Gill Wing Café, Highbury
***GILL WING CAFE HAS NOW CLOSED***
Gill Wing Café (also known as Le Café)
300 - 302 St Pauls Road
Highbury
N5
by H.P. Seuss
In the heyday of the transatlantic cruise-liner (1891-1912), when magnificent international floating palaces strode the seas, it was the convention that the French provided lunch and supper while the English catered for breakfast - which, in those days, would as often involve roast beef and potatoes as your more enduring bacon and blood pudding. Though masters of the dinner table, the French, whose waking repast arrives with the disconcerting qualifier "petit", could not be trusted to prepare the passengers for the rigours of sailing with their sugary morning fluff.
It is with trepidation that your serious breakfaster enters a French establishment. Kitted out like an elegant Parisian brasserie, Le Café looks to be a boon for the croissant-stroking philosophe, but not the sort of place I expected to find a serviceable fry-up.
How wrong our prejudices often prove to be. The full English (seven-piece, £4.50, available until 5pm) truly hit the spot. The meats were of excellent quality - the bacon thick and crispy, the sausage an essay in succulence. The deftly fried egg, a veritable Vesuvius, provided bountiful eruptions of yellow goo, while the mushrooms came with a witty whiff of garlic. Even the grease was of the superior, olive order.
Mabel Syrup enjoyed a decadent Eggs Florentine, though other companions complained of a slight turgidity in the omelette. But one failing truly rankled - a lack of orange juice for which no amount of citron pressé could compensate.
Nevertheless, coupled with capable service - who dealt smilingly with our difficult party of eight - this was a superior breakfast experience, and for the price, outstanding. So good, in fact, that the patriot in me wonders whether the French proprietors didn't ship in an Englishman to shape it.
Post-script: A sign on the door announced that Le Café will be closed through January for refurbishment. We can only implore the owners to concentrate on the rather grubby loos - and leave the breakfast intact.
Gill Wing Café (also known as Le Café)
300 - 302 St Pauls Road
Highbury
N5
by H.P. Seuss
In the heyday of the transatlantic cruise-liner (1891-1912), when magnificent international floating palaces strode the seas, it was the convention that the French provided lunch and supper while the English catered for breakfast - which, in those days, would as often involve roast beef and potatoes as your more enduring bacon and blood pudding. Though masters of the dinner table, the French, whose waking repast arrives with the disconcerting qualifier "petit", could not be trusted to prepare the passengers for the rigours of sailing with their sugary morning fluff.
It is with trepidation that your serious breakfaster enters a French establishment. Kitted out like an elegant Parisian brasserie, Le Café looks to be a boon for the croissant-stroking philosophe, but not the sort of place I expected to find a serviceable fry-up.
How wrong our prejudices often prove to be. The full English (seven-piece, £4.50, available until 5pm) truly hit the spot. The meats were of excellent quality - the bacon thick and crispy, the sausage an essay in succulence. The deftly fried egg, a veritable Vesuvius, provided bountiful eruptions of yellow goo, while the mushrooms came with a witty whiff of garlic. Even the grease was of the superior, olive order.
Mabel Syrup enjoyed a decadent Eggs Florentine, though other companions complained of a slight turgidity in the omelette. But one failing truly rankled - a lack of orange juice for which no amount of citron pressé could compensate.
Nevertheless, coupled with capable service - who dealt smilingly with our difficult party of eight - this was a superior breakfast experience, and for the price, outstanding. So good, in fact, that the patriot in me wonders whether the French proprietors didn't ship in an Englishman to shape it.
Post-script: A sign on the door announced that Le Café will be closed through January for refurbishment. We can only implore the owners to concentrate on the rather grubby loos - and leave the breakfast intact.
posted by London Review of Breakfasts |
11:20 AM |
1 Comments:
Gill WIng has a chain of shops clustered around the Highbury roundabout - jewellery, chocolate, shoes, cookware, organic deli AND Le Cafe. So it's as French as my knee.
GW cafe has run down over the years, & it has kept going because the food is OK, decor understated & chairs quite comfy compared to other establishments close.
Alas the loos are too open plan, perhaps the most Fr. aspectof this establishment, so any reurbisgment & improvement will be welcome.
Also the service tends to be frosty & at times haughty. Maybe that'll improve when it re-opens.
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