The London Review of Breakfasts

"Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper." (Francis Bacon)

Monday, November 21, 2005

Mess, Hackney Central

Mess
38 Amhurst Rd
Hackney Central
E8 1JN
020 8985 3194
Breakfast served: weekdays 7am - 5pm, Saturday 8am - 6pm, Sunday 8am - 4pm

by Hashley Brown

On rainy Sundays when skies are grey, and breakfasting beckons from a more leisurely post-meridian hour it’s reassuring to find a cosy café full of kindred spirits that‘ll serve you a hearty breakfast - and such was the prevailing ambience at Mess.

Grey skied inclement Hackney is never the most inviting of places, but Mess shone through like a glistening jewel of fat in a good gravy. With deep blue walls and enough pine cladding and furniture to put a Scandinavian sauna to shame it had a busyness that was both warm and inviting - it almost effervesced. Still packed right up til its 4pm closing the menu boasted a range of breakfast fare from the Full E. through to various scrambled egg derivatives.

Choices were made, a full English for me, scrambled eggs with smoked salmon for her, accompanied by subsidiary tea and juices. The ‘Mess breakfast’ came with the usual bacon (crispy), egg (runny), mushrooms (done in a pan with butter) and tomatoes (tomato-y) with the addition of hearty fried potatoes and a mysterious sausage. I say mysterious in that its somewhat standard outer appearance belied a herby meaty inner that was pleasantly surprising. Scrambled eggs came in a freshly-cooked moist pile with a more than generous amount of salmon littering the eggy base, all heaped on good white toast. Service too was excellent, with staff not playing a Big Brother eviction charade as soon as they closed, letting the lethargic linger over post-prandial tea.

Breakfast for two for just shy of a tenner - full marks for both, and happy tummies all round

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

nice, cozy place you got here :)..

5:14 AM, November 30, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The french toast special is well worth the trip - two slices of french toast with butter and syrup, a fried egg, two hash browns, a generous portion of fried mushrooms and equally ample pile of ham, with an OJ included. And all for well under a fiver! Beats anything on nearby B'way Market hands down, and without the trendy mobs...

4:00 PM, October 22, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

the best breakfast by far great food, great drinks, great service, great 10/10.

3:35 AM, May 30, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

have to say after checking out the feed back about mess cafe i wanted to try it after a long trip i got there i had there burgers with fries and a shake ahhhh heaven ;)
hell i miss it going there again "yes" (lol), has to be done not found a better place yet well to be honest im not looking anymore this heaven for me many thanks alex.

3:39 AM, May 30, 2008  
Blogger kaszeta said...

Went to the Mess yesterday morning, and had a right proper Full English. Delicious

6:26 PM, July 12, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh hashley, I'd love to share an egg or two with you one day

8:20 AM, February 15, 2013  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Full english breakfast was awful, made up of cheap and nasty produce, sausages were clearly out of a pack of 40 from icelands cheap cheap range, tomatoes taste of washing up liquid, potatoes tasted bruised like they had ben thrown round the kitchen prior to being put on the plate they had been cooked and re-heated as well. Bacon was very nasty, over cooked burnt ans just generally cheap. Eggs yuck yuck yuck mushrooms under done and tasted of earth like they hadn't been washed. The bread was cheap and the butter on it was far to salty another sign of cheap nasty products. I wont be eating here again and certainly wont recomend it to anyone other than the local heard of pigs.

10:12 AM, March 26, 2013  

Post a Comment

<< Home

Listed on BlogShares