Always after a decent cooked breakfast within stumbling distance from our hovel, my fella and I set out on Saturday morning on the prowl for an antipodean-inspired breakfast of generous proportions. We ended up at Long White Cloud, a relatively new cafe/gallery/retail space on Hackney road currently sporting an exhibition entitled, ‘into the wild.’
If the birthing leopard/lady mural on the way in isn’t enough to put you off your eggs, it’s worth persevering and spending the required £10 to get yourself one of their ‘full’ breakfasts and a coffee or fruit juice. I went for the veggie option, which was creatively put together without a piece of ‘baconesque’ in sight. Managing to fill the plate with grilled halloumi, courgette, peppers, toast, beans (with a hint of cinnamon I think?), fried egg and spinach, was an impressive result in a city still not quite fully embracing our veggie pals.
My better half went for the scrambled eggs with chilli, which was also generously proportioned, but disappointingly under seasoned. I say under seasoned, by which I mean not seasoned at all. However, there were salt and pepper grinders on hand to rectify the situation quick smart.
I had a fresh orange juice which was delightful and without ‘bits,’ as I’m sure many will be pleased to hear. He had a cappuccino, which was a bit ‘milky’ (we like cappuccinos quite dry, i.e. the milk foamed, not just heated) but very tasty all the same.Venturing past the various wall hangings and two upright pianos which form the back of the food counter, I happened across a small stock of Aussie/Kiwi consumables. Seeing as I have rather a soft spot for caramel TimTams (they’re like penguin bars with caramel in), I found their stash rather endearing. However, I’m not sure being all things (cafe/gallery/shop), to all people (Londoners/Kiwis/Aussies) will work for everyone. My fella, for one, seemed all at sea.
Long white cloud are on Twitter and have a website.
