Al's Place Cafe, Clapham

Canny Breakfasts goes on holiday... on a recent visit to London I was introduced to the splendours of Al's Place Cafe by one of my daughters.  Even though it's well beyond the boundaries of the north east, we had such a canny breakfast that it deserves an honorary mention.

This is not just Al's Cafe but Al's Place Cafe.  We can only speculate as to why Al might have chosen this name.  A strong sense of ownership?  A moment of psychogeographical playfulness?  A misunderstanding between Al and the signwriter?  Whatever the reason, it's a delight, as is the enormous picture of a fried egg.

You can also get ideas for meals other than breakfast.  In fact, it looks like you could do worse than eat every meal in Al's...just look at those magnificent chips and the abundancy of cheese on that jacket potato:

Another brilliant aspect of Al's is that you order your breakfast, according to a set menu, through a hatch, behind which Al can be glimpsed.  Not a good photo but hopefully you get the general idea: 

I chose Set 6, the vegetarian breakfast, which includes a mug of tea, a white slice and vege burger:

A perfectly designed meal, in which the oval plate seems to offer additional realms of  generosity. 

My daughter chose Set 4:

A parabola of beans and bacon cradles the sausage, hash browns and egg apparently in reverse homage to the hammer and sickle.

At one time, Al must have decided to replace the telly with a bowl of plastic flowers...a wise move from which we could all learn:

So, if you accidentally stray from the north east at any time, you could do a lot worse than have a very canny breakfast at Al's.  Afterwards, you could even stay on for your dinner.

Comments

[Cassie Sutherland]

Great post and a very canny breakfast. The hash browns were particularly good at Al's I thought.