So what did you have for breakfast?

Since our London office moved to Fetter Lane and I have been working in London significantly more, I have been intrigued by the breakfasts on offer at the local eateries around the office.

One thing that I see a lot of is poached egg pots, this kind of breakfast dish is starting to take off in Bristol too. These pots usually consist of a poached egg and then some stuff.

I have to say that by the time I get to London I am not usually looking for breakfast and generally just go with a coffee.

The other day though I was somewhat peckish. I was tempted to visit Yolk, but there was a bit of a queue, so decided to try the poached egg pots from Coco di Mama. I went with the mushrooms and power beans.

Breakfast pot

The pot contains a big portion of mixed beans in a smokey tomato sauce topped with spinach, cooked mushrooms, lightly roasted cherry tomatoes, a poached egg and some greens which could be micro herbs.

It was certainly an interesting experience, the beans were tasty and had a kick to them, so much nicer than regular baked beans. The egg was nicely cooked. I did think the mushrooms were overcooked and be careful as the tomatoes were very hot (and I nearly burnt my mouth on them).

For a hot breakfast dish, I thought it was really nice, I thought the portion size was ideal, though the proportions were slightly out for me, too many beans. I think next time I might add an extra egg for a pound.

Fresh and full of flavour

steak and fries

I was in London for the day I had two meetings, but with a long in between, I was thinking about where to have lunch. The weather wasn’t brilliant, but at least it wasn’t raining (yet).

I wasn’t expecting it, but just down Tottenham Court Road was a street food market hidden on the side. Called the Goodge Street Market it’s in Fitzrovia, London and the stalls surround the church there.

There wasn’t a huge market, but there is certainly enough choice of different kinds of food.

There was a quite a choice, but one stand stood out to me, which was the Argentinian El Parrillon stand. As with other stands they were offering free samples and I took a sample of steak.As well as steak, their menu also offered Chimichurri chicken in a box, or you could have a mixed box.

I really liked the sound of the steak and fries, so I ordered that. The service was efficient and friendly.

The steak was cooked to order on a plancha. It was then cubed on the grill and once finished was served with fries and salad. You had a choice of Aioli, spicy sauce or Chimichurri. I went with the Chimichurri.

The steak had lots of flavour and was very tender. The fries were a little over-cooked for my liking, but were crispy. The salad was somewhat disappointing consisting of mixed leaves and nothing else. The Chimichurri was really nice and fresh and enhanced the dish.

I really enjoyed the steak and fries, with the Chimichurri adding flavours and freshness.

It was okay, but…

Papa Dum

One of the nice things about our new London office is discovering all the different places to buy lunch from. I have found some places I like and some I don’t. Papa-Dum is a new entrant for me to the lunch time market.

The menu contains a range of Indian inspired curries, as well as salads, sandwiches and wraps. I went for the Goan fish curry. This comes in quite a big box, and comprises steamed rice, a somewhat small portion of fish curry and a few mini poppadoms.

I did enjoy my lunch, but felt that the curry portion needed to be bigger, there was too much use of one-use plastic and I also thought it lacked green stuff, or vegetables.

Proper Italian like…

flat white

One of my new favourite places for coffee in London is Coco di Mama. Mainly as it’s a skip and jump from our London office.

Mainly catering for the lunch takeaway crowd, they do have some seating and stool and benches.

They do a very nice flat white, which is strong and intense. It’s a very different experience to the high street chains. Feels more authentic as well.

When ordering to drink in, sometimes you can sit down and they will bring it over, other times you wait at the counter for it. Nice little touch is the square of dark chocolate on the side.

Time for something different

Hastings East Hill Lift

So we were on holiday in Sussex and wanting somewhere to eat that a) accepted Tesco vouchers and b) had a decent gluten-free menu, we ended up in Eastbourne, with the choice of Pizza Express, Prezzo and Zizzi. Out of the three I personally prefer Zizzi, we had recently eaten at Prezzo we headed towards the Zizzi branch in Eastbourne. We had spent the day in Hastings so it was a thirty minute drive and the Apple navigation app took us as far as a roundabout close to the restaurant, but there was plenty of post 6pm free parking available.

I would say the outside of the restaurant was very uninviting, for a second or so I actually thought it might have closed down. We had a little trouble finding the door, but once we were in, it was a totally different experience. The inside was bright, fresh and welcoming and then the welcome from the member of staff (think he might have been the manager) was just as fresh and welcoming.

We were sat down and perused the menu. Lots of choices, the last time I went to Zizzi I had pizza, so really wanted something different. For a start I did consider the calamari, as It is a personal favourite, but as my son was going to have this, I decided to go with something different.

For my starter in the end I went with the Bruschetta. Speciality tomatoes, red onion and roasted garlic, in extra virgin olive oil, on toasted bread. With super green pesto, fresh basil & riserva cheese. I added some creamy bufala mozzarella as well.

Bruschetta. Speciality tomatoes, red onion and roasted garlic, in extra virgin olive oil, on toasted bread. With super green pesto, fresh basil & riserva cheese.

Apart from not getting the fresh basil, I really enjoyed this dish. It wasn’t quite what I expected, but that is something I quite like now and again.

For my main I had a new dish on the menu, the Pork Belly Arrosto. Oven-roasted pork belly with creamy riserva cheese mash, crispy crackling shards, garlic kale & broccoli & a Chianti & rosemary sauce.

Pork Belly Arrosto. Oven-roasted pork belly with creamy riserva cheese mash, crispy crackling shards, garlic kale & broccoli & a Chianti & rosemary sauce.

The pork was slow cooked and then finished off in their pizza oven. The mash was smooth and creamy, but not as cheesy as I was expecting. The shards could have been lighter and crispier, they were a little chewy. The kale and broccoli were really nice too. The sauce was tasty, I could have done with more though. Overall a really tasty dish and something very different to the pizza (or pasta) I usual have at Zizzi.

Using Tesco Vouchers meant that this was also a cheap meal and great value for money. If we were ever in Eastbourne again, I think we would visit again.

It’s kind of what I expected…

Usually when I stop at the services on a long car journey, I venture in, see a high street chain, look at the prices and then walk out.

Well at least I managed to stretch my legs. Sometimes though I am known to order a coffee.

On my most recent visit to Membury Services, I decided I would buy a coffee, and went to Starbucks. I am actually not a great fan of the flavour of Starbucks coffee, but with no choice, I ordered a flat white.

flat white

I had quite low expectations, so in the end I quite enjoyed the coffee. It was kind of what I expected.

Though I have visited the Membury Services many times it was only last year that I realised it was next to an airfield, when I heard and then saw an airplane coming into land.

Though checking Wikipedia I realise that it was only more recently that aircraft have started flying from the airfield, as the airfield was closed in the 1960s with the construction of the M4. The services are located on the original site of the RAF Membury. The base was opened in 1942 and was used by the RAF and the USAAF.

That was a nice coffee

coffee

On my way to our office in London I was walking down Gray Inns Road. Before it meets High Holborn, and up the road on the corner with Baldwin’s Gardens, is a great little cafe called Catalyst.

I have been here before and really enjoyed the coffee I had. So having some time before my first meeting of the day, and it been a really long time since I had coffee, I decided to stop and have a flat white.

The food looks really interesting, but also seems a little pricey compared to the coffee. So not feeling hungry I had the coffee,

They certainly take care when making the coffee, and they will bring it to your table, so I took a seat and waited. They did initially confuse me with another order, but then my flat white arrived it looked perfect.

Now I am not sure if I left it too long, but I was distracted by my laptop, so it wasn’t that hot. Now I think it might have been me, rather than them. Even so it was a really nice coffee.

Nice coffee

Working in London, I popped into Fernandez & Wells on Denmark Street for a quick coffee. Though I like working in our offices, sometimes working in another place, with decent coffee, is a nice alternative. I was walking to our offices, when I decided that I wanted a coffee and though I passed a few places, I didn’t fancy going to a chain like Costa or Caffe Nero and London is full of independent and small chain coffee places.

I did at first walk pass Fernandez & Wells, but then did a double take and walked back, looked in and decided, though I didn’t want any food, but did want coffee.

Fernandez & Wells has a few branches across London. This branch is described as a trendy hangout, okay so they let me in. The wooden floors and furniture create a nice warm ambience and environment. There was a warm welcome and I quickly placed my order for a flat white. What I did like was that I didn’t need to wait at the counter for my coffee, I could take a seat, get the laptop out and get on with some work.

The coffee arrived speedily and looked great. It also tasted great.

Flat White

This is a lovely café and the food menu looks interesting too.

It was a nice pizza

I do like the rustica pizzas you can get at Zizzi, the thin and crispy base is a tasty alternative to the solid doughy bases you can sometimes have at other (especially American style) chains.

This time I went for the Pinoli Pizza, which can be had with the rustica base. This has goat’s cheese, mozzarella, caramelised balsamic onions, sunblush tomatoes, pine nuts, riserva cheese & basil.

Pinoli Pizza Goat's cheese, mozzarella, caramelised balsamic onions, sunblush tomatoes, pine nuts, riserva cheese & basil.

The pizza was cooked well, the base was thin and crispy with a hint of soft dough at the edges. The topping, though in my opinion, a little sparse, was tasty and delicious.

The service was warm, welcoming and friendly.

Nice coffee

Wanting a coffee and somewhere to sit to do some work, I wanted to try something other than the usual high street chains such as Costa and Caffe Nero. The 58 High Street branch of Taylors in Oxford, looked nice and inviting, and the sign said they had seating inside. Great I thought, time for coffee.

I asked for a flat white and a croissant, which was part of a morning offer. Alas it was only after I ordered that I realised that the so called seating was in fact some stools at the back of the shop. The coffee was going to come in a paper cup, rather than china, and the croissant in a paper bag! Not quite what I wanted or was expecting. I had to ask if they had butter for the croissant, they gave me margarine… that isn’t butter.

The service was excellent, very friendly, warm and welcoming. Not over the top, nor in your face. You were made to feel welcome and important to them as a customer and then they ensured you knew what was happening and when. This is important if you are unsure of the process of ordering, receiving and other stuff with coffee.

So I got out the laptop and got working, the coffee was actually rather good, and the croissant was fresh.

I think this is an ideal place for takeaway, but isn’t a place to sit and do stuff whilst drinking coffee.