The Breakfast Club - Angel

Brunch. Good weather. Sunday...all three in their own right are pleasant. But together they're a pleasure!

I went for a spot of brunch with a friend (on their recommendation) at the branch of The Breakfast Club in Angel. The chain of little yellow cafes serving breakfast, brunch, light snacks, milkshakes and cocktails are worth a visit if you like the following:

• bizarre decorative interiors (think posters of 80s pop stars, furniture that doesn't match, massive cardboard cut-out of Elvis etc)
  
• friendly staff who wear false eyelashes, just cos they feel like it
• well made breakfasts, brunch and light snacks

Although the service was a bit slow - it was a Sunday at midday, their busiest time - the staff were helpful and infectiously happy. This may have been helped by the good weather, but I shan't complain.

I ordered the Eggs Florentine (£6.80) and a pot of Earl Grey tea, which was a treat! The salad garnish that accompanied it had a tangy dressing and the Hollandaise sauce was one of the nicest I've tasted. Not too strong to overpower the subtle flavours of the poached eggs and spinach. Yummy!



My friend Clara ordered the Scrambled Egg with Smoked Salmon on toast. This looked like a decent portion for £6.20 and well cooked. I'm not a fan of gooey scrambled eggs.


The only thing I regret was the food envy that kicked in when someone on the table next to us ordered a banana milkshake and the pancakes with fresh strawberries and blueberries. AND came with a separate pot of maple syrup to add however much you want! Why did I not order these?

This can only mean one thing...to go back and sample said pancakes and milkshakes. (There's a Cadbury's Caramel one!) Considering it was quite cramped inside, when I do go again I think it'll be to the branch in Old Street which is more spacious.

NB: You can check TheBrekkyClub on Twitter too.

Coffee Cake

The other weekend I went in search for a satisfactory place to have a spot of brunch in Crouch End, a hub of quaint cafes and boutique shops, so you'd think I'd have no problem finding somewhere. But no, the one I selected was a bit of a disappointment. I won't dwell on it as I don't really want to waste space on this little blog with places I've not enjoyed, but serving bog-standard wholemeal sliced bread from the local supermarket with warm chargrilled veg, causing it to go soggy and limp? Doesn't cut it I'm afraid.

Afterwards however, what really rubbed it in was when I wondered past another cafe called Coffee Cake, full of promise and delightful treats from both the savoury and sweet camps. This meant only one thing, returning to Crouch End to pay this place a visit in order to make up for the lacklustre effort I'd just experienced. So this Saturday I trundled my way back to the village within London and made a b-line down Broadway Parade for Coffee Cake. Upon entering, I couldn't help but feel a little like a kid in a sweet shop, and would've quite happily run up to the counter and scoffed my face with the dangerous looking deserts, had my sensible side not kicked in and made me head for a table in a reserved manner - damn you sensible side! 

The menu is listed on the several blackboards on the brick walls though it's more enjoyable if you go and investigate what's on display to choose what you want. I opted for the crayfish and spinach tart with black-eye-pea, farro, spinach and garden pea salad, which came to around £6.50. Not a winner on the budget front, but so very worth it. My friend had some of the baked salmon with chili and a choice of three salads: I think sweet potato, a Bhutanese red rice one and mozzarella, spinach and fig salad. There were about ten different tarts and quiches, eight different salads, sour dough breads and pastries and that doesn't even touch upon the breakfast menu. (I spied the people next to us having generous portions of eggs Benedict). 

Pretty much everything you see on display is available for take-away, which is an added bonus as it meant I could take home a gorgeous looking sweet thing that was probably terribly bad for me. I didn't do things by halves either when ordering some of the apple and rhubarb crumble. How was I to know I'd be given a portion of epic proportions?! I'd like to think I couldn't possibly have eaten the whole thing myself had I not offered some of it...but deep down I know I would've polished the lot.

I'd recommend heading here either for brunch or a large late lunch. The staff are very welcoming, it's quite family friendly as well as an ideal place to catch up with a friend, and surprisingly it doesn't get too busy even for a Saturday. My only qualm would be that the coffee is more bland than blend, and wasn't hot enough when we received it - I probably should've gone for one of the freshly made juices or smoothies. Ah well, next time me thinks.