hangover cure the Breakfast Club cannot be beaten, at least they seem to understand what a hangover does to a person, unlike some other places that seem to look at you with disdain when you are dying in our seat.

E is for English @ The Breakfast Club in Soho

This is the third outlet in this small mini breakfast chain I’ve eaten at. They have just expanded to one more in Spitalfields, which I guess one day soon I will be eating the Full Monty at.

The Soho branch is, as I prefer, small and cosy. Not many tables and mostly in twos and fours. Six is a pain as there is only one table to eat at. Which if you rock up just after another large group, you are stuffed for well over an hour. Like the large group behind us. Hahahaha.

We were 6, and thankfully we only had the average 20 minute wait. The evil vibe we were sending out worked pretty good. Their are places I do not mind queuing for. Randall and Aubin is one, and the Breakfast Club is another, most other places I get peeved if it’s more than 5 minutes, unless of course I have a drink in hand. Then it’s all aok. Think Polpo.

Onto the food. Well if you’ve been to one, you’ve been to them all. Service is with a smile and at a good Sunday Brunch speed. They understand what a hangover does to a person and are patient with you. The menu is the same as the others, the food you eat tastes the same, all damn good. Sometimes I like to know that I will get the same food at which ever one I goto, then again I only ever eat the Full Monty. One of the best brekkies in London.

I like the Soho branch a lot, but for me Angel is still the best. It’s the cosiness of the place that wins me over. Probably why I won’t be returning to the Hoxton branch, as it is too large, to unfamiliar, too empty.

The other good news with the Soho branch (not sure if it is the same as the others) is that they have a BYO in the evening. Always good, and I do like their burgers.

Brunch Heaven @ La Fromagerie

Many years ago when we discovered the quaint villagey area of Marylebone and the fantastic La Fromagerie. At the time we were living in food hell. Ie. Brentford. Which if you have never visited, it takes an age to get to and from. It’s in the arse end of London and somehow we were there for far too long.

Once in a while we would end up in heaven. Wandering those peaceful streets of Marylebone, looking in those oh so pretty shops, and the oh so prettier people. How we dreamed of living here, rather than in Brentford.

So on some Sundays we would make a beeline for La Fromagerie for brunch. We were always impatient and hated queuing but it was the done thing, and so we queued as true Englishmen do, although one of us is not. We would wait till it was our turn to sit on that long wooden bench with those oh so pretty people.

The selection of salads on show were heaven on earth. The cheese boards from the cheese room used to drive us wild with happiness. All this washed down with a bottle of crisp white wine was a perfect way to spend a Sunday in London. There was none better.

I really cannot remember the last time we made it out this way on a Sunday, but this given Sunday we had planned it so. Maybe to bring back those magical memories of a long gone yesteryear.

Not much has changed in the shop cum restaurant, only that the organic shop had closed next door and they had opened it up into more seating. Damn that was so needed in my view.

I have read so many bad reports about the place of late, which mainly all came down to the service that was being given. Yes the service was never great, it was mainly rushed and busy, but it was always with a smile.

Our trip this time saw us seated in the new (slightly gloomy) area on a smaller long bench, which after a while we had two Asian ladies sit next to us. You could tell they were not happy about sitting next to anyone, or just us, and I think they wanted to move but were too polite to ask.

The salads that were laid out for you to choose from have disappeared, and replaced with a more standard menu. A shame as I always loved looking at what I could have, not reading what I can.

The menu is light and ideal brunch material. There are several cheese boards, all selected from the cheese shop adjacent. Heaven. But this time I was not in the mood for a slice of cheesy heaven, but after seeing lentils and canard on the menu I was sold. Lina was undecided between a beetroot salad and baked Tunworth cheese wrapped in pastry. Well the thought of melted cheese kinda swung it for her.

I’m glad she did, as it was unxious. Melted cheese in a lovely pastry was, well what can I say. Delicious.

My lentils were still al dente and the duck leg had so much flavour. Yum. I even gnawed all the meat off the bone, which was met with disapproving looks off our lovely neighbours.

I love La Fromagerie, nothing has really changed, it has more grown and changed with the times. To me this is still one of the best places to brunch in London. Light and casual. It’s a shame that some not so friendly people staff their other branch in Islington.

But the best thing is being able to pop next door and buy a couple of Crottin de Chavignol for a salad the following day. Heaven I tell you, bloody heaven.

Brunch @ Café Provencal

We or maybe it was just me, who was keener on living around Herne Hill that we came back for a second visit for some more flat hunting.

It’s just unfortunate again that the estate agents kept showing us flats that were available to move into the following week, even though we kept telling them that we cannot move until the end of March. Useless bastards.

Whilst we were waiting in between what turned out to be a wasted day visiting flats that wouldn’t be available at the end of March. We decided to have a quick bite in Café Provencal, a small friendly joint underneath the railway bridge.

I liked this small café, the staff are nice and friendly, it’s a bit quirky, which I always like in small places. They exhibit plenty of art and photographs, I imagine done by the local people of Herne Hill. It’s nice that there are places where people can exhibit their art and also try and get it sold as well.

We both ordered the full English breakfast as looking at flats is pretty damn exhausting, and we had two more to see that afternoon.

The food was pretty good, even though the tatties were a tad charred, though not overcooked, the rest of the brekkie was fine though, and gave us a well-needed energy booster. Nice eggs, nice sausage and good bacon.

It wasn’t the best breakfast I’ve ever eaten and it wasn’t the worst, but it was perfect for that particular moment in time.

The place seemed pretty popular as loads of people were coming in and making reservations for that night. We also kept seeing loads of young families coming in and we kept wondering where they kept putting them. It turns out there is a separate kiddies area for families. Phew, I was dreading having a screaming kid and his hyper active older brother ruining my Saturday brunch time meal. Got to love a place like this, that knows that no one wants to eat near kids.

I was really imagining us living here in Herne Hill. Unfortunately one of us wasn’t. I think it was the ineptness of the estate agents that was putting her off. We were also up against the wall here, as one of us was off to Colombia at the start of March, and we really wanted to get a place before she left, as we were either gonna end up in any old place out of pure desperation. Or we would end up in some shithole that I chose whilst she was away. Neither option was good, although the first option would be down to Lina’s fault not mine, unlike the second one which would rest on my poor shoulders for up to one year. She would never say something, but I would know, the anger would simmer for ages, nothing being said, but tensions would be there.

That’s why just before she pottered off to a warm 2 weeks in Medellin, a place came up in Stokie. She saw it, sent me a text and took it. I’ve seen it form the outside but not inside. That I get to, do when we pick the keys up and the end of this month.

So we shall see what culinary delights that Stoke Newington and Dalston have to offer me. Even though I kinda know it a little. This does mean that Mangals is now even closer to us than ever before. Rock on.

Work Christmas Party and Sunday Brunch to Recover

This Christmas Season is taking its toll on me. Two major daylong hangovers in three days is showing my age, and with a few more to come. How am I gonna survive.

Years ago hangovers were a weekly occurrence, nowadays they are becoming less and less frequent. Although, all my recent ones have involved copious amounts of strong Belgium beer, consumed on empty stomachs. Schoolboy errors.

Choosing the right venue for a Christmas works do, requires some delicate choosing, as you have to make sure everyone is happy. But since I work with quite a few Indian men whose idea of a good night out is, well basically is to get pissed. Easy choosing.

So all we needed was a large lively venue, a bit of food and lots of free booze. I think it took us about 30 minutes to choose our venue, and with a week to spare we were impressed anything was available.

I’m not sure who actually picked Guanabara as our venue, but it turned out to be an ok choice. Well it had all the ingredients for a Christmas party.

Large spacious venue, lively music with a good crowd of party folks, and the most important thing, the boss’s credit card behind the bar.

I started the evening off in Lowlander, having a couple of beers before waiting for everyone else to turn up. It was a big error, as nearly everyone else went straight in to the place, as they were getting free booze. Why pay for something when someone else is paying. Doh !!!

As soon as I entered I found out it was 2-4-1 on cocktails. A couple of mojitios came my way pretty quick. Then another two, and maybe two more. This all before we had sat down to eat. It was going to be a real messy night.

The normal menu at Guanabara does have some classic Brasilian items on it, like Feijoida. That wonderful black bean and pork stew. However the Christmas menu was about as Brasilian as the weather outside. I’m not even gonna try and beef up the food. It was pretty bad. It was real boil-in-the-bag-brought-in-and-heated-up-type-food. The crab chowder was bright red and pretty tasteless. My boil in the bag lamb shank was pretty tasteless, but the mint sauce had some kind of minty flavour. The pudding, which was some kind of passion fruit mousse, was pretty thick. I think I had one spoonful and that was about it. Couldn’t do no more.

I was here to get drunk, and drunk I did. After dinner everything got a bit fuzzy. I think it may have been the cachaças I was consuming through dinner. Thank the lord I never had any caipirinha, as the sugar would have blown me away. Something about sugar and alcohol my body cannot take.

I don’t actually remember leaving or getting home. But thankfully I woke up on the bus two stops form my house. Phew.

Guanabara is what it is really. This is a party venue and it does it very well. The food is pretty pants, but I didn’t expect anything else. The vibe is excellent, and my fuzzy memory has nothing but happy thoughts.

Waking up the next morning was a bit of a mare, but somehow I managed to struggle out of bed and make it to the Hawksmoor on Commercial Street for some well needed brekkie. Although it was nearing noon, so we could of have their famed roast, but as we had it at the Seven Dials branch a while back. So we opted for the breakfast to kill all other breakfast. The Hawksmoor Breakfast for 2 to share and costing £30, was the same price as two roasts.

Someone made a comment a while ago that this branch is more set up like a club than a place to have a roast. I can see the point. Very elegant and cool, much more designed for big steak eating than hungover Sunday brunch eating. But I like it here more than the Seven Dials restaurant. More cozy here. Plus it was quieter which was good for my head.

The waitress took pity on me and was filling up my glass of water every few minutes, I was expecting her to offer me an anadin.

I ordered a London Pride Pale Ale, which was supposed to level out my blood-alcohol level. It worked but it took me forever to finish that glass.

The breakfast was a sight for sore eyes. In no order of excellence were a Smoked Bacon Chop, Sausages, Bubble and Squeak, Trotter Baked Beans, Fried Eggs, Bury Black Pudding, Bone Marrow Trotter, Grilled Mushrooms, Roast Tomatoes, Good Toast and Gravy. I think that was all we had. Damn my memory is still there.

The waitress suggested to us to have the black pudding with a dab of English mustard and some malt vinegar. It kicked arse. Never thought of using malt vinegar on anything but chips. What a philistine I am.

I have to say that was one hell of a brekkie. Maybe the best I have ever had. But to cut through the hangover I had it needed more grease. But if I had wanted that I would have gone to the café near to my house, which looks like a good café. One day soon.

Hawksmoor seem to be hitting all the right buttons with me at the moment. The only thing I haven’t eaten there is what they are famous for and that is their steaks. Next visit. 

The Breakfast Club in Hoxton

I’ve eaten at the Angel outlet of the Breakfast Club on many a Sunday morning, and for me it is still the best place to have brunch, although Caravan is giving it a run for its money.

The Hoxton branch is a lot bigger and has the feel of a diner rather than a small quirky novelty that the Angel place has. But thankfully that does mean shorter queuing times, as on cold days like these the last thing you want to be is waiting outside for half an hour or so.

Everything else though is the same, the menu, the service, the juices and the coffees.

The food wasn’t up to the same standard of my beloved Angel.

I’ve never had the Green Eggs and Ham before so different place, different choice. Normally it’s the Full Monty I have, but today I felt like a change.

Maybe I should have stuck with the normal, as my scrambled eggs were a tad more overcooked than I like them. The eggs had started to form lumps and were bordering on dryness. The chunks of ham mixed in were nicely cooked. The potato wedges were the best I’ve eaten outside of Cusco. Where Los Perros, if it still exists has the best potato wedges on the planet.

Lina Eggs Benedict wasn’t up to it’s full potential. Sorry but after serving a million and one Eggs Benedict, Florentine or Royal I know how they should be. Runny yolk on a perfectly formed poached egg, the hollandaise has to be slightly but not over tart, and the muffin has to be toasted.

Her eggs were part runny, part set. The hollandaise was a tad too buttery and the muffin was not toasted. Disappointing. But when it comes to Eggs Benedict. I am an unforgiving soul and demand perfection. But she was happy with it, and that’s all that matters. I was told that until I regularly make her Eggs Benedict, I cannot complain about anyone else’s. But I will.

I’m doubting whether this winter I will ever venture back to the Breakfast Club in Angel, as those damn chilly mornings are putting the fear of god into me. Maybe I should try the third instalment in the trilogy. Soho.

Brunch @ Caravan

What can I say that hasn’t already been said about Caravan. Apart from saying the same as everyone else that it is great.

We hit Caravan around noon on a fine Sunday. The sun was out, the sky was blue and freshness was in the air. A glorious day.

The industrial interior of Caravan was heaving at the joints, but somehow we were found a good table by the window. Great for people watching. But I was distracted from my favourite past time by the fact that the girl on the table next to us kept bursting into tears over a telephone call from a soon not to be boyfriend. Good for her.

Anyhows back to the important stuff. The food and coffee. Well this is the reason why we were here, well that and just to enjoy ourselves.

The menu is pretty eclectic for brunch but damn fine reading it was. It was a toss up between the Caravan Fry-Up or the Grilled Ham, Bubble and Squeak, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. I choose the former. Good choice, but I am sure the other would have been also. It will be next time.

Lina opted for the back pudding, caramelised apples on sourdough toast topped with a fried egg. I think she would have preferred the baked eggs, but that is for next time we eat here.

The food was excellent and well cooked. The flavours contrasted and worked well with each other. A hard feat for some chefs it seems these days.

The only let down was the coffee. It was pretty average to say the least. I had to have two just to make sure. Yeah it was so so. I could of gotten a similar cup across the road at Café Nero.

But apart from that, Caravan now tops my list over the Breakfast Club in Angel for breakfast cum brunch place in north London. Rock on.