Dr. Fox's Tearoom | Weston-Super-Mare

If you read my post on '30 hours road trip to somewhere', you will know how we got to Weston-Super-Mare. Although not knowing where we were, we managed to get some local tips for the best breakfast in town. Dr Fox's Tearoom was immediately pointed out to us. They even got awards for their food.

Dr Fox's Tearoom (image via Geograph)

Off we went, getting lost in town and doing things we don't normally do. Have sweets and fudge at nine in the morning, played all the nostalgic arcade games and receiving those tickets we used to collect tons of just to get a free doll. It was such a fun morning remembering the childhood fun times. Pacman and Pinball were one of them. Too bad they didn't have Street Fighter where I used to fight my brother with Chun-Li over his Ken. Those were the times where iPads or games on the phones were non-existent.

Playing arcade games

Once we were done being a child again, we got ourselves some grown up breakfast on the seafront. The breakfast was great. Omelette were cooked well. Better yet, they sell their own jams which we did buy one for when we get back to London. Our time having breakfast in the sun was very pleasant.

Full English breakfast and cheese omelette

Dr Fox's Tearoom
Knightstone Island,
Seafront, Weston-super-Mare,
BS23 2AD, UK

Tel: +44 (0)1934 707411 
  

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Kipferl | London

Tucked in Camden Passage is an Austrian coffee house serving authentic food, home made cakes and Viennese coffee. In a relaxing atmosphere, it is a lovely place for brunch or food all day. We found this coffee house one sunny Saturday morning and were charmed by it that we had brunch here. What a great way to start our day.

Breakfast

Fascinated with the colour contrast

Bacon and scrambled eggs was such a tasty breakfast with good bread, well cooked bacon and buttery scrambled eggs. Tomato was good though I prefer it more roasted. But that is just me being picky.

Soft boiled eggs were perfectly soft and runny

Apple strudel and cappuccino

All the food and service here were good but the only dissappointment was the Apple Strudel which we thought did not live up to the expectations of the popular Austrian pastry. Maybe it was one of their strudel off days.

Smile..

A good coffee house for a relaxing brunch with good food.

Frown..

The apple strudel can be better.

Will I return?

Only if I am in the area.


Kipferl
20 Camden Passage
N1 8ED London, UK

Tel: +44 (0)207 7041555

  

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Arepa & Co. | London

image via Arepa & Co

Walk along the canal and finding independent cafe like this is always great. Who knows there is Venezuelan food tucked far in along the canal. They serve simple home made Venezuelan breakfast which was a good change to the typical English breakfast. They even play Latin tunes! What a way to brighten up my morning. I could imagine myself having these local breakfast while on holiday in Venezuela. Still day dreaming..

Menu

 Tequeños is a kind of cheese pastry served with sugar cane & tamarind sauce. The sauce had a very nice and unique taste to it. Very interesting.

Venezuelan breakfast with pancake and cornbread 

Okay the plates does not look the prettiest but hey, it is home cooked style breakfast afterall so they could get away with enamel plates. So long as they taste good, which it did. 

 Chicken, guacamole, cheddar and plantain. Yum!

Smile..

Good, simple, no-fuss food with Latin music playing in the background. They even serve fresh guava juice! This is enough to keep me coming here. 

Frown..

None.

Will I return?

Yes of course. Already did.

Arepa & Co.

58A De Beauvoir Crescent,

London N1 5SB, UK

Closest station: Haggerston (overground)

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The Proud Archivist | London

Since I have gotten immersed in designing all things chocolate related for Desir du Chocolat, I spend quite a reasonable amount of time on my days off work, at their studio. So it is only natural that I check out all that is interesting in the vicinity. The closest one to start with, was The Proud Archivist. Situated only 5 minutes away and sat by Regents Canal, it is the perfect place for breakfast or brunch. It is particularly pleasant when it is sunny to be sat on the tables outside with a view of the canal and curious passers-by.

A gallery, restaurant, café and bar, this space is bright, spacious and entertaining. 

The food was decent with nicely poached eggs for Eggs Benedict and pancake was my least favourite.

Croque monsieur was weirdly served with nachos

Nice view of the canal

Smile..

Great location and a nice cafe with a great space to hangout. A great place to have drinks.

Frown..

Food was decent but can be better.

Will I return?

Yes, why not.

The Proud Archivist

2-10 Hertford Road,

London N1 5ET, UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 7749 6852

Closest station: Haggerston (overground)

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Brunch at Cafe 338 | London

Good morning! Weekdays are over and a good hearty breakfast will be a great way to start the weekend! If you live anywhere in the vicinity of Bethnal Green road, there is a corner café with white walls covered in lillustration where you will see a queue of people trying to get possibly their first cup of coffee or freshly squeezed orange juice. Well, join the queue. The queue moves pretty quickly, considering the size of this café. There are about a dozen tables or so packed really close to each other, there’s only space for one skinny person to walk between them. Even though it gets very busy, service is still prompt, friendly and attentive. 

Mega breakfast with 2 slices of toasts and a cup of free tea or coffee. 

Girls, even if you think this gigantic portion of breakfast sounds great and will fill you up the whole day, think twice cause it is indeed very very filling, even for a hungry man. A girl sat next to us ordered it and left pretty much half of the plate untouched.

The pancake menu is for those of us who likes a little bit of both savoury and sweet. Remember to place the pancakes closer to your side cause who knows, the friend or boyfriend you are with might be a pancake stealer!! Yup, I only managed to have one of that fluffy pancake with overflowing golden syrup.

Smile..

There is freshly squeezed juice, cheap, good and big portion.

Frown..

There's a queue and it's cold outside but who cares if you want proper breakfast.

Will I return?

Yes

Cafe 338

338 Bethnal Green Rd
E2 0AG United Kingdom.
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7729 0246

Closest station: Bethnal Green (central)

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A Dunking Discovery

I am quite fond of the dunking concept. It is an art! You have to get the technique and the pairing of drink and biscuit right. And yes, I mentioned technique. Because every drink has a different temperature and every dunking medium has different properties, the dunking timing differs to factors involved. When dunking is concerned, it is usually biscuit with tea or cookies with milk. Frequently, some sort of biscuit is dunked into a drink.

This will be my regular dunking pairing:

• McVitie’s digestive with Milo (a chocolate flavoured malt drink)


• Rich Tea biscuit with tea


• Biscotti with coffee


• Cookies and Oreos with milk

Surprisingly, having most of the common dunking combination in the pantry, I used none of them. That is because I had a morning struck of brilliance!! With the availability of my day old brioche, which would usually be toasted and spread with some butter, I dunked the plainly toasted slice of brioche in orange juice!! It works! It is a lovely combination; brioche soaked in orange juice with a light crisp of the toast is heavenly!!

Try it and let me know how you like it. What's your dunking discovery? Do share.

Toasted brioche cut into a decent dunking size with a cup of orange juice

Toasted brioche soaked up with orange juice

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Zhong-Xi Omelette for a brighter morning

There is something about eggs that makes breakfast complete. And if you have been having the same ol' fried eggs, soft boiled eggs or cheese and ham omelette, this fusion omelette might become your new morning favourite. It is a slightly different and refreshing omelette that will almost definitely make your morning brighter, through taste and colour. Of course, your morning cuppa comes with it too. If you want a more filling breakfast, serve it with some toasts. This omelette is fast and easy, and is here to impress. Try it and let me know how you you like it.

The East meets West omelette

ZHONG-XI OMELETTE

Adapted from Tasty Kitchen
Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 pinch of salt
• 3 tbs peanut / vegetable oil
• 1 clove garlic,  minced
• 1/2 inch ginger, finely chopped
• 1 tsp palm sugar
• 3 whole red cherry tomatoes, halved
• 3 whole yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• juice of 1/4 lemon
• 1 tbs chopped coriander leaves

Methods:

1. Start off by beating the eggs with a pinch of salt.
2. Heat the pan on medium low heat with peanut oil and pour in the whisked eggs into the pan once oil is hot.
3. Pull the cooked edge of the omelette into the middle and let the uncooked mixture run to the side. This will enable a more consistent cooking of the egg. Cook for a bout a minute or until the middle is almost cooked and soft.
4. Fold the eggs in half and place omelette on a plate. The omelette is still cooking at this moment because the it is still hot so it is vital to not cook the eggs fully on the pan. Otherwise, the eggs will be overcooked while on the plate.
5. With the same pan without washing, heat some oil and saute the garlic and ginger.
6. Once garlic and ginger are fragrant, add in the sugar and let it melt.
7. Next, add the halved tomatoes and cook for about 1 minute or until slightly soft.
8. Pour in the sesame oil, soy sauce and lemon. Mix them well and remove from heat.
9. Pour the tomatoes and sauce over the omelette and garnish with coriander leaves.

Tips:

• If you are making more than one omelette, repeat steps 1 to 4 before step 5. When continuing with step 5, double or triple the ingredients (depending on how many people you are cooking for) and cook accordingly to instructions. Portion the tomato and sauce on to each plate.

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Ricotta Crostini, a quick and fresh snack

Some easy to make appetizers or snacks that look and taste fresh. The only cooking involved is to toast the bread. The rest is down to the good quality and fresh ingredients, and your dainty hands to make them look pretty.

I made these for a light breakfast one Saturday morning and M was not happy. He expected our usual yummy breakfast that involves eggs and probably ham and vegetables. Vegetarian breakfast is not his thing. Although he finished the healthy crostini and agreeing that it tasted nice, he was still left slightly unsatisfied. I can't blame him cause I expected the reaction I got. So if like me, you have a meat eater partner or family member, please don't make the same mistake. Feed him the ham or salmon he so badly needs in the morning. You can always replace the vegetables with ham, cooked chicken, prawns or smoked salmon and dill. A smile is all we need to start the day.

In actual fact, I made these as they are beautiful in pictures, risking a baby frown from my grown man. He knew what I was up to :p

Ricotta Crostini

Ingredients:

• 1/2 baguette
• butter to spread
• 120g ricotta
• zest of 1 orange
• 1 tbs orange juice
• 1/2 cucumber (sliced)
• 3 large Pecorino tomatoes (or any tomato)
• Handful of toasted hazelnuts
• Mint
• Basil
• Honey
• Balsamic vinegar
• Sea salt & black pepper to taste

Method:

1. Preheat oven at 180 on grill setting.
2. Slice up the baguette and spread some butter. Place them on a baking tray and toast for about 7 minutes or until slightly crisp.
3. Place ricotta in bowl, add orange zest, orange juice and a sprinkle of freshly ground pepper, and mix well.
4. Spread them on the toasted baguettes.
5. Neatly place some sliced cucumber and mint on slices of toasted baguette.
6. For the tomato crostini, place a few drops of balsamic vinegar on a toast with ricotta spread and top with basil and tomato.
7. For the hazelnut crostini, spoon some honey on top of the ricotta and top with hazelnuts.
8. Sprinkle some sea salt over the crostinis and serve.

Tips:

• The key to good crostini is to let the ingredients speak for themselves so use good quality and fresh ingredients.
• You can use salmon with dill or any other ingredients you prefer. Be creative.

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Brunch at The Table, guaranteed satisfaction

The Table is so close to Tate Modern; I think it is the perfect place to meet up for breakfast or brunch before heading over to Tate for which ever interesting exhibition that is on.

It has an open kitchen, long wooden tables and benches which make it feel rather warm and welcoming. It used to have a stretch of surface on the side with displayed bread, magazines and flowers. The interior has changed by replacing this side counter with added high tables and seats to cope with the amount of people usually queuing up for their first cuppa and first bite of the day to tame the growling morning stomach.

Eggs Royale & Eggs Benedict (background)

The Borough Full English is definitely a proper breakfast with good quality ingredients. 

Buttermilk pancakes with crispy bacon, caramelised banana and maple syrup, is brunch heaven on a plate.

Smile..

Brunch here is always very satisfying, with guaranteed use of quality and local produce.

Frown..

Nothing to frown about.

Will I return?

Yes. This is one of my favourite brunch spots.

The Table

83 Southwark Street
London SE1 0HX
Tel: +44 (0)207 401 2760

Closest station: Southwark (jubilee)

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Crepe au citron (Lemon crepe) & wonders of milk

There has been an ink disaster recently. My duvet cover has been stained with a big blue patch from ink leakage. *sigh* Don’t ask me how ink got anywhere near my bed. It is a long story. What I learnt from this incident is to soak the fabric in milk for about three hours and hand scrub the stain. It works! Some of the lighter stains disappeared and some got lighter so I am about to repeat the process until my duvet cover looks like new. It seems milk not only makes wonders to a cup of hot chocolate or coffee, it removes ink stain as well!! Handy.

After a long session of hand scrubbing those evil blue stains, I had about half a litre of milk left so instead of making more frothed milk for my favourite hot chocolate, some crepe will make me happy.

BASIC CREPE RECIPE

adapted from Nigel Slater's perfect crepe

Ingredients:

• 100g plain flour
• 50g unslated butter & more for cooking
• pinch of salt
• 2 free range egg
• 220ml whole milk
• 100ml water

CREPE AU CITRON RECIPE

• basic crepe
• lemon
• powdered sugar / castor sugar (for some sugary crunch)

Method:

1.  Melt the butter and let cool slightly.
2.  Break the eggs into the bowl of flour and mix.
3.  Whisk in the salt, milk and water until lump free.
4.  Stir in melted butter at the end.
5.  Heat a crepe pan with some butter and wipe it off with a kitchen towel.
6.  Ladle about 3 tablespoon of batter onto pan and quickly swirl around the pan to form a thin layer.
7.  Cook for about 1 minute one side until golden, flip and cook for 30 seconds.
8.  Repeat for the rest of the batter.
9.  Squeeze some lemon and dust a generous amount of powdered sugar / sprinkle with sugar on top.
10.  Garnish with a slice of candied lemon.

Tips:

• For a sweet crepe, add a tablespoon of sugar to the batter.
• The basic crepe can be served sweet or savoury, to your liking.

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First attempt : Kaya

First attempt and a success

First attempts are always pretty daunting. There is the usual feeling of conflicting excitement.

Believe it or not, I picked and scheduled a date on my calendar so I won't avoid or slot in any last minute events. It is as if getting ready to go on a first date, except there is no exit strategy. Everything was planned out; searched and read through recipes ahead, picked one that's less intimidating, bought ingredients the day before and made sure the recipe has been well understood. All ingredients were laid out and measured before cooking commence so no ingredients will be missed out. Although I admit missing an ingredient on this first attempt. No 'pandan' leaves were to be found nearby so it was omitted.

With everything already well prepared, I followed the already simple recipe very closely. When it comes to step 5 (caramelising sugar), I panicked since there is usually a very high percentage of messing up. There is a chance the sugar will burn but it did not! So I proceed to adding the caramelised sugar into the mixture. The sugar somehow started solidifying and was stuck on the whisk. I panicked again! At that very moment, I thought all effort has been wasted. Luckily, being patient helped. It melts away with further stirring. The mixture became thicker after a an hour of stirring with 'The Apprentice' on iPlayer to keep me entertained. Everything turned out fine! It looked like kaya, smells like kaya and tastes like one too!!

I can proudly say my first attempt was a success. Although it does not taste as heavenly as I would like it to be, it still is delicious homemade kaya. It will definitely be much better with the aromatic pandan leaves. Will make sure to have that for the next attempt.

Guess what's my treat for this successful attempt :) Kaya and butter on toast with soft boiled eggs for breakfast!! MMmmm...

Generous amount of kaya and butter on toast

Kaya toast

The soft boiled eggs wasn't boiled long enough so it came out almost raw. For those of you who havent made soft boiled eggs, it is actually not easy to master. It has to have perfect timing for the runny egg yolk.

Kaya toast with soft boiled eggs for breakfast

Related post: Grilled peaches with vanilla ice cream and kaya honey drizzle

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