Head Souf for the Winter

picture from www.number67.co.uk

Birds do it. Bees do it (well actually they don't according to Mr Beedub) but Antipodians most definitely do it whenever possible. I am referring my friends, to the pursuit of happiness and sun...         

 

flying South for the Winter.

 

 

 As the winter mizzle is finally starting to descend on The Island once more, I dusted off the Shengan Visa today and went Souf. Not to Gatwick though, just past Vauxhall really, but far enough to find a peachy little cornucopia of breakfast happy. In case you are London based and haven't crossed the Thames for awhile, you like me, have been missing out.

 

picture from www.number67.co.uk

Thanks to the Tory induced housing boom, there are new pockets of gastronomic heaven mushrooming (on Toast) from Elephant and Castle to Dulwich. Well the London City folk do need to eat somewhere decent Dahling...

 

We picked one such pocket today and it was a cracker. In Camberwell.

 

The South London Gallery it turns out, is not only a respected haven for contemporary art, but in one corner, overlooking its gorgeous garden, there lives a little Cafe called No67.

 

picture from www.southlondongallery.org

Now the Daily Mail says 'Dinner at No67 is a wondrous, indulgent affair', but that ain't why I chose it. Its website had me at the dedicated link for 'Weekend Brunch' which when clicked, revealed creativity to rival the gallery curators next door. Even the full English has been lovingly recrafted into a sun seekers 'Full Spanglish' spiked with spicy chorizo and morcilla. Morcilla, in case you're wondering, is Spanish black pudding. Olé!

There are wonderful variations of all the breakfast favourites with the things you already love and expect from them, swapped for even more delicious things you don't instantly think of when you're banging around in your kitchen, but which make perfect sense and you wish you had. Pour example: why wouldn't you serve waffles with banana, honey AND almonds, figs and creme fraiche? Or be forced to choose between Eggs Royale and Florentine when you could have both combined. And with more morey morish Scottish cured trout instead of plain old salmon to boot? 

 

No67 don't just requirk old faithfuls, they also have plenty of their own inventions too. How about rare roast beef with drippings on toast? Dribblychopsmackyumptious! Even mini Londonites get some choices too. Exhibit A: 'tomato, pepper and cheese soldiers'. Is that not a genius way of sneaking two out of 'Five a Day' past your unsuspecting four year old?

 

But since today is technically Sinful Sunday, the dish I was looking for needed warmth and spice and calories. And be something I have never had before. Praise Be, I found it. It was a sneaky sucker though, I will admit. It would have been easy to breeze past the unassuming 'baked egg with tomato and pepper stew with sourdough' but luckily before the 'Welsh Rarebit' got me, I spotted the crafty option to add 'slow cooked pork'. If you've read The Undesputed Duke's of Hackney, you might remember that I have a rather unusual palate for mixing pork products with unexpected accompaniments, based in part on my Mum's rather eclectic sandwich making when I was growing up. It therefore was no surprise I loved the idea throwing juicy, tender pork together with tangy tomato, zingy pepper and with an egg cracked in to give it brunch legitimacy.

Pause for effect.

It most definitely lived up to its bubbling, rich, tummy tickling potential. And more.

 

One of the reasons I will definitely go back (aside from eating breakfast in the glorious garden in summer) is because they care about detail. The toast served with my breakfast, was beautiful hand baked sourdough, drizzled with deep green olive oil. The baked beans in the Spanglish were home made. The orange juice is so fresh you can chew it. And they do those cute leafy things on their lattes.

 

They also happen to play Rudimental. At the perfect volume to make you feel perky, but not too loud to upset your cutey baby nephew, perched in the clever Scandinavian stylee high chair they are happy to supply.

 

In short, No67 is hip and fun, but there isn't a whiff of pretension to be found. Just lovely jubbly breakfast that makes you smile.

 

And smile and maybe burp a little. Pardon me.

 

No67

67 Peckham Road

SE5 8UH

Website and Menu

How to Get There

 

 

PS get there early. Unfortunately others appear to have heard how great it is too.

Seventh Time Lucky

I have adventured to Lucky 7 a grand total of seven times, but inexplicably not managed to get it together enough to write about it. Ok I might be taking a wee bit of poetic license here. It's only six, but in context, that's more than any other breakfast joint in the world.

 

I should tell you straight off the bat that the reason I haven't waxed lyrical about it until now is not because it's a wrong 'un. Completely the opposite. It's simply because every time I have been there, it's been with friends as part of a lovely days ramble through Nottinghill from which I normally return sleepy and content and take a gigantic nap, only waking up in time for Strictly (I'm not going to lie, pub pit stops might also have been involved).

 

What I am trying to say in a clumsy way is that Lucky 7 is a cracking way to start your Saturday. Although I haven't done this personally (that's my story and I am sticking to it), I reckon it would also be a brilliant way to end a very Good Friday night too.

 

It's no secret that I love American Breakfasts or that I am obsessed with 50's style diners. I blame John Travolta and Olivia Newton John. And the fact that diners were in short supply in Zimbabwe where I grew up. So effectively for a Zimbo kid, Lucky 7 is Disneyland. With eggs.

 

But I digress and in the interests of making sure this actually gets posted, I'll keep this short and sweet: 

 

Seven things you should know about Lucky Seven

 

#1 It's miniscule and by 11 it's rammed, so if you're not a morning person and prefer your coffee in solitude and don't like breakfast speed dating, get there early or with a group big enough to fill a whole booth

#2 Screw that. Early on Saturdays is for joggers - embrace the 7's booth sharing policy and go when your stomach can handle a feast. You never know who you will scooch over for. Rumour has it Jude Law goes there.

#3 The loo is downstairs and if you, like me, are a glutton for coffee, make sure you sit on the outside of the booth otherwise you'll annoy Jude Law having to get up all the time for you.

#4 All the food is Fanbloodytastic. And I mean ALL of it. But if I had to choose...

#5 For a sweet tooth day - the Buttermilk Pancake maple syrupy goodness hands down. For hangover or bigass hunger days it has to be the Breakfast Burrito crammed full of scrambled eggs, black beans, salsa, guacamole and either bacon or chorizo (choose the chorizo, choose the chorizo!). Or you could have the flat version of the same - their spicy Heuvos Rancheros feast.

# 6 The menu calls coffee 'Cwoffee'. And they don't seem to get annoyed if you insist on ordering everything in a stupid faux accent

# 7 The staff and owner rock. And it might be because Jude Law is sitting at your table, but even though the service is speedy and the queue out the door massive, you never ever feel rushed.

After all that I have officially made my self hungry. I am off for a seventh time lucky Cwoffee...

Pictures are by my extremely talented friend LondonMeliss

Lucky 7
127 Westbourne Park Road 
W2 5QL
How to Get There
Website and Menu

 

Pão de Queijo or otherwise known as Cheesy Balls of Brazilian Heaven

Once upon a time when I was much, much younger (and skinnier), I travelled to the beautiful land of Brazil. My twenty something self arrived wide-eyed in Rio for an event, only to fall hopelessly in love with its beauty, people, crazy Joie de Vivre and of course, Beedub being Beedub, the food.

 

For its versatility, gooey decadence, heavenly smell and hangover busting properties, there was one particular food that captured my heart and soul. Each and every time I return to Brazil, I make it a personal ritual to feast on it daily at breakfast. 

 

Pão de Queijo as actually made by Beedub

Big praise indeed, but as far as I am concerned, these cheesy little balls of happiness deserve it all. I mentioned versatility and Pão de Queijo earn the accolade by starting their daily appearance at breakfast and literally popping up throughout the day at every meal as a starter, accompaniment or meal in themselves. Kingsmill sliced white loaf be damned I say - there is a lot to be learned from Brazilians about bread.

 

For me PdQ's are at their finest lovely and warm and squishy straight from the oven, enjoyed at breakfast accompanied by a delicious coffee or, if it's summer, a thirst quenching watermelon juice.

 

It's taken the better part of 14 years for me a). to pluck up the courage to attempt to make them and b).be at home long enough to risk trashing my kitchen in the attempt. As it happens, Life has kindly delivered me some time at home and inspiration all in one go and so a few days ago to ye olde faithful Google I went in search of a recipe.

 

After wading through two recipes, I discovered my first challenge. Pão de Queijo require tapioca flour. No clue what that is? You're not alone. Some more digging online revealed that it is the product of the cassava root (wahay), there is no substitute (boo) and it is not easy to find (double boo), but if you can find a Brazilian Supermarket or online food import store it's not impossible (yay). I went the online food store route so if you are in the UK I can recommend a goodie Melbury and Appleton (click orange text to go to website)

 

I also managed to bag Mr Beedub some coveted Franks Hot Wings Sauce and some lush chorizo in the same order which scored me major brownie points (and went some way to compensating for the trashed kitchen, but more on that later.

 

picture from www.thekitchn.com

Having patiently waiting for my tapioca flour to arrive, today was the day. I am not going to lie, my baking confidence was not high after a rather disastrous recent attempt at banana bread, but the thought of cheesy loveliness was enough to make me take the plunge. I don't know about you, but I find choosing recipes online quite intimidating. There are so many  Pão de Queijo recipes out there and I am sure most of them are good so how on earth do you choose? In the end my extremely scientific selection process was a follows:

Whose recipe had the picture that looked the most like I remembered them?

Which recipe didn't require a muffin tin as naturally I don't own one?

 

So recipe selected off I went. I am not going to rehash the recipe here as I would rather send you straight to the source, but I will give you a few tips that might help, if like me you are a virgin baker.

 

theKitchn ~ How to make Pao de Queijo (click orange text for recipe)

 

Beedub Feedback:

 

There are really helpful pictures with the recipe. Which I didn't see until now. Using them might, possibly, have been the practical thing to do.

 

I find measurements in cups quite scary as I have mahoosive cups which I don't think are correct. If you want to reduce your stress, buy yourself one of those official baking cup measuring thingies. Or the best I can suggest is to pick a reasonably sized cup and measure everything with same cup. If you happen to own Starbucks Mugs, don't, under any circumstances, use them. It can only end in pain. Not that I would know from personal experience...

 

In the first assembly step you wait for the milk and oil to come gently to the boil. Don't be afraid if the milk and oil look completely separate. Hang in there. Eventually they do froth together and if you remove at that point (with the big bubbles) it all seems to work out. Phew.

 

In Step 2 adding the flour to the boiled liquid, be prepared for mad kitchen mess and achy arms and panic that you have inadvertently created a substitute for wall paper paste. Again hang in there. It looks awful but it does work. Also the messy kitchen might just have been my incompetence.

 

consistency after cheese and eggs picture from www.thekitchn.com

Step 3 when you add the egg and then the cheese, if like me you do it by hand, it may look quite lumpy and extremely sticky. Persevere as long as you can before you get disco elbow and they will be delicious (albeit not quite as smooth and peachy looking as the picture).

 

Cooking time - I didn't cook them quite as long as the recipe suggested but I judged it by cutting one open. Also it is possible since my oven dial has no numbers my oven may have been a bit hotter than they recommended.

 

One final tip as I ran out of parmesan I substituted 30% with plain old English Cheddar and I actually think that improved the flavour and texture.

 

I am ridiculously proud to tell you that mine tasted delicious. Even Mr Beedub said so. My friends this is proof enough that this is a most excellent recipe.

 

So having just climbed my personal baking Everest, I just have one remaining question: With deliciousness like this at their finger tips, how on earth do Brazilian women have asses that teeny and perky??

Tea for Two. Nein! Dree is ostfreesenrecht...

One of my earliest memories is of visiting a charming but ancient family friend, known to my sister and I as Aunty Ruth.

Not only did she introduce to me to the dark and twisty world of 'Struwwelpeter'* (a German Book of cautionary tales for children written in the 1800's) which I loved, she was also the first person who introduced me to the art of tea. Aged 4, I was taught to drink tea from beautiful china cups and that my pertly cocked pinky finger was a sign that I must be descended from Royalty.

Unfortunately Aunty R's lessons in ladylike were thwarted by my mum's decision to send me to an all boys school at the same time (story for another day) and so not only did I fail to master the skill of brewing beautiful, rich tea, I never developed a palate for drinking it either. Instead, on a regular basis, insulting Ruth with my requests for weak 'fishy washy tea' as taught me by my new boy mates at school.

Now at this point, if I haven't lost you, you might be wondering what the hell all of this has to do with breakfast. I'll admit it, I am taking a few liberties here, but this blog is about celebrating breakfast with special people all over the world and tea is definitely a part of that.

And on another technicality, this blog is also about my love of collecting unusual beverages and culturally quirky culinary rituals when I travel. So imagine my delight when on a recent trip to Germany, I not only discovered it has spectacular Islands, but that in the very Northern part tickled by the North Sea, there exists a delightful ritual for celebrating tea.

Growing up colonial style in Zimbabwe and having lived on Her Majesty's Island for the past 9 years, I have hereto taken it as read that the English had the monopoly on stiff upper lips and tea drinking.

I'm treading carefully here in the interests of not disturbing that fragile relationship between Cameron Island and Merkel Land, but if there was a World Cup for tea art, then the Germans might just be as successful as they are at football...

This is a big claim, I know. So let me do my best to share with you this tea magic that I discovered on a little sandy Island in the North Sea and you can decide for yourself.

In East Frisia (think the North Western Coastal part of Lower Saxony) the locals have been celebrating tea for 400 years. And I don't use the word 'celebrating' loosely. We are talking relish in every sense of the word. Make that all five senses of the word. If Google is to be believed then at some points in their history, East Frisians even chose tea over beer with the influx of tea dramatically dropping beer production!

What follows is my best attempt to introduce you to this beguiling tradition as taught to me by a very special friend (with a few additional facts from my ubiquitous friends Google and Wiki).

 

The first point is that 'dunk, drink and disappear' is not an option. Tea must never be rushed, but savoured. Whilst the East Frisians initially saw this herby beverage from the East as medication, they soon realised that it is the perfect centre piece for entertaining, enjoying family and relaxation. Everything about their very specific way of preparing and serving it reflects this.

It starts with the tea selection. You will find unique tea blends for the region as readily available as we find PG Tips. Everyone has a favourite and the chosen blend is often sold loose to be spooned into the pot at home. Of course modern life has shaped things now and you do find 'ready made' bags too, but these are unique too in their design - the sole focus being on releasing maximum flavour. My extremely scientific research tells me that a traditional East Frisian blend is often Assam and Ceylon teas.

Equally important is the tea pot. The tea pot is the centrepiece of the table served on a 'Stövchen' (literally translated means Little Stove - a glass or ceramic warming based powered by a tea light candle). As my first experience of drinking tea the East Frisian way was in a restaurant on the Island, mine was served in an individual pot and stövchen. Tea Teacher friend was very quick to tell me that what he considered 'little pots' were not strictly correct - the pot should be large enough for lots of people to enjoy lots of cups of the tea, but in the interests of my education he would let the individual pot slide. This time.

He was equally as specific about the cup design. If one of Marie Antoinette's lady bags was allegedly used to model the Coupe champagne glass, I wonder if she didn't lend her other one to the Germans to model their tea cups on?  I am hopeless with ceramic describery but the cup should be wide and shallow much like a Coupe.

What I will try to explain a bit better, is the reason that the shape of the cup is so important. If you think that selecting and brewing the tea is already intricate then, friends, we are only just beginning because it is in the serving and drinking that the true art lies.

Most importantly, the art is designed around the fact that you never ever drink only one cup. My online digging tells me that three cups is the accepted number. There is even an expression for it "dree is ostfreesenrecht" - so be warned woe betide anyone who tries to remove the pot after only one cup!

Honestly, this actually makes absolute sense because drinking Frisian Tea is an taste journey where every one of the three cups taste different. To achieve the perfect taste journey, the aforementioned pot should be served with also aforementioned special tea cups and saucers plus three new additions.

The first of these is a pot of crystallised sugar chunks. Not lumps. Or the fancy pants crystal sugar stick things you get in tea shops. These mysterious beauties look like they are chipped from white and black sugar volcanos. They even have a name 'kluntjes'. And, just like the tea, pot and cup they are chosen for a reason - their leisurely dissolving properties. I have no idea if there is a possibility not to have sugar with your tea in East Frisia. I suspect not, and in my case I was ordered to place at least one at the bottom of my cup. As I am a sweet tooth I took thee.

The second tea tray accompaniment is the most surprising for those of us weaned on English traditions. East Frisians take their tea with cream. And I don't mean American cream aka Milk to the rest of the World. I mean Strawberries and Cream, cream. Tea Teacher knows me well and quickly noticed my wrinkled nose and arched eyebrow. Unfazed,  he knew that all he needed to do to defuse my cynicism was to sprinkle a little fairy dust in my cup and tell me that the cream was necessary to create clouds. Well who wouldn't be fascinated by the offer to have clouds in their tea cup?

He needed the third special item to demonstrate. A tea spoon. He showed me that the viscous cream, when carefully poured in a very little amount using the spoon and side of the cup creates an amazing effect as the heavy cream sinks to the bottom and then shoots the surface in tiny cloud like fireworks. I am not going to lie. I clapped like four year old me when I saw them.

From that point onwards, the spoon is redundant. For friends, you never, never stir your tea. Each sip changes in flavour. Your first sip is almost unsweetened, pure black tea with a teeny hint of cream. The second sip brings you a hint of sugar starting to blend with a soupçon of cream. About one sip from hitting sugar, you add more tea. And so it continues taking your taste buds on an adventure through every cup.

 

If you had told me two months ago I would spend two hours immersed in drinking tea and write 2000 words in homage, I would have laughed at you. I am not sure if it was the magical little tea clouds, the azure Frisian Sky above or the very yummy cake that is also a highly accepted accompaniment to tea, but somewhere on that island I got hooked. Luckily Herr Google is now helping me find my own East Frisian Tea tools online so I can continue the tradition on Her Majesty's Island.

 

Maybe one day, I will be some little girl's ancient Aunty Beedub and I will show her with great joy the REALart of tea. And of course my old friend StruwwelPeter...

 

Find out more about Struwwelpeter

Toe-may-toh? Toe-mah-Toe? Pan Con Tomate!

I love Barcelona. A lot.

Next to Cape Town, it is my favourite city in the World. How can you not fall in love with a city that has wonderful, hospitable, passionate people, Sun and Sea? And that's before you even mention Gaudi...

It also has Pan Con Tamate (If you're talking to a Spanish Speaking Barcelonan). Or Pa Amb Tomaquet in Catalan (probably more politically correct, since it is one of Cataluña's most well known and loved dishes).

Barcelona is also known for Tortilla and chorizo, but I'll get onto those Eggy and Sausage friends a bit later.

First, I need to try to find a way to explain why bread that has simply had a brief encounter with a very very ripe tomato fills me with delight. To start with: there is no question that this blog is full of complex, rich and decadent breakfasts which, truth be told, I love. However, there is something so very special about a simple dish, packed full of natural flavours, that wins my heart every time.

I think it's the fact that when you bite into Pan Con Tomate, you don't taste genetically modified tomatoes from a greenhouse in Holland. You taste sun. And fragrant garlic. And sheer tomato-e-ness. More than that though, you actually SMELL tomato minutes before it gets anywhere near your mouth. I can't prove it, but in one café, I swear I could smell the Pan con Tomate before I even walked in.


And another thing. It's well near impossible to find a bad version. In the past few years I have been to Barcelona about 10 times and regardless of whether I've been in a street café or Rancid-International-Hotel-Chain-Who-Shall-Remain-Nameless- For-Fear-Of-Litigation, my Tomato con Bread buddy is always available and always lovely. Now how often can you say that about hotel style scrambled powder eggs?

Eggs, Now there's another food that the Spanish came, saw and conquered. Why turn them into fried flapjacks when you could just a easily create an all day feast simply by combining them with potatoes and onions? And that's exactly what a Tortilla (sometimes known as a Spanish Omelette) is. It's delicious hot or cold and works perfectly as a breakfast with Pan Con Tomate and Chorizo (I've mentioned the versatility of this fine Spanish meat export several times before (see A Little Bit of What you Fancy and DIY Heuvos Rancheros)

So, with no further ado, whilst working long nights onsite in Barcelona, I have made up what I think would work as great DIY versions of my favourite Barcelona Breakfast.

Disclaimer: whilst I have made Tortilla and Chorizo before, the Pan Con Tomate recipe is completely the result of having sniffed, nibbled and poked my breakfast for the past 10 days to try and figure out how to recreate it. If you do it at home and it works - let me know. If it doesn't keep trying. Or fly to Barcelona and treat yourself to the real thing. You won't regret it.



Photo from BBC Good Food website

Uno: Tortilla Tort-ee-ya

Start with Señor T. because it takes the longest and you can easily keep it warm while you fanny about with the other two.
Now there are many recipes for this online, so have a look and find one you like - this one is just born of my own trial and error. As I have shamelessly used their photo - I would highly recommend their recipe BBC Good Food Tortilla Recipe

Here is mine:
1/2 to 1 medium onion - sliced thin 
6 - 10 baby potatoes
5 - 8 eggs
2 - 3 table spoons good Spanish or Italian olive oil

The secret key of a good Tortilla is the frying pan as you need just the right size to get a nice round, deep one. I use a non stick pancake frying pan (about 20cm in diameter).

• Most recipes tell you to slow fry the potatoes until they are cooked. My suggested method is to par boil them first and then slice nice and thin
• Heat some good quality olive oil in the pan
• On medium heat add the onions and give them a head start. Then add the par boiled potatoes
• Season with salt and pepper
• Turn the heat low and cover - let the onions and potatoes stew in the oil until they are nice and tender (they should not go too brown) - turn at least once
• In the mean time, get the eggs ready
• Crack them into a bowl and gently whisk. Add a bit more salt and pepper. This is cheating as it isn't strictly Spanish, but you can add some chopped fresh herbs if you like (parsley or basil would be yum)
• When the onions and potatoes are nice and soft, tip them into the bowl with the eggs. Gently combine.
• Add a bit more olive oil to the pan then replace the combined eggy/ potatoe mix into the pan
• Lower the heat and be patient
• Now here again I cheat a bit as I am sure there is a fancy pants method of turning the Tortilla but if you are a scaredy cat like me -
• When the Tortilla sides are moving away from the pan and the liquid is almost gone, put the pan under a pre-heated grill to cook the top
• When it is nice and brown remove. Place a plate over the pan and tip out

Photo and a great alternative recipe
from www.mayihavethatrecipe.com

Dos: Pan Con Tomate Toe-mah-teh

1 x loaf of good bread or ciabattas (NOT the ready sliced supermarket cardboard variety. I think a nice artisan sour dough would work well. Maybe even one with olives. Or ciabatta loaf or rolls - they can be slightly stale)
3 - 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
3 - 4 of the most amazing, very ripe tomatoes you can lay your hands on (this is critical - don't mess about with your local supermarket, try to find a place with juicy fragrant organic Toms. If you can identify them by smell alone, then more the better)
Extra virgin olive oil - again, if you can find proper, lush green oil from Spain it will make a huge difference
Salt and Pepper to taste

• Slice the loaf into thick slices (about 1.5 cm thick) or if you have ciabattas - cut them in half length wise
• Place them on a baking tray and do a light drizzle with olive oil
• Toast lightly in the oven on both sides until they have a nice light brown tan (don't forget to oil up as you turn) .
• The bread should still be a bit soft
• Cut the garlic cloves in half
• Use the halves to generously rub one side of each slice of bread. Now for the stars of the show -
• Cut the tomatoes in half and use the cut side to rub the bread on the same side as the garlic rub.
• The trick is to get the balance between just enough rubbing for flavour and not to create a soggy red pulp (I would guess 1 half should do 2 slices)
• Drizzle with some more olive oil and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper (most recipes don't mention pepper but I love it with the tomato)

Tres: Chorizo Chor-ree-tho

This is the easiest part of all (as long as you can find a decent Spanish chorizo in your supermarket or local butcher). I would go for the slighty thinner ones (about 1.5 - 2cm in diameter) with not too much fat.

• Slice the chorizo into 2cm chunks.
• Chuck in a non stick pan (no oil needed) for about 2 mins or until they are sizzling and letting off their orange oil in abundance
• Remove from pan and pat with paper towel to remove the majority of the oil, but leave some for flavour
• Or you could do it slowly in the oven at 180 - 200 degrees until cooked - maybe with a glove or 2 of garlic

So, now you're ready, put everything on plates or bowls and serve tapas style so everyone can help themselves.

One last thing. squeeze some fresh orange juice and make some good coffee to go with the food...

Ole!

Breakfast InnsBrooklyn stylee

One of the things I love most about travelling is experiencing different cultures' interpretations of breakfast. Sadly, thanks to Ronald McDonald and his wanton wench  sidekick The Green Mermaid (Purveyor of Bland Coffee), things are changing fast, especially in Europe.

That being said, I reckon that Austrians will always remain fiercely true to their breakfast roots of damn fine bread, meat and cheese with the occasional boiled egg. Oh and phenomenal coffee. And a cigarette.

As Innsbruck was my second home for nearly three years I thought I had the breakfast options dialled and filed under T for "Tasty but unimaginative".

Until this last trip.

We were there for a family reunion and in the course of a weekend of chaos, I mentioned my Blog to a friend of a friend and his eyes lit up. Being fairly new to Innsbruck himself, he had set about exploring and had come across a great place curiously called Breakfast Club.

I use the word curiously for a reason. Tyrolean restaurants generally don't have English names and they most definitely don't centre their menu  around breakfast.

Skiing be damned, the Breakfast Club I had to see. And so on the Saturday we attempted a visit. And failed. Located in the heart of Innsbruck's shopping district, the Breakfast Club Innsbruck style was packed, racked and stacked with a queue.

Nothing makes me more determined than an interesting Breakfast place that I can't get into. I won't queue for a nightclub, but for some inexplicable reason I will queue for foreign French Toast. Sadly, I was the only one willing to queue for breakfast and after a valiant struggle I lost the Sunday ski verses breakfast debate as well.

Happily my wonderful friend Danny agreed to meet me there on Monday morning for breakfast. Hah! (I said to myself) Monday, it will be a ghost town, we'll have the place to ourselves.

Wrong. It was packed again, but we managed to camp long enough to scare two people off their table (apparently wild eyed foreign blondes are a bit off putting when you are trying to enjoy breakfast). YES!

While waiting and intimidating the other customers with a face off, we'd ordered coffees at the bar. Quick Tip: if you ever find yourself in Austria and like me can't handle über strong coffee, then order a Latte Macchiato. As well as an English name, Breakfast Club have English and German menus which is handy and there are pages and pages (yay!) of breakfast options. All brunch dishes are served 5am to 5pm - so it seems you could Ski AND go there on a weekend (double yay!).

A small sample from the menu...
Das Frühstück (Translation  - THE Breakfast): all the usual Austrian breakfast meaty cheesy bready bits plus a boiled egg and that exotic Austrian delicacy - Nutella)
Erst Süss Dan Salzig (Translation: First Sweet then Salty): My kind of mash up - as above plus waffle with saucy goodies
Hell's Omelette (no translation required - spicy!)
Heiße Orange (Hot Orange) - I had it - yum for winter - a hot honey infused orange juice

I played patriotic and had the Innsbrucker Omelette which was packed full of delicious things. We also had French Toasts (sic) - it seemed a shame not to as we had queued to sample the Austrian version. There are lots of fun combinations and variations most of which come with Holunder Saft nach Oma's Rezept (Elderberry Juice as made by Grandma).

Did I mention cup cakes? Yes they have those too. And cocktails. And if you feel like lunch not brunch they have daily lunch dishes as well.

And all this located in a beautiful valley town below the glorious Tyrolean Alps...

To paraphrase Mr R. MacDonald himself:

Ich liebe es

Breakfast Club
Maria-Theresien-Straße 49
Innsbruck
Austria
How To Get There
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The Undisputed Duke's of Hackney...

There is a standing joke that when Antipodeans roll into Heathrow they don't have enough money to make it past Putney.

 

I have to confess that for my first six years of living in London, I did think that you need a Schengen Visa to travel to Shoreditch. It was only having spent six months living in Stratford last year, that I finally learned what cool Londoners have known all along. East beats West. Hands down.

 

If you want the true grit and quirk of London, head to Old Street, jump off the tube and follow your nose. Or be a lazyass like me and drive (I am happy to report that unlike the esteemed borough of Westminster, Hackney has a more relaxed attitude to parking permits.)

 

Duke's Brew and Que has been on my hit list for ages having  been spotted by Missy (eponymous breakfast partner of this blog)  and I last year. It is famous for old fashioned American Bar-B-Que, but, during a Cheesecake raid we staged there last year, we noticed a brunch menu and promised ourselves that we would go back.

 

It's been too long since we had a brunch ramble and we needed something special to drag us out of our desperate will-this-damn-winter-never-end blues. I vaguely remembered something involving stuffed French Toast on Duke's menu and like Pavlov's dog to the bell, it was enough to get me to shift my pasty self Eastwards.

 

Duke's is everything you would expect from an East London boozer slash eatery. Cool cat hipster staff. Brickery Brackery in every corner. Noise. Smells. Miniature Hackneyites colouring in and bathing themselves in the quirky tin can basins downstairs.

 

But.

 

Somewhere in that smoky, mental kitchen, hides a real gen-oo-ine 'Merican, cranking out US of A sized feasts. Now if you have read this Blog at all, you will know how much I respect American breakfast and brunch sensibility. Elegant Cappuccinos and pastries are fine and well, but when you have a breakfast sized hole to fill, you need foods from the groups Butter, Syrup, Bacon and Egg. And supersized.

 

I have eaten many, many decadent breakfasts in the past few years, but today I discovered the Mecca of Moreishness.

 

Before I continue, it's worth explaining that I have a slightly strange breakfast palate. I blame my Mum. When you grow up with lunchbox regulars including bacon plus peanut butter or bacon and banana sarnies, you learn that bacon is remarkably versatile. Bacon and eggs? Far too predictable for our family I'm afraid.

 

So imagine my delight when I located the stuffed french toastie thing I remembered seeing last year.

 

Enter Mister Frenchie's Ravioli. It's oozy. And salty. And sweet. It's far too good not to attempt to eat the whole thing, but two monster sized French Toast sandwiches packed full of bacon and cream cheese defeated me.

 

Missy had the Buttermilk Pancakes. Also gigantic. Also fantastic.

 

And they humour coffee heathens and make it milky (if you ask nicely).

 

Plain and simple. Duke's Brew and Que?

 

Hell yeah.

 

 

Duke's Brew and Que

33 Downham Road
De Beauvoir Town
Hackney
London N1 5AA

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Шоколад/ Shokolad/ Chocolate (or in other words Breakfast in Russia)

Vrau Vodka finally managed to go to Vodkaland.

Ok as it was for work, it was technically more whirlwind MoscowMetroland than Vodkaland, but it was every bit as crazy and exciting as I thought it would be.

Somewhere in between a quick Midnight trip to Red Square and wall-to-wall meetings strung together with trips in 'Funny Cars'*, I mentioned to my colleagues that I love breakfast and write a Blog about it. My Russian colleague (who for reasons known only to he and I shall be called Jason Donovan for the purpose of this Blog), artfully managed to squeeze in a coffee and late breakfast snack for us at one of his favourite breakfast places so that I could see it.

It is a cafe called Кафе Шоколад (you have no idea how impressed I am that I managed to google and find that!). Translated, it means simply 'Cafe Chocolate'. Breakfast AND Chocolate? Hell yeah.

There are so many reasons to love Кафе Шоколад...

#1 For workaholics (or late night party animals) they start serving pancakes at 4am
#2 Talking of pancakes the Russians aren't famous for Blinis for nothing. I ate two different kinds - one a delicious variety made with curd, the other a more tradional thin version.  Both were served with lovely fresh berries and compote.
#3 You could easily have blinis, caviar and vodka. For Breakfast.
#4 They have a whole section of drinks called 'Hot Winter Non Alchoholic Cocktails' - the perfect warm, sugar recharge you need after a busy winter's day in Moscow. Predictably I had the Winter alcohol Free Mojitto
#5 If you aren't lucky enough to have your own Minister of Transport, Catering and all things Russian like we were, they have menus in English (not as common as you would think)
#6 The range of coffees is extensive and the coffee is delicious
#7 There are several branches all over Moscow
#8 They have play areas for kids
#9 They serve eggs and pastries too if pancakes aren't your bag.

I hope I get a chance to return soon - if with the help of Jason D. I managed to find this gem in two days, who know how many could be discovered on a longer trip!

*Funny Cars: In Moscow, common practise for getting around by road involves a unique 5 step plan:
Step 1: Stand on the side of the road with your thumb out
Step 2: A car will stop
Step 3: Negotate a price to take you to your chosen destination
Step 4: Jump in
Step 5: Pay
I believe they call this supply and demand.
Caution: This not to be attempted in any other city in the World and I strongly recommend against doing it without a Russian Minister of Transport with you,

Кафе Шоколад
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