Going out for breakfast still feels like such a luxury. I like my lie-ins on a weekend and so I often can’t be bothered with getting dressed to go out in time for the breakfast service cut-off, but when I do I remember why I like it so much. I love the ceremony of eating that particular meal in a restaurant: the pot of tea, the setting up for the day with a meal rather than a sugary bowl of cardboard at my desk.
Bill’s is a safe option for a decent breakfast, but the sister outpost of Granger & Co is more refined. Gone are the big wooden tables and homely decorations of herbs hanging from the ceiling and pots of jam on the shelves. Instead a muted palette of dusky pinks, marble tops, and wicker trims give an almost art deco feel; the copper accessories making me lust after a kitchen of my own to decorate (one day!).
Eggs are Granger & Co’s speciality and my friend went for the highly recommended scrambled eggs on sourdough toast, with a side of avocado. Obviously I helped myself to a mouthful and honest to God, how they’ve managed to make scrambled eggs so bloody delicious is beyond me. I’ll take a guess at the process involving a lot of butter and cream as they were smooth and melt-in-the-mouth perfect.
I went for the chilli fried egg and bacon in a brioche bun, because frankly, I can’t resist a decent breakfast sarnie. It didn’t have the kick I was expecting, or hoping for, but the addition of rocket did make it spicy with taste rather than with heat. The mango chutney inside meant I didn’t need my usual lashings of ketchup too, and the fruitiness was the stand out flavour of what might otherwise have been just a very nice sandwich.
In our window seat dappled by winter sunlight Granger & Co is the calm in the eye of the storm of King’s Cross, with eggs to remind you why breakfast is the most important meal of the day.