CREPERIE DU MONDE

51 Chatsworth Road, E5 OLH / Tube: Hackney Central, Homerton

Website: www.creperiedumonde.com

Price £19.40

Food:

• Our brunch favourite
• All day breakfast

Drink:

• 2x Flat white

What we thought

Creperie Du Monde can be found slap bang in the centre of Chatsworth road, the location of one of east London’s most talked about markets. Knowing how difficult it is to find a seat on a Sunday we decide to go the day before, and try to catch it at it’s quietest. The decor is comfortable, a nice leather sofa sits in front of the large window  allowing you to look out onto the bustling high street. The table is made from an old chest, and this design is carried on downstairs, where people can share a chez lounge.

Everything is in the name, translated as Crepes of the world, this cafe sells crepes in every way possible, the menu also offers a variety of omelettes and waffles. We decide to order the Italian brunch favourite crepe and the All day breakfast crepe.  We take our seat on the sofa the window, and soon after our coffee’s are brought over. Having such a highly respected supplier as Clipson & Sons, we wexpected a lovely coffee, but unfortunately it was nice at best with the milk slightly too hot spoiling the over all experience somewhat. Having only two crepe pans available to cook on this makes service unbearably slow, this also meant that no ingredients are cooked to order, and are microwaved and then added to the crepe. This style of cooking is obviously not ideal and the taste and textures somewhat suffers from this.

After a long wait our crepes arrived, and they looked great! The Our brunch favourite had everything you could want, smoked salmon, asparagus, poached eggs with a hollandaise sauce. This was amazing, and it was gone just minutes after taking the first bite. The egg was cooked perfectly and the asparagus retained their bright greenness.

Unfortunately the same couldn’t be same for the All day break fast, this came with tomatoes, bacon, scrambled egg and mushrooms. The presentation was nice but the everything seemed to be oily and moist, especially the mushrooms. The use of the microwave had taken all texture out of the breakfast making it a sloppy mess.  Having gone back a few times now, there are better choice of crepes and also some really nice omelettes, such as the ‘Agnes’ made up of chicken, avocado and caramelised onion chutney. The only down fall is the price, where our crepes cost around £6.90 each, which we found a little steep for microwaved ingredients.

Creperie Du Monde does what is says on the tin, the range of crepes is second to none, and they’re presented beautifully. They lack slightly when it comes to quality of ingredients and the method of cooking, which we all know is a pretty big deal… But after all how much can you do with a crepe..? We advise that you go on a weekday as the service is slow, but it is worth it, and there are worse places to sit and wait for your food. Make sure you try their strawberry milkshake also!

Rating

Food: 7

Coffee: 6.5

Atmosphere: 7.5

Service: 6

Value: 6.5

SHANE’S

62 Chatsworth Road, Lower Claptop E5 0LS / Tube: Hackney Central,  Clapton

Price: £16

Website: www.shanesonchatsworth.com

Food: 2 x Sausage with Duck egg on Sourdough Toast

Drink: 2 x Mug of Tea

What we thought 

There comes a moment every Sunday at around 11am when we turn to each other in bed and deliberate over whether we should go out for breakfast or stay in and cook but have to deal with the dreaded washing up. One Sunday, more likely after more than a few drinks the evening before we decided that washing up would be too much so we headed out. With Chatsworth Road market at the end of the street our journey to find breakfast never not takes long. Over the last 6 months we have become frequent visitors of the market, the small array of food stalls and an abundance of fresh local produce it is what I can only imagine Broadway was 5 years ago.

Shane’s can be found half way along Chatsworth Road, it’s a small unassuming place, simply decorated, invitingly cosy and a perfect fit for the eclectic mix of shops and eateries found ether side. A nice touch at Shane’s is there is 2 tables outside, luckily the day was barmy so we decided to take our breakfast outside. The breakfast come brunch menu offers a simple selection of typical breakfast dishes and some slightly less usual brunch dishes, the menu changes with the season and there is real emphasis here on fresh, top quality ingredients. We both choose the same breakfast dish, free range sausages served with a duck egg on sourdough toast.  The dish arrives and sadly there is only one egg, but that said, duck eggs are larger than a typical egg, so we are not too disappointed. The egg is well cooked, but not perfect, over done by about 30 seconds which is always frustrating.  The choice of sourdough is as always the right one, tough enough to create a good texture and with that distinct flavour which compliments the egg beautifully. The sausages are full of flavour and add meatiness that gives this dish heart and substance.

Over the last 6 months we have sampled a variety of breakfast dishes from an array of establishments, we find at the end of every meal we ask ourselves the same questions, ‘do you think we could have done better at home?’ Sadly Shane’s falls under the ‘Yes’ category. The breakfast was prepared to a good standard but really we could have picked up some beautiful bacon from the butcher on the market, some fresh organic vegetables from the green grocers and knocked up something that was fantastic at home. If you want to save on washing up and grab a good hearty breakfast than Shane is great but if you think you can do better at home, save the pennies and give it a go.

Rating

Food: 7/10

Atmosphere: 7/10

Service: 8/10

COOPER & WOLF

145 Chatsworth Road,  Lower Clapton , E5 0LA / Tube: Hackney Central, Clapton

Website: www.cooperandwolf.co.uk

Price: Around £10

Food:

• Scrambled Eggs on Sough Dough Toast
• Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake

Drink:

• 2x Flat White

What we though

Over the last year we have both grown to love Hackney, and all of the wonderful eateries it has to offer. Luckily for me I managed to find a flat just 3 minutes up the road from the up and coming Chatsworth Road Market, see HERE to find out more. On a Sunday this little high street quickly becomes a bustling street party, and home to some of the best food stalls in London.

If you walk the street, past all of the stalls and shops you come to a little junction and sitting there on the corner of a quaint terraced street is Cooper & Wolf, always alive with people sitting on the benches outside.

Cooper & Wolf was established in 2012 so is fairly new, but in this time it has gained all of the respect it needs from the local community. Specialising in Scandinavian cuisine, they are offering something a little different to the area, the menu can seem daunting and confusing at first, but dont be scared to take a look over your shoulder and see what everyone is eating. Inside it is simple but beautiful, mismatch furniture, lots of colourful flowers in the window and an upright piano in the corner, this is comfortable place to sit and do work, or read a book in quiet.

It was Sunday morning and feeling to0 tired to cook something up ourselves we were looking for the next best thing. We decided to go with the scrambled egg on sour dough toast, which is reasonably priced at £4.40, although still at this price we really don’t want to be disappointed, as we know that we can always achieve a perfectly exceptable scrambled egg at home. We were far from disappointed, I would go as far as saying this was the best scrambled eggs I had ever had, buttery but not sickly, and as yellow as the sun in the corner of the window. Topped with chives, this added freshness and slight texture to the eggs. Sour Dough is the perfect choice of bread to accompany this, it toasts perfectly, is robust and full flavoured. You don’t want toast that is either goin to get soggy and fall apart, or be so dry it crumbles into a mess. To go with our breakfast we both had a Flat White, the coffee in Cooper & Wolf is amazing, and this might have something to do with it being supplied by our favourite roaster Caravan, for more details on Caravan see HERE. There are only two guys that make the coffee here, this keeps your experience consistant, a flaw that a lot of coffee shops seem to have.

As we went to go and grab a card for the book as we always do, we are instantly caught off guard by all of the beautiful cakes and patiseries on display, just taunting us. We decided to buy a slice of the Lemon & Poppy Seed cake with cream and berries, to take away, take a stroll down the canal and very quickly but elegantly finish off our brunch with this lovely spongy cake.

I highly recommend Cooper & Wolf, the service is great and the staff are always smiling.

Rating

Food: 8/10

Atmosphere: 8/10

Service: 7.5/10

Coffee: 8/10