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Friday, 26 February 2016

Brunch O'Clock

On account of my bizarre work "schedule", I actually struggle to make it out for food most weekends during that magical window of opportunity, but I have managed to squeeze in a few breakfast-lunch hybrids recently. Here's some inspiration for the weekend ahead. Ready, set. BRUNCH.

Warning : This post contains strong coffee and scenes of an eggporn nature...

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Salon, Brixton - The One That Takes Reservations

Surely not, right? No one takes reservations anymore. ESPECIALLY for brunch. Alright then, if you say so - see you tomorrow at 10.45 - "Isn't that still breakfast time?" (Flatmate M).

And just like that, the wait for a table was gone. Five of us rocked up to the lovely Salon in Brixton's Market Row on a Saturday morning for a spot of brunch ahead of an afternoon at Beavertown Brewery's birthday party - Flickr photos here.

In the evenings (Tue-Sat), Salon has a serious set menuto get stuck in to (£33/head at the time of writing) . The most recent list I saw had such delights as burata with blood orange, bitter leaves and hazelnuts and scallop with 'nduja, burnt apple, and grilled leek. Seasonal and inventive is their thing, and this also applies to their wonderful, affordable brunch menu.

Here's what you should look out for:

- Warm banana bread, hazelnut ganache - £3.50

- Smashed avo on toast, super seeds & pickled chilli with smoked pig's cheek lardons - £6.50

- Scrambled eggs & 'nduja on toast - £6.50

- Roast mushrooms, pickled shallots & cow's curd on toast - £7.50

- Three cheese cornbread, shredded ham hock, chipotlé slaw, poached duck egg - £9

If you ask nicely, they might just bring you some of their rather excellent sourdough doughnuts too...

Warm banana bread, hazelnut ganache - £3.50

Three cheese cornbread, shredded ham hock, chipotlé slaw, poached duck egg - £9

Scrambled eggs & 'nduja on toast - £6.50

Smashed avo on toast, super seeds & pickled chilli with smoked pig's cheek lardons - £6.50

Salon's sourdough doughnuts

Sourdough doughnuts and flat whites

We had a roomy table to ourselves, we didn't feel rushed, portions were generous, and everything was under a tenner. Bloody Marys are £5.50 compared to £15 at Duck & Waffle. What's the catch?

...

No catch. Salon is the real brunch deal. I even went back the following week for more banana bread and doughnuts. Don't miss the 'nduja scrambled eggs - they're something else.

Did I mention that you can book? Call ahead on 02075019152 if you still remember how to ring people from your smartphone.

Salon - www.salonbrixton.co.uk

18 Market Row, Brixton, SW9 8LD

Photos on Flickr - click here

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Fields, Clapham Common - The One That's Literally In A Field

Fields is a funny little place, standing all alone on Clapham Common, like the poor kid that's been left behind after team captains have chosen their players. Except that on this occasion, they foolishly overlooked Lionel Messi, for there is some magical stuff going on in this tiny kitchen from the folk behind the outrageously popular Milk in Balham (another super brunch spot).

The menu is ever changing, but one dish that is always bound to be on there is their outstanding plate of poached eggs with Workshop Coffee's Cult of Done espresso hollandaise, and drycure bacon (or Hansen & Lydersen salmon) - one of the finest brunch dishes in the capital. There will also be a fair few smoked ingredients, as they do a lot of smoking on-site.

Here are some enticing examples from my most recent visit:

- Sprouted grain granola, suffolk yoghurt, smoked cos apple, cardamom, filo - £7.50

- Sourdough croque madame, gloucester old spot ham, smoked egg yolk, emmental - £9.50

- Carribean doubles, chickpea, plantain, tamarind ketchup, cucumber pickle - £8

- Ghetto omelette, seared wild mushrooms, burnt brie, black garlic marjoram - £9.20

- Masa breakfast taco, grilled octopus, smoked pumpkin mayo, spring green slawo - £9.20

- Peat-smoked lardy cake - £2.50 // - Pandan softserve & toffee popcorn - £3

Sourdough croque madame, gloucester old spot ham, smoked egg yolk, emmental - £9.50

Poached eggs with cult of done espresso hollandaise & drycure bacon - £8.50

Pandan softserve & toffee popcorn - £3

Fields is currently only open Friday-Sunday, from 9am-5pm (4pm on Friday), but check the website before you go to be safe. Wrap up warm, there's more space outdoors than in, and it's not the cosiest of cafés. But you'd be a fool to skip it on those grounds.

Fields - www.fieldscafe.com

2 Rookery Road, Clapham Common, SW4 9DD

Photos on Flickr - click here

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Flour To The People, Battersea - The One At The End Of My Road

No matter what I throw at you, your ideal brunch spot is probably still the one at the end of your road, right? In my case, that's Flour To The People on Battersea Park Road, a snug sourdough bakery and brunch café with see-through toasters on every table.

If you want your money to go a long way, order Toast To The People - for £6.95, you have access to an endless supply of freshly baked sourdough, plus two sides, and homemade spreads. Alternatively, I can recommend the Eggs Benedict-ish that involves bacon, eggs, hollandaise and their own sourdough crumpets, and the Avo & Egg Slam - smashed avo, sweet chilli, lime, feta, and two poached eggs on sourdough. Both dishes are pictured below.

Avo & Egg Slam - smashed avocado with sweet chilli, lime, feta & two poached eggs on sourdough - £9.90

Eggs Benedict-ish - sourdough crumpets, 2 eggs, bacon & house made hollandaise - £8.75

Tie it in with a visit to Park Road Kitchen, Draft House Westbridge, Battersea Flower Station, and La Moka Café to make the most of an awkward trip. Swing by Battersea Park for a round of minigolf afterwards too. If you are still in the area come the evening, Flour To The People have just started serving sourdough pizzas from 5pm-10pm. Read more here.

Flour To The People - www.flour2people.com

Breakfast / brunch served everyday from 8am

573 Battersea Park Road, Battersea, SW11 3BJ

Photos on Flickr - click here

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Here's a few more thoughts from my back catalogue / to-do list...

If you want to start early, get over to Dishoom from 8am on weekdays and 9am on weekends for their bacon naan rolls and chai. Pimlico Fresh's french toast is second to none, and they open at 7.30am on weekdays (9am on weekends). Also, Ember Yard & Dehesa in Soho have just launched an enticing breakfast menu - read more here. Of course, Duck and Waffle is there for you at all hours!

Eggporn at Duck & Waffle

If you can make it through to 12pm, you should also get yourself over to Brunswick House in Vauxhall for their "weekend lunch", or Donostia Social Club in Pop Brixton as it opens, before the crowds descend.

Brunswick House

Donostia Social Club on Flickr

Top of my to-do list is The Good Egg in Stoke Newington. After a couple of successful years on the street food & popup scene, Joel Braham, Alex Coppard & co. successfully crowdfunded and opened an all-day Jewish soul food spot on Church Street. Pretty ashamed I haven't been in to say hello yet!

Elsewhere, exciting brunch menus have appeared at Berber & Q, The Other Room, Shotgun. Street Kitchen London Fields, Kricket, and more.

If you are more of a lie-in and Sunday roast fan, then look no further than Blacklock and Zelman Meats in Soho. Sorted.

Zelman Meats photos on Flickr

Happy eating!

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P.S. You may have noticed the word Flickr flying around. I've just started putting photos up there, and I will be updating it most days so please check it out here, and follow me if you have a Flickr account!

Crater Lake, Oregon

Sunday, 10 January 2016

Brunch & Lunch at The Delicatessen x The Dairy - Sunday Roasts at Blacklock - Photos

Happy New Year one and all! Around about this time last year, I put up a mega 2014 Highlights post. Hopefully a 2015 edition will emerge at some point, but until then, it's business as usual. Food, drink, travel, photography, and a huge backlog.

That said, there are couple of new things to report before we get to some Christmas leftovers. First up, I'm happy to report that Map The List : London is now a lot easier to use on Google Maps (if you have a Google account of some sort).

You can now overlay saved maps on Google Maps which means that you can access them quickly (minimal loading time) on your smartphone or your browser. All you have to do is click on the little star next to the Map The List : London title on the map below. Map The List : London should then appear in your Google Maps, under either "Your Places" or "My Maps". Let me know if you have any problems with this.

P.S. If you are planning trips to Edinburgh, Paris, Berlin, New York, Toronto, Chicago, Minneapolis, LA, San Francisco, Portland (OR), or Seattle, I have maps for all of them too! You can find travel snaps on Instagram by looking for the #MattTheTrips hashtag.

Secondly, for the last few months, I've been quietly working with a small group of foodie friends on a new website called London Cheap Eats - LondonCheapEats.com - headed up by the wonderful Leyla Kazim. It's an insider guide to eating out in London for £8 or less, and the website goes live TODAY (January 11th)! All will become clear once it has launched, but you can get involved by following us on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, and by signing up for the newsletter on the website!

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Robin Gill and co. are responsible for three of London's finest restaurants - The Dairy, The Manor, and Paradise Garage. The original outpost, The Dairy in Clapham Common, is well known for its use of fresh ingredients, many of which are grown on the rooftop; so it wasn't a big surprise when they opened up The Delicatessen next door.

From Tuesday-Friday, you can drop in from 8am (for next level bacon rolls) right through to 7pm (for whatever's left, plus a couple of craft beers). On a recent lunch visit, we demolished one of their generous £6 Salt Beef Sandwiches (#londoncheapeats alert!) plus a portion of Chef de Partie Laoise's comforting Lamb Hotpot. Every day, there's a different hot lunch special that comes in around the £6 mark. They are open at the weekend too, but I'll get to that...

Salt Beef, Smoked Bone Marrow Butter, Pickles, Mustard, Fresh Sourdough

Roast Brassica Salad with Cauliflower, Romanesco & Spinach

Laoise's Lamb Hotpot

If you are lucky, you might grab one of the al fresco tables (in the soon to be heated front garden), but everything is designed to be taken away. Before you leave, you should stock up on rooftop honey, and I strongly urge you to get a fresh sourdough roll with some of their smoked aubergine dip - hard to beat.

Starship Enterprise bread?

Balcony Bread from The Delicatessen

Now, at the weekend, The Delicatessen is still open, but in an exciting development, they are now running a brunch next door at The Dairy, for walk-ins only, from 10am to 12.45pm. With Fields and Brickwood round the corner too, locals have never had it so good!

Ella and I went along for the first brunch service in December last year and briefly had the whole room to ourselves - an unfamiliar situation as The Dairy books up weeks in advance for dinner.

The Dairy in the morning

The Delicatessen Brunch at The Dairy

The Dairy

Janine's Ketchup - available to buy in The Delicatessen

You can keep it simple with The Deli's smashed avocado, or homemade jam on Guinness soda bread, but one dish should always be prescribed - a comforting, moreish bowl of spiced butterbeans and chorizo, with Tilly's Farm soft egg, hollandaise sauce, and sourdough crumb. No chewing required. Wash down with Mimosas and a coffee. The homemade hazelnut granola with poached quince and yoghurt is also rather delicious. Grab a friend or two and go and see for yourself!

Spiced Butterbeans & Chorizo, Tilly's Farm Soft Egg, Hollandaise Sauce, Sourdough Crumb

Snap

The Delicatessen & The Dairy - www.the-delicatessen.co.uk

5-16 The Pavement, Clapham Old Town, SW4 0HY

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If you don't make it out of the house in time for Sunday brunch, a massive roast is a pretty strong backup plan. They don't come much bigger (or better) than the offering at Blacklock in Soho.

As with the regular menu, your best bet is to go "all in" for £20 a head (minimum 2 people). On Sundays (from 12pm-5pm I believe), this entitles you to an absurd amount of beef, lamb and pork, roasted over English oak, plus a tonne of outstanding duck-fat roasted potatoes (almost as good as your Mum's), a mammoth Yorkshire pud, heritage carrots, sprouting broccoli, and your own personal jug of bone marrow gravy.

Oh yeah, and two sides. Because all of those other things are trimmings, not sides. We chucked in a rich cauliflower cheese, and some roots and gremolata. That is obviously enough food for two, but there are also tempting starters of grilled bone marrow with horseradish, and wood roasted scallops with black pudding, if you fancy yourself as a competitive eater. Good luck to you.

Grilled Bone Marrow with Grated Horseradish with

Cauliflower Cheese

All the meat

All the meat and all the trimmings

£5 Negronis, smartly chosen beers, and affordable wines all add to the fun, pushing the spend per head north of £30, but you won't need to eat again for a couple of days, and it is Sunday after all. The only thing that's missing is Mum The List's rhubarb and apple crumble.