Brassino, Kentish Town

Brassino Café
287 Kentish Town Road
Kentish Town
NW5 2JS
020 7485 2819

by Hashley Brown

Small plates. That’s the secret. You manage to satisfy both the glutton and the penny-watcher in your potential breakfaster. It works like this: your average affordable breakfast can only have so many elements, (unless we’re talking a Little Chef Olympic Breakfast, which we’re not). On a big plate they lounge about in relative ceramic luxury and the eater feels a bit miffed wondering where all the food is. Squeeze those same elements onto a more diminutive platter, they jostle happily against each other, and it feels like there's so much food it's falling off the sides - perception is everything.

So. Brassino’s has small plates, which is a winner. They also hand-cut their bread fresh from a big sandwich loaf, which means chunky doorsteps of crunchy buttery toast, a good start to any breakfast. At £4 for sausage, bacon, egg, beans, tomatoes, toast and tea, this comes in as an eminently affordable start to the day. As ever the sausage could have been better, although in its favour, its unusual length gave it a humorous quality as yet un-encountered.

Whilst the outside is somewhat nondescript, Brassino’s feels like the kind of place a young Michael Caine may well have taken his daily egg and chips. Hidden behind a wall of plants in the window, it takes on a very local, slightly gloomy feel that makes it perfect for a rainy Saturday morning. The food was good, the service friendly, and the small plates made me happy.