New Year's Eve and all the excesses that go with it just a few hours away, Dec 31st seemed like the perfect opportunity to sample John Torode's East London version of the much-loved multi-levelled tower of meat, Smiths of Smithfields. Wandering in mid-morning, I grabbed a table near the bar and in sight of the busy kitchen. Staff seemed available if slightly distracted by a range of families on tour, locals and young market-goers already seated around the u-shaped cafe/bar. The kiosk outside was serving coffee, though the terrace area was understandably quiet given that the temperature was in low single digits.
The menu was versatile and clearly aimed at catering for breakfast crowds from the nearby City, as well as passing tourists and those wanting to bridge breakfast and lunch with a mid-morning burger or all day fry-up. Alongside the usuals, highlights include 'Thick Cut Ham, 2 Fried Eggs & Chips' (£7.50), 'The LUXE Butty' (bacon or sausage £4.50) and 'Flat Mushrooms on Toast, Poached Egg & Hollandaise' (£6.50). Despite being rather tempted by the brunch and lunch options available so early (especially the 'Mac & Cheese, Smoked Haddock & Poached Egg' at £9.50), I went for 'The LUXE Big Breakfast'.
It proved to be rather dominated by toast, and the single portions of egg, sausage and hash brown all struct me as evidence that 'medium' rather than 'big' would be a better moniker. Still, if we follow Starbucks measurement principles ('tall' is medium etc) and bearing in mind my larger than normal appetite, perhaps this level of pernikety is unfair. Focussing on what was on the plate, the sausage was reassuringly moist (not that I have seen that as key factor before), the bacon was superb and the tomatoes another delicious hybrid of sun-dried and roast ; not too wet, not too dry. I was a little disappointed with the blood pudding, which instead of being almost unbearably rich, was slightly floury and needed beans on the same fork for the flavour to really work. As mentioned, toast was a large part of the plate rather than the side plated accompaniment I prefer, but it was toasted perfectly and a second piece would have been a welcome mop for my beans.
This was all washed down with a 'Bottomless Cup of Joe', for a reasonable £2... or it would have been reasonable had a refill been offered and the drink not so hot (as an Americano, it seemed) that I couldn't drink it until afterwards. Bit of a shame given early excitement that coffee was now available in limitless New York style in London. All the other coffee drinks were available, but I was more impressed with the range of drinks from the 'Juice Bar' including 'Veggie' which incorporated carrot, tomato, celery, ginger and coriander, as well as the smoothies, though the 'Breakfast' should have probably been called the 'New Year's Resolution' with honey, banana, greek yoghurt and muesli (yes, muesli in a drink....).
In summary, not a bad choice for the atmosphere (liked Little Green Bag by George Baker played out loud) and location, but don't get too excited about the impressive menu until you see what that means on your plate. Don't get me wrong, I didn't think it was particularly bad, I just really don't believe it was particularly good. I would expect better given the need to appeal to corporate breakfasters and given the Smithfields heritage. With St John Bread & Wine over the road, it would never be hard to choose between the two.
Scoring: 6.5/10
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