I was recently invited to try out the new  weekend brunch menu, which now includes healthy sharing plates and  green smoothies – just the sort of place you’d want to swing by after a workout. Personal highlights included a moreish beetroot and goats cheese aranchini, and an extremely tasty panfried chicken with truffle and mushroom, with a side of seasonal veg. But there’s still loads of gorgeous, well-prepared menu item for anyone having a cheat day (like the incredible  – and ginormous – Bill’s fish finger and prawn sandwich ). A special shoutout also goes to the  melting banoffee sundae, which is as heavenly as it sounds.

Plus, it doesn’t hurt that the Covent Garden branch has had a sweet refurb, with the sort of interiors that were made for Instagram. Check out pics from my recent visit below…    

Have you been to Bill’s recently? What’s your verdict? Let me know in the comments!

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The USP:   Eggs, obviously.  But not your typical scrambled, fried or poached to break the morning fast, but as the tasty star to mouth-watering trimmings like mushroom ragu and crisp polenta or  hearty fried chicken / shrimp / braised beef / pork belly buns that you can imagine is a whole lot sexier than a fried egg sandwich.  Although they do one of those too – with sweet corn salsa – and it is quite sexy.

Having a break… At Egg Break

A photo posted by Matilda (@mstillytilda) on Sep 17, 2015 at 11:37am PDT

The food: Generous and no doubt, Instagrammable. The shrimp with green chilli, tomato and pineapple salsa was a joy to wolf down, with french fries and smoked bacon, one of their many breakfast-y sides. I also polished off the very naughty but nice baked salted caramel custard with creme fraiche for afters.

Budget: The prices here are my kind of cheerful for West London. A full English is a tenner and the buns range from £6-10, while sides are £2-4 and sweets roughly £4-6.  So three courses for 20-ish quid? Bargain. The £7 cocktails will bump that up, but I’d happily splash out on a few Aperol Spritz’s or their Pisco sours come pay day.

Good for: Brunch, lunch or dinner after a Portobello stroll.

Visit www.eggbreak.com for more details.

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• Steak tartine sandwich – For the carnivores like me! Sourdough bread sounds delish, along with the garlic aioli and caramelised onions. Courtesy of Chef Spike Mendelsohn
• Open prawn sandwich – Came across this on the Jamie Oliver recipe network and liking the idea of zucchini (orcourgettes), rocket, mushroom and prawns.
• Arugula and goat’s cheese tartine – My best friend is a vegetarian, so I think she’d love this. You can’t go too wrong with goat’s cheese either in my book.
• Hot tartines – This is less of a recipe but more ideas for tartines, from the New York Times

  Do you love tartines too? Any recipes you recommend?

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Louisiana sweet potato pancakes

Makes roughly 8-12 smallish pancakes or I imagine 6 large ones?  Whatever you choose, you get a good yield!

Prep + cooking time = 40 minutes 

• 3/4 pound or 12 oz sweet potatoes (I used one sweet smallish potato that I zapped in the microwave for about 10 minutes – but according to the recipe I should have technically used about 2 small potatoes or 1 large one, which would taste better) 
• 1 1/2 cups or 340g  plain flour 
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt  (I’d recommend cutting this down to 1/2 a teaspoon)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I didn’t have ground nutmeg in my cupboard so I used mixed spice as an alternative)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups milk (I used almond milk) 
• 1/4 cup or 4 tbsps butter, melted (alternatively you can use an oil like coconut or vegetable) 

Directions

1. Place sweet potatoes in a medium saucepan of boiling water (or zap it in the microwave)  and cook until tender but firm, about 15 minutes. Drain, and immediately immerse in cold water to loosen skins. Drain, remove skins, chop and mash
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg or mixed spice. Mix mashed sweet potatoes, eggs, milk and butter in a separate medium bowl. Blend sweet potato mixture into the flour mixture to form a batter.
3. Preheat a lightly greased griddle  or fry pan over medium heat. Drop batter mixture onto the prepared griddle by heaping large spoonfuls and cook until golden brown, turning once with a spatula when the surface begins to bubble.
4. Keep cooked pancakes warm by putting them on a baking tray (with baking paper) in the oven on 100-150 C.  When all the pancakes are cooked, serve with toppings of your choice. 

Papaya smoothie: You know, I never bought a papaya in my life (!) until I came across this recipe from the Hemsley cookbook. I tweaked it a tad using a whole papaya, 1 banana, lime juice (I used lemon) a little bit of ginger , roughly 200 ml water and honey to taste). Blend it and bam! Trés dope.

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a solid week trying out everything from smoothies to cauliflower mash and I’ve got to say, it’s a pretty fabulous book, featuring a broad range of creative and tasty recipes. It’s also a good look for those trying to kick the refined sugar habit – like me! – or lower their carb intake. My favourite recipe so far is for the muffin frittatas. It’s easy to make, looks and tastes gorgeous and costs hardly anything to whip up – plus, if you’re inviting friends around for brunch, this would go down a treat (although I’m planning on giving it a Jamaican twist by serving it with ackee and salfish next time I give it a whirl). Check out the recipe on the Daily Mail website, and for more details about the book visit www.hemsleyandhemsley.com.    

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But it’s the food that impressed us the most: you get a generous selection of granola, grilled chicken caesar salad, welsh rarebit, smoked salmon bagel, a smoked haddock and salmon scotch egg, roast beef with yorkshire pudding and season vegetables AND truffle macaroni cheese – then there’s a sweet stall with cookies and cakes to top it all off.  Not bad for £25 and a spare Sunday afternoon!

For more info, visit: hwww.wlondon.co.uk/en/media-w-does-brunch

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On a recent invite, we had the pleasure of sampling the Brunch menu which has a decent share of early day options, such as the buttermilk pancakes, bacon or cumberland sausage on a brioche bun, or a humble English brekkie on toast, all for a mere six quid.  But it was lunch we were after, so tucked into the smoked haddock & colcannon fishcakes with poached egg and  salad (generous and flavoursome) and the lamb burger with triple cooked chips we could have eaten twice over if we weren’t so full.  And the best bit?  Both are less than a tenner.

As for drinks, the idea of an alcoholic smoothie seemed a little bit too tempting to resist – and while Don’t Be A Strawberry Fooled (fresh strawberries, pineapple juice, santa teresa gran reserva rum, coconut water) could have been sweeter, we didn’t mind the spicy kick of Show Me Your Melons, made with watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, santa teresa gran reserva rum, mint and chilli. 

With top-notch food and drinks, Stories should effortlessly pull in the crowds because of its simple appeal and the fact it’ll be  running regular events, like its Shoreditch sis.  It might become the new hipster’s paradise, mind you, but for now it’s a welcome new kid on the block that’s too friendly to not like.  (Words: Matilda Egere-Cooper)

For more info, visit: www.storiesonbroadway.com

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Here, you’ll find a breakfast menu that is modest and relatively inexpensive considering the generous portion sizes, so other honourable mentions include the avocado on toast with a poached egg, sides such as the buttery mushrooms (£3) and hash browns (much crunchier than expected, but went down well with the fondue) and the Berry Boost smoothie, which was light and refreshing (£4).

But we were much too full to go in on the Electric Donuts, with flavours as varied as maple bourbon and bergamot orange, but it’s given us a reason to return – especially on the weekend when we wouldn’t mind a place to escape from Portobello’s infamous hustle and bustle.

Electric Diner
191 Portobello Road,
London, W11 2ED (££)

For more info, visit www.electricdiner.com. Click here to see more pics of our breakfast!

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