Morning After, West End, September 2015

For a place that only opened earlier in the week they have already nailed it. From the bright, fresh, yet not sterile, surroundings to the retro, yet futuristic, circular table that dominates the room this place is trendy yet not unwelcoming. It’s a great location and with its corner aspect the sunlight flooded interior and prime traffic watching pavement dining, there isn’t a bad seat in the house.

I may need to return with 7 of my closest friends to secure the, aforementioned, round dining booth but I certainly wouldn’t object to sampling the menu further. Speaking of which, there were some refreshingly surprising items on said menu.

Even before we ate, we had sussed out that it was a family run establishment. We confirmed this as we paid for our meals and while this may seem to be an irrelevant detail, it cannot be underestimated. Often in these types of set-ups the sum of the parts is far greater than the whole and it was thus. The service was a little hit and miss but once the kinks are worked out you can tell it’s going to run like clockwork. The quality of the food on offer can only help smooth things over until they find that equilibrium. and they will.

So now, to the food, the most important part of any review. It was assured and somewhat sophisticated, while covering the basics there were some surprises there to whet the appetite. Not sure pasta is a breakfast dish for me but it looked good so it would be easy to overlook my reticence.

My sand crab omelette was every bit as enticing as it sounds. The sand crab was plentiful and the omelette was cooked with a deft hand, remaining light and fluffy so as not to overpower the sand crab. The chilli added the exact right amount of zing with the peanuts and lime lifting it to the sublime. Impressive right out of the gate.

Coffee was perfect. Aesthete was cool with just a hint of hipster. Service was fantastic, all things considered.

This time a 7.5 eggs out of 10 but fully expect their trajectory to propel them to at least an 8 in a very short timeframe. I'd expect they can keep the standard up, I just hope they don’t become a victim of their own success because I look forward to going back.