Pan roasted hake with anchovy chard, crushed tarragon potatoes and shrimp and caper butter

It’s funny how a quick chat with a food supplier can change your ideas completely. Twitter is especially good for this; there are loads of fishmongers, butchers and a huge amount of foodies writing about what they are eating and you cannot help but be inspired. If I ever have a lack of creativity, scouring my timeline soon gives me tons of things on my ‘to cook’ list. 

This recipe is a prime example. I really wanted to cook with fish, but I had no idea what type or what I was going to do with it. It had been ages since I cooked with monkfish, so initially I was going to try and get some of that and cook it with prosciutto and a basil sauce. Still undecided, I asked for recommendations on Twitter, and within minutes I had a response from a local fishmonger. He was raving about hake, and even posted photos of the catch that was being delivered the next morning. 

As soon as I saw that, my mind was made; I would go and buy some hake. It had been a while since I had bought any, and it really is a wonderful fish. I try and cook with cod as little as possible, and hake is a great alternative with it’s large, white, flakey texture. In fact, it shouldn’t be seen as an ‘alternative’ at all. Most of the hake caught in Britain goes straight to Spain, where it is really popular. It’s about time that it was used more, although I’m perfectly happy with the low price at the moment. Hake is a long fish, so for this dish try and get a thick fillet from the head end of the fish, or a piece from a large fish. Even better, buy a whole fish and have days of lovely meals. 

Most of the time I like to cook fish with really simple, clean flavours and sauces. You want to taste the fresh, subtle fish; it is after all the main event, and whatever you serve with it should compliment it. The brown butter sauce in this dish is a classic with fish. I have used shrimps and capers here, but you could add clams the make the meal look stunning, or simply lemon and parsley is amazing.

Chard is in season at the moment and is beautiful cooked this way, but if you can’t get any then spinach cooked in the same way is just as good.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 large hake fillets, pin boned and skin left on

500g new potatoes

4 tbsp fresh tarragon leaves, roughly chopped

1 large garlic clove, finely chopped

3 tbsp olive oil

1 large handful red chard, thick stalks removed

2 anchovy fillets, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 lemon, juice only

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large knob butter

100g salted butter

1 garlic clove, very finely chopped

2 tbsp capers, drained and rinsed

100g brown shrimps

1 lemon, juice only

1 handful parsley, finely chopped

Salt and pepper

First get the potatoes cooking by putting in a large saucepan of salted cold water and bring to the boil. Cook until tender, about 25 minutes, then drain and put back in the saucepan on the heat. Add the garlic, olive oil, tarragon and a good amount of seasoning, and crush the potatoes with a fork. I like quite a rough texture although it’s up to you how smooth you make them. Taste and adjust the seasoning, and add more oil or tarragon if needed. Keep warm while you prepare the rest of the dish.

While the potatoes are cooking, take your fish out of the fridge to get up to room temperature. Heat the oven to 180ºC. 

To cook the chard, heat the oil and butter in a large frying pan on a medium heat. Quickly fry the garlic and anchovy for a minute then add the chard. Keep turning with some tongs until it starts to wilt and soften, then add the lemon juice and seasoning. Taste and adjust then take off the heat. 

Season the fish well on both sides. Heat a non-stick frying pan to a medium heat and add a little olive oil. When hot, put the fillets skin-side down in the frying pan and cook for a few minutes, until the skin is golden and crisp. Still without turning, transfer the fish to an oven tray (or keep in the pan if suitable to go in the oven) and roast in the oven for 3-4 minutes, or until just cooked. 

While the fish is frying, make the butter sauce. Heat a small saucepan on a medium-high heat. When hot, add the butter and allow to froth and bubble. Wait until the butter has turned a brown colour and starts to smell nutty add the capers, garlic and shrimp. Cook for a minute, then add the lemon juice, parsley and seasoning. Taste and adjust. 

Heat up the chard and potatoes if necessary while the fish is cooking, then everything is ready to plate up. Put a nice pile of potatoes on the middle of the plate and top with some of the chard. Place the hake on top, and spoon a good amount of the butter sauce on top. Serve with a crisp white wine.  

Best birthday cake ever!

It was my birthday last week, and my girlfriend Katie promised to make me the best cake ever. She did not disappoint. When I arrived home from work on Saturday I was greeted with a large glass of prosecco and this thing of beauty. She is already the queen of the red velvet cake, and I assumed that it was another of those until I cut into it and was dazzled by the six amazing technicoloured layers. 

Needless to say that I was blown away, and it tasted every bit as good as it looked. Thank you so much darling!

Recipe is courtesy of Lady Aga’s amazing blog at http://www.lady-aga.com/post/28411197091/rainbow-funfetti-cake I have only just discoved it, and I will certainly be trying out many of the recipes that she has written!  

It’s Katie’s birthday at the beginning of October, and I’m nervous (shitting myself) and excited at the challenge of making her something that will nearly match it! 

I’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking...

Pork and black pudding sausage rolls with homemade piccalilli

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like a sausage roll. I grew up as a kid eating them whilst watching the sport on a Saturday afternoon, bought from the supermarket and eaten hot out of the oven. They are comforting and delicious, and perfect for an autumnal dinner or simply as a snack.

Making them at home allows you to tailor them to exactly how you want them to taste and look. You can make really quick sausage rolls by using your favourite sausages, removing the skins and rolling in shop bought puff pastry, but the taste and texture that you can create by adding the other ingredients can be amazing. I have put pieces of black pudding running through mine as I love the earthy undercurrent that you get with each mouthful and the look of them once cut open, but the combinations you use are really up to you. You could add chilli powder to make them really spicy, or spoon onion marmalade next to the filling mixture before sealing the pastry and baking. Vegetarians can substitute the pork filling with a mushroom pate, butternut squash, goat’s cheese etc. with great results. 

I was always told not to waste my time making puff pastry and to buy it from the shops instead, and for years I did. But recently I have really got into making my pastry and would recommend giving it a go. The texture and taste is so much better, and it doesn’t take that long to make. You can make everything else while the pastry is resting, so you can have sausage rolls in the oven in under two hours. Once you have mastered making puff pastry it is quick and easy, and can be used for loads of other things like pies, tarts and pasties. It’s worth making big batches of it and keeping in the freezer, then it’s just a case of thawing it out and you have a quick and amazing dinner. 

Preserves such as jam and marmalade are always better when made at home, and piccalilli is just the same. And it is so easy too! A lot of these things need weeks after making to mature before you can finally eat them. This recipe is better after weeks or months in the fridge, but if you cannot wait then it is still great once cooked. I’ve still got loads left over from my last batch and it is fantastic with cheese and all sorts of hot and cold meats. If put into properly sterilised jars, it will keep for a good year so it’s worth making loads. If you have too much then it it is great as a present too!

Makes 12 large sausage rolls

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

250g plain flour

1 good pinch course sea salt

1/2tsp baking powder

225g salted butter, cubed and very cold

150ml milk

1 egg, beaten

For the sausage filling:

500g sausagemeat

250g good black pudding, cut into large rough chunks

2 medium onions, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

10 sprigs thyme, leaves picked

1 handful parsley, finely chopped

1 large carrot, grated

1tsp cumin seeds, toasted

1tbsp smoked paprika

Salt and pepper

For the piccalilli:

1 head cauliflower, cut into very small florets 

2 onions, chopped into small dice

200g french beans, chopped 

2 carrots, cut into 1cm dice

1/2 cucumber, seeded and cut into 1cm dice

1 chilli, seeds removed and finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

700ml malt vingear

150ml white wine vinegar

50g caster sugar

2tbsp ground coriander 

3tbsp English mustard powder

3tbsp plain flour

1 tbsp ground turmeric

Salt and pepper

First make the piccalilli. In a very large saucepan heat up the malt vinegar. When boiling, add the cauliflower, carrots and onion for a few minutes, until slightly soft. Add the chilli, cucumber, beans, garlic and sugar and cook for another 2 minutes, before draining carefully and collecting the vinegar. In a separate bowl, whisk the mustard, flour, turmeric, coriander, white wine vinegar and a good amount of seasoning until smooth.

Put the spice and vinegar mixture into the now empty saucepan and heat up on a medium flame. When hot, whisk in the malt vinegar in three goes until well combined. Bring to the boil and allow to reduce until thickened slightly, stirring occasionally to stop catching the bottom of the pan. When the mixture coats the back of a spoon, taste and add more salt if needed, before adding the cooked vegetables and mixing through. Remove from the heat and pour into a large sterilised kilner jar. Seal the lid and once cool refrigerate. 

To make the puff pastry for the sausage rolls, put the flour, butter cubes, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Mix quickly with spoon but do not combine, then add the milk and stir together. The dough should look stodgy and uncombined, with the lumps of butter still solid in the mixture. Tip out onto a really well floured surface and work the mixture into a rough 30cm square. Fold the square in by thirds, then repeat the rolling and the folding process. At this point the dough will be really difficult to work, and will look like a dodgy omelette, but have faith as it will combine by the end. Wrap the folded dough in clingfilm and put in the fridge for half an hour. Repeat the rolling and chilling twice more and the dough is ready to use (or freeze if not using straight away). 

While the dough is chilling, make the sausage filling. Fry the onions, garlic and thyme leaves in a little oil and butter gently until soft, about 10-15 minutes, then allow to cool. Put the sausage meat, black pudding chunks, grated carrot, cumin, paprika, parsley, the cooled onion mixture and seasoning into a large mixing bowl and combine well. Heat up a small frying pan with a little oil and fry a small patty of the filling mixture for a couple of minutes each side until cooked through. Taste the patty and adjust any of the flavours and seasoning. 

Roll the finished pastry into two 30cm x 20cm pieces, and form a line of the filling mixture a third of the way into each sheet. Brush the pastry with a little water and carefully fold over, keeping it tight to the filling before crimping the two pieces together with your fingers. Cut into pieces as large as required and place onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Slash the top of each sausage roll with a sharp knife and brush all over with the beaten egg.

Cook in an oven heated to 180ºC (fan) for about 40 minutes and serve with a large dollop of the piccalilli and a nice green salad. Any uncooked sausage rolls will keep in the fridge for a couple of days and will make a really quick lunch or dinner. 

Scallop and crab ravioli with basil oil, tomatoes and fennel fronds

When I cooked crab for this blog a couple of months ago, it made me realise that I really don’t eat enough of it. It ticks all of the boxes, with wonderful sweet flavour, great sustainability and reasonably priced. On that occasion I served it very simply, boiled and then eaten with fresh bread and lemony mayo. While this was delicious, it also inspired me to think of loads of other ways to use it; crab tian, crab roll, crab linguine, crab green thai curry... you get the picture! 

Crab ravioli is a really lovely way to make the most out of fresh crab, with light fresh summery flavours. Cooking a fresh live crab and then making pasta may seem like a major hassle, especially for a starter, but there are loads of ways that you can turn it into a quicker meal. When I tested the recipe for this blog I made it as a midweek, after work meal. To save time, the crab can be cooked in advance, or you can buy one that has been already cooked and dressed from a decent fishmonger. Once you have this, the only time consuming thing is making the pasta, but after a few practices this process speeds up dramatically. To make the meal really quick, you can even make the ravioli well in advance and freeze it until needed. This would be great for when having friends over as all you have to do is thaw it out and prepare the finishing touches. 

Skinning tomatoes and adding fennel fronds may also seem like too much work, but it is all worth it. By discarding the bitter skin and seeds you are left with just the sweet flesh, and the texture harmonises with everything else on the plate. The fennel adds a subtle, fresh flavour and makes the dish look delicate and inviting. 

Scallops and crab are both very delicate flavours, and mixing them with lemon, chilli and herbs lets that flavour really shine through. As with sourcing anything, try and find local, independent suppliers who will often be able to give you the best quality produce. I only use a little of the brown crab meat in this recipe, spread the leftovers on hot toast with a squeeze of lemon.

Serves 4 

Ingredients:

For the pasta:

400g strong 00 flour

4 eggs

salt and pepper

For the filling:

1 crab, cooked, white and brown meat removed

8 scallops

2 small red chillies, finely chopped (or to taste)

2 lemons, juice only

Small handful parsley, finely chopped 

40g butter, melted

To finish:

4 tomatoes

1 small chilli, finely chopped

Large handful fresh basil

Extra virgin olive oil

1 lemon, juice only

Fennel fronds 

Rocket leaves (optional)

Make your pasta by putting the flour, eggs, a good pinch of salt and olive oil in a food processor, and blitz until the mix looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Tip everything out onto a floured surface and knead together until the dough has an elastic texture but is not sticky. Knead in a little flour if necessary. Wrap in cling film and put in the fridge for at least half an hour to rest.

While the pasta is resting, make the ravioli filling. Put all of the white crab meat and 2 tbsp of the brown meat into a bowl, and add the chilli, parlsley, half the lemon juice and salt and pepper. Mix well and stir in the cool melted butter. Taste the mixture before you add the raw scallops and adjust with the remaining lemon, you want to slightly over-season the mixture to cater for this. Chop the scallops, but not too finely as you want the cooked filling to have texture. Mix everything together for a final time and set aside.

After you have made the filling and once rested, remove the pasta dough from the fridge. Using your pasta machine, roll the dough through until it’s at it’s finest setting and you are left with a long sheet - you want the finished ravioli to have nice thin pasta.

Roughly mark on one of the pasta sheets with the pastry cutter that you are using for your ravioli. Carefully place a spoonful of the filling mixture in the middle of each marking. Brush a little water on the pasta sheet around the filling and then place the other sheet on top. Gently seal the pasta around each pile of filling, making sure that no air bubbles are left. Using the pastry cutter, cut through the pasta around each filling until you are left with the finished ravioli parcels. If you don’t have a pastry cutter then you can just use a knife - traditionally they are square shaped anyway. Dust with a little flour and place on greaseproof paper; they can now be refrigerated until needed or frozen.

Fill a small saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Score a small cross in the bottom of each tomato and drop into the water for 10-20 seconds, or until the scores in the skin start to expand down the sides. Remove the tomatoes from the water and peel off the skin, then cut into quarters. Spoon out the seeds and discard with the skin. You will now be left with the flesh. Cut into very small squares and put into a small bowl. Add the finely chopped chilli, salt and pepper and a little olive oil. Taste, season and set aside. 

To make the basil oil, blitz the basil with the lemon juice, salt and pepper and a little extra virgin olive oil in a food processor until finely chopped and smooth. Adjust the seasoning and pour into a bowl. 

Bring a large saucepan of very salty water to the boil. 

When ready to cook, drop the ravioli into the boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes. When cooked, remove from the water onto heated plates. Quickly drizzle over the basil oil and spoon over the tomatoes, making sure each ravioli gets some. Decorate with the fennel fronds and rocket if using, pour over a little more extra virgin olive oil and serve.

Everything bagels

A soft, chewy bagel stuffed with cream cheese, smoked salmon, dill and lemon has got to be up there as one of my favourite things to have for lunch. In London I am spoilt for choice with the amount of bakeries making them just a stones throw from my flat, often open around the clock for when that bagel craving comes a knocking. After a couple of drinks, a salt beef bagel from Brick Lane beats any kebab hands down!

As I have written on this blog before, I’m still a bit of a novice when it comes to bread making. I can bake a simple white loaf, but am yet to experiment with more advanced things like sourdoughs or ryes. I thought that bagels would be really difficult to make at home, but after a couple of attempts they are a doddle. Bread has a reputation for taking ages, but in reality most of this time is just waiting for the dough to prove. If you’re at home anyway it isn’t much extra effort, and so worth it when that glorious baking smell fills the flat.

I started making bagels using Dan Lepard’s recipe from his excellent book Short and Sweet. I cannot think of a more ironic title for this huge book, containing over 500 pages of fantastic breads, cakes and pastries. I have adapted this recipe by adding the roasted onions and garlic, reducing the yeast and water and by changing the baking methods slightly to create a bagel that is perfect for me. I have also doubled his quantities to make larger bagels. The best thing about this recipe (and most other bread recipes) is that it can be tailored to exactly how you want it. They would also be delicious with lots of dill, sun-dried tomatoes or even a hard cheese running through them. 

As for bagel fillings, the choice is yours. Aside from the smoked salmon or salt beef bagels that I love, they are also great with a soft cheese such as Tunworth or just simply toasted with loads of salty butter. If you go for the smoked salmon, it’s well worth searching out produce from Hansen and Lyndersen’s amazing North London smokery.

Makes 14

Ingredients:

1kg strong white bread flour

3 large onions, cut into large wedges

2 tbsp brown sugar

12 cloves garlic, left whole and unpeeled

12 sprigs of thyme

4 tbsp sesame seeds, plus more for sprinkling over the top

4 tbsp poppy seeds, plus more for sprinkling over the top 

1 1/2 tsp dried yeast

2 tbsp caster sugar

2 large pinches salt

500ml warm water

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

Olive oil

For the poaching:

50g brown sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC.

Put the onions, garlic and thyme into a large oven tray and toss in a little olive oil and seasoning. Roast in the hot oven for 20 minutes before removing the softened garlic and scattering the 2 tbsp brown sugar over the remaining onions. Put the onions back in the oven for another 10-20 minutes until soft and golden. Peel the skins from the garlic cloves and chop finely with the cooked onions. Allow to cool. 

Mix the flour, yeast, salt, caster sugar, seeds and cooled roasted onions and garlic in a large mixing bowl. Add the water and vinegar and combine until the mixture forms a firm dough, before covering the bowl with a cloth and leaving for 10 minutes. Once rested, knead the dough for 10 seconds on an oiled surface and then return again to the bowl. At this point the dough will still be quite sticky, but it will firm up by the end. Repeat the kneading and resting process twice more before allowing the dough to rest in the bowl for 1 1/2 hours. 

Using your hands, portion the dough out to the size that you want each bagel to be. This recipe makes around 14 large bagels. Shape each piece into a ball by rolling it on the work surface with one hand, cover loosely with cling film and allow to prove again for 20 minutes. 

Heat up a large saucepan of water, adding the brown sugar when it reaches a rolling boil. Put the oven on to 200ºC. Line a couple of baking trays with greaseproof paper and scatter over some seeds.

Once the dough balls have proved for the final time you can make them into bagel shapes. With lightly oiled hands, poke your fingers through the middle and ease the dough outwards. 

Carefully drop the bagels in small batches into the boiling water for a minute before turning and allowing the same on the other side. Remove and place on the lined and seeded baking trays. Sprinkle more seeds and salt over the tops and they are ready to bake. 

Place the baking trays on the top shelves of the pre-heated oven, and tip a small glass of tap water into the bottom of the oven before closing the door. The water will steam up and keep the outsides of the bagels nice and soft. Remove from the oven after 20 minutes and allow to cool slightly on a rack if you can resist for long enough!

Courgette flowers stuffed with goat’s cheese, oregano and lemon with a tomato and sombrasada dipping sauce

I first tried courgette flowers a few years ago, randomly enough from a food stall at a Cornish music festival, and have always wanted to have a crack at cooking them myself. They are one of the only things that manage to turn what is basically deep fried cheese into something delicate and beautiful. They also have the wow factor, but despite looking complicated, with a little care they are really easy to make. 

The only difficult thing about courgette flowers can be getting hold of them. Only very good greengrocers and food markets will stock them, and when you do find them they can be quite expensive. The most satisfying and cheapest way would be to grow them yourself. I had high hopes of doing that this year, but my plans were scuppered by hungry slugs with educated palates. So with my tail firmly between my legs I found myself walking to Borough Market, knowing if anywhere would have them it would be there. 

There are some really fantastic food markets and local suppliers in London and around the country, and they often have a much wider range of great quality produce than you would find at the supermarket. My trip to Borough didn’t disappoint: it really is a mecca of food produce that cannot fail to inspire. I had to control myself and remain disciplined to the recipe in hand, and I emerged with a bag of ingredients that had me excited to get home and start cooking. 

As well as the courgette flowers, I also needed to find ingredients for the stuffing and the dipping sauce. The cheesemonger recommended that I used a soft goat’s cheese from Poitou Charentes, which has a sweet and mild taste to complement the courgette. With that bought, all I had to find was something to flavour the dipping sauce. Originally when planning this recipe, I wanted to get hold of some ‘nduja sausage, which is a spicy spreadable salami from Calabria. On this occasion I couldn’t find any, but upon stopping at a Spanish delicatessen I saw some sombrasada, which looked like it would fit the bill perfectly. This is a soft chorizo that has similar qualities to ‘nduja, and I knew that it would melt through my sauce giving it a strong, hot flavour. 

Courgette flowers are seasonal, and you can only really source them in the summer. With this in mind I urge you to make the most of them over the next month or so!

Serves 2

Ingredients:

For the courgette flowers:

4 courgette flowers

200g soft goat’s cheese, I used a Poitou-Chareutes

1 lemon, zest and juice of half

5 sprigs fresh oregano, leaves picked and finely chopped

20g parmesan, finely grated

Salt and pepper

1.5 litres vegetable oil  for deep frying

For the dipping sauce:

120g sombrasada, skin removed and roughly chopped

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 small red chilli, finely chopped

2 anchovy filllets, finely chopped

2 handfuls good quality cherry tomatoes, quartered

Salt and pepper

2 tbsp olive oil

For the light batter:

100g plain flour

200ml sparkling water

salt and pepper

First get the dipping sauce on. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan (one with a lid) to a medium heat, and when hot add the shallots, garlic and chilli. When they soften, add the sombrasada and anchovies and cook for another couple of minutes. Finally add the cherry tomatoes and season well, mix everything together and put the lid on the pan. After 15 minutes, the tomatoes will be dissolving and the mixture will be looking like more of a sauce. After another 5 minutes transfer the contents into a food processor and blitz until smooth, adding a little water if if needs thinning down. Season and adjust if needed, before  pouring the mixture into a saucepan to be heated up later. 

While the sauce is cooking make the batter. Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl, mix with a good amount of seasoning before slowly whisking in the sparkling water. Once the batter is thoroughly mixed and the thickness of double cream cover and allow to rest for 30 minutes. 

To make the filling for the courgette flowers, mash the goat’s cheese, lemon juice and zest together with a fork to loosen slightly.  Mix in the oregano, parmesan and seasoning before tasting and setting aside. 

Pour the frying oil into a large, heavy saucepan and heat up to 170ºC.

To prepare the courgette flowers, carefully part the petals until you can just squeeze your fingers through to remove the stamen. Spoon your filling mixture into a piping bag, and once any air pockets have been removed, carefully squeeze in the filling. You want enough filling in each flower to create a nice full pocket, but not too much that you can’t fully seal with the petals. Repeat until all flowers have been filled, trimming the ends of the courgettes if necessary at the same time. 

Put the saucepan containing the dipping sauce onto a low-medium heat and gently warm up.

When the oil is hot, very carefully dip the courgette flowers into the batter mixture, making sure they are completely covered. Allow any excess to drip off before lowering into the hot oil. Quickly repeat with another. I usually do this in batches of 2 flowers to stop them sticking together. Cook for a few minutes, or until the batter turns a light golden colour before removing from the oil and draining on kitchen paper. 

When all of the courgette flowers are cooked, arrange 2 on each plate, adding a small bowl of the dipping sauce and a few fresh oregano leaves. 

Any leftover dipping sauce can be used as a fantastic base for a pasta sauce or soup, and goes particularly well with butternut squash.

Restaurant review: Homa, Stoke Newington

Church Street in Stoke Newington is home to every kind of food you could want to eat; whether you want a greasy spoon or a Mexican where the cocktails have you numb before the starters even arrive. In the year that I have lived here I have enjoyed many breakfasts, lunches and dinners along this road, but in reality I have barely scratched the surface. Homa resides in a striking, grand building half way along, sitting back from the pavement and the daily buggy rally that takes place. While the rest of the street has a mostly humble, family-run appearance, Homa has a polished, architecturally designed front, which initially I took for arrogance over quality, and avoided paying a visit. It was only last sunday that I finally got round to walking up the steps and through the door. 

The architects did a grand job; the inside is airy and light from large windows and beautiful hanging lights. Tables were spaced fairly to give a sense of privacy, but also gave the place a real bustle when filled. We were quickly allocated a place to sit and felt welcomed, and in my case, surprised that my initial assumptions might well have been wrong. 

The menu was both unique and enticing, and immediately noticeable was the promise of good food, and the price that would create a massive disappointment if it failed to live up. Booze with breakfast seemed apt for the setting, so we both opted for champagne with our juice and flat white, with Katie going for the muffins and eggs royale whilst I opted for the bacon and poached eggs with pea and mint cake. 

Once we ordered the drinks arrived quickly, and we enjoyed the ambience of sitting in a lovely space with the sun shining through the window, and the eager expectation of what was to come. The champagne was good, as was the coffee, but both were well exhausted and there was still no sign of the food. We couldn’t quite work it out, it wasn’t full and there were seemingly plenty of staff around, none of whom came to explain a delay. This wait proved to be the only slight downside of the morning, but having worked in these kinds of environments, I fully understand that these things happen. And like I said, it was a lovely place to sit, and so a ten or so extra minutes didn’t cause an upset.

Then the food arrived and everything was forgotten. I’m a huge fan of an over the top breakfast, one that sprawls onto two or even three plates and leaves you groaning. If it includes chips all the better. But this was a totally different class of breakfast; clean, elegant and dainty, leaving us simultaneously ‘wow’ing. The taste matched; my strong cured bacon balanced with the mellow, herby croquette and the rich, runny yolk. Despite mine being lovely, I also had food envy of Katie’s choice. A forked stack of her royale was a joy, perfectly brought together by a smooth and zingy hollandaise. 

We scraped every last bit off our plates, and had a touch of disappointment that it was over. But a stacked pile would have been out of place, and they have it bang on. The bustle had thinned by the time we finished, and with this the service was a breeze. I left eating my words, and wishing that I hadn’t left it this long before giving it a try. I will still crave a full english, but for a special occasion I will be straight back. I will also be back for dinner, which offers a casual pizza oven or more refined selection. Judging by breakfast, I’m sure it’ll be incredible.