Category Archives: breakfast

Konnigans

August 22, 2015 Fork & Talk Leave a comment

Brunch, our loved meal on a day off. I have been attempting to explore Battersea more as I get into the grove of working in the area. My friend Adam kindly offered to show me the brunch places on offer in the Wandsworth area and I was shocked to see a whole street dedicated to brunching.

Konnigans can be found on Old York Rd with a whole host of other delicious dines. Konnigans classes itself as being a contemporary British restaurant so in other words a bit of everything, eclectic.

I fell in love with the old cluttered interior of Konnigans. It reminds me of an old English country kitchen with lots of different nook and crannies to sit in.

The drinks menu ranges from naughty shakes to English beers to cocktails. Naturally I refused them all and asked for a glass of prosecco. I think my friend slightly disapproved at the fact I was drinking at three in the afternoon but I used my common excuse of ‘I’m on holiday’.

I went for the eggs Benedict with smoked salmon and it was lovely, perfectly cooked egg on a soft brioche bun, you know how much I love my brioche buns. Strangely it came with a side of fries and a grilled tomato. I wasn’t going to complain as the chips were amazing. More please.

My friend went for a mammoth chicken, avo, bacon and Brie salad. There was no way that it was a light salad at all. I was slightly jealous.

Konnigans is such a cosy place that we just sat there for hours chilling. Parking is amazing in the area as it is free past 4:30pm so great for an after work hang out.

I can not wait to come back to this place but also come back to this street, what an amazing find.

Konnigans
344 – 346 Old York road
SW18
http://www.konnigansrestaurant.co.uk/

breakfast, English

Sawyer & Gray

June 17, 2015 Fork & Talk 1 Comment

I love no meal more than breakfast! My perfect weekend consists of a lie in followed by a trip to Saint Espresso. With their mini cup flat white in hand I head to Chapel market to get freshest ingredients for my most important meal of the day.

There is something quite luxurious about taking time to prepare breakfast. Lots of love goes into the process and I enjoy the fact that afterwards I can kick back on a sofa without feeling guilty.

But obviously not every weekend is the same. It was a bright Saturday morning, I got up unusually early. With gym session scheduled for 11, it gave me just enough time to grab some breaky with my really close friend.

She is also quite a foody and told me that I absolutely have to meet her at Highbury & Islington so she can take me to her new favourite coffee house – Sawyer & Gray.

As you walk in you are charmed at the door step with the eclectic interior. We chose a cosy booth downstairs, perfect for a little gossip over coffee.

Even though breakfast was followed by a session at the gym, I failed at making a healthy choice and went with their most scrumptious breakfast on the menu – Avocado on toast with poached eggs and bacon.

I am a sucker for food being served on a wooden plank. It’s such Instagram classic!

Food was yummy, my only wish was for more avocado, which I’m sure they would have given me if I wasn’t too lazy to ask.

Coffee was true to form, delicious! Service was really friendly, efficient and laid back. Five stars to Sawyer and Gray for capturing a great weekend spirit!

Sawyer & Gray

290 Saint Paul’s Road, Islington, London N1 2LH

http://www.sawyerandgray.co.uk

Asian, breakfast, Chinese, Coffee Break

Breakfast in Hong Kong

May 31, 2015 Fork & Talk 1 Comment

One of the things that kept coming up in guide books and online tourism blogs is that Hong Kong doesn’t have a breakfast culture. Shock and horror! Surely, we thought, Hong Kong residents cannot be starting their busy day on empty stomach. After arriving to Hong Kong we have discovered that their breakfast does exist but it is nothing like London where you sit down for ‘the most important meal of the day’, roll out your napkin, arrange cutlery and await your fruit salad with eggs Benedict and a pot of Earl Grey.

Since Hong Kong is a real mix of foreign styles and cuisines we have decided to try both ends of the breakfast spectrum. We didn’t want to be thrown in the deep end so decided to start off with the familiar ‘western style’ breakfast first.

Urban Bakery has a number of branches across the city. Decorated in a very hip industrial style, this shop offers freshly baked croissants with a range of creative fillings.

We opted for somewhat Asian inspired egg custard croissants with coffee. I have to be honest I was very pleasantly surprised because unless I am in Paris I have very little faith in croissants. But this piece of pastry was perfect!

Crunchy top layer and the middle flaked easily. The egg custard filling was dreamy. Not too sweet with lovely smooth texture. It was such a delicious breakfast! So tasty in fact, it made me feel a little bit guilty.

The next day we finally gathered enough courage to try the traditional Chinese breakfast.

After a brief queue to get in, we sat down at a table at a very small and crowded Kam Fung cafe on Spring Garden Lane in Wan Chai. Kam Fung cafe has been established in 1956 and is a classic example of a Hong Kong cafe.

As there were only two of us, the waiter wasted no time squeezing a local couple on a bench at our table. We tried not to let a sign that said ‘NO SPITTING’ to spoil our appetite and ordered cold milk tea with sweet buns.

I have never been a massive tea drinker but somehow white being in Hong Kong i have developed a real taste for it. Milk tea is now my favourite cold drink. I have tried it in Starbucks in a form of a ‘frappaccino’, which was lovely and light, and it is also a very surprising flavour for ice cream (Lab Made Cafe).

Kam Fung’s milk tea was nice and strong which is exactly what you want to start your day off with. Sweet bun was served with a slice of butter, which wasn’t particularly needed as the bun was really fresh, soft and moist already. Taste was similar to a brioche bun, but perhaps a touch less sweet. I could definitely do with a meal like this everyday.

Our bill was served on a tiny piece of paper, for 54 HK dollars in total we could not complain.

Although this breakfast was very different to Urban Cafe, I would definitely recommend Kam Fung as a place to experience Hong Kong culture and how locals live. But if you want your soya milk flat white and place to catch up with a few emails, then do head to Urban Cafe for some peace and quiet.

Urban Cafe
Room 322, 3/F, The Landmark, 12-16 Des Voeux Road Central, Central Connaught Pl, Central, Hong Kong

Kam Fung
G/F, Spring Garden Mansion, 41 Spring Garden Lane, Wan Chai

Asian, breakfast, Coffee Break

Teakha

May 27, 2015 Fork & Talk 1 Comment

A trendy and kitch tea shop, Teakha really made an awesome tea experience this morning. Home blended teas and freshly baked cakes and pastries, this little sanctuary really put a smile on our faces as we took shelter for the code black torrential rain that swept across Hong Kong this morning.

We got to the tea shop at 11am to staff who happily told us their tea was not ready and their cakes hadn’t finished baking. One thing you will realise in Hong Kong is that they are not early risers and nor are they breakfast people so expect the start to the day to be slow. Usually Elena would have had a heart attack at the thought of being denied food yet as we saw they were brewing their own teas and were frantically mixing batters and shoving them into ovens, well we knew we were in for a treat.

The staff kindly allowed us to take shelter indoors while they finished and we shift through their menu. I ordered the Rose Tea which came with a frothy top, caramel drizzle and edible rose petals. The aroma is that of fresh rosa petals and the taste is just like sweet rose water. Will definitely try and make something like this at home. Elena ordered an aromatic black tea which was earthy in flavour and rich.

We ordered the most amazing cakes. Elena ordered a chai caramel brown which came straight out of the oven so was warm and gooey on the inside. I ordered a chamomile, buttermilk and custard tart which reminded me a lot of a traditional New York cheesecake, milky, light and airy. Delicious.

Beware, it is not a traditional tea house and is very modern. It is an expat hotspot as the flavours here are more for the western diner. This place is cute and stunning and we wish we could try the other things on the menu.