Brunch at Caravan - 19/01/13

Caravan, Exmouth Market, London, EC1R 4QD

Outside Caravan in the snow

I have tried a couple of times to have brunch here, but their no reservations policy is contrary to my sleeping as much as possible policy, each time I have got there and the queue has come out of the door and have given up.  So when a friend suggested brunch last Sunday I thought the snow may have put people off.  I arrived at 10.45 and as my friend wasn’t there I was told I couldn’t sit down and would need to sit at a high table at the bar, which was more than adequate.    Within the 5 minutes that it took for my friend to arrive the place has filled and my table was looking pretty good.  A slight irritant were the amount of people saying that their party was all there which they weren’t, but still being seated.  They say on the website they don’t do this or maybe this is hard to police, any how we were fine.

Takeaway coffee menuThe atmosphere is quite frenetic as it got busier, a lot of people had decided to meet at 11, as by 11:30 most people had been seated and things had calmed down.  My decaff coffee was good, usually a sign of a good coffee house is the decaff; do they get it out of a packet or grind it there. The food came promptly and looked delicious I had order scrambled eggs on rye with smoked salmon. The scrambled eggs were incredibly flavoursome, when I make them at home they can often lack a bit of flavour; I think these had a bit of cream and chives added in. They had also caught the perfect moisture balance, no one wants over cooked dry scrambled eggs, but I have had terribly undercooked ones at the Ritz , which were inedible. Finally  they were piping hot which can be difficult with the freezing conditions. All in all a great dish finished with a side of tomatoes. My friend had the ham hock hash with poached eggs and hollandaise. A fattier option, but a very tasty one.  The only slight black mark on the place was that we asked for a bloody mary, a stable in brunch land and were told they could only do virgin ones until 12.00 – tres disappointing.

I would be back for brunch every week if it weren’t for the queues, instead may try dinner when I can book.

Talk rating: 4/5 (could be difficult if situated at the bar next to the coffee machine)