Monday 11 November 2013

Cafe 1001 - London

91 Brick Lane 
London
E1 6QL

Opening hours
Daily 6am - 12am


Cafe 1001 is just off Brick Lane in East London, it is a cafe by daytime and a club in the evenings.




Place your order at the counter and find a table.




 There were a few tables on the ground floor, I decided to see what was upstairs.




Upstairs mainly consisted of large cushions, sofa's and a row of tables looking down onto the ground floor, it was quite dark though.




I headed back downstairs where there was one free table left suitable for eating at.




 A really nice filter coffee came with the cooked breakfast.




Two slices of buttered toast were also included in the price.




It was a fair amount of food for the money but I had some concerns..




The eggs were not looking at their best and why was the tomato served whole?



The sausage was no award winner but it held back the sea of beans effortlessly.



My wife and I had been out the previous night to The Toy Dolls gig at The Electric Ballroom in Camden. With a stall to set up at Renegade Craft Fair the next day we left the gig as soon as it ended resisting the urge to drink anymore alcohol. The next morning we were up early setting the stall up, just after the doors to Renegade opened at 11am I headed off on a 30 minute walk to Par Cafe near Farringdon. My plans were soon destroyed though as I stepped outside to find it raining really hard. I was not prepared to get soaked so walked around the corner to Cafe 1001 who appeared to be selling a cooked breakfast..

Upon entering - I noticed a number of outside tables as I rushed in sheltering from the rain. To the left was a counter, to the right were a few tables and in the middle some stairs, I went upstairs to take a look. Upstairs was very dark and mainly consisted of large cushions and sofas, perfect when this place is a club in the evenings but not ideal for eating breakfast in such a low light. I headed back downstairs which was much lighter, placed my order at the counter, paid and found a spare table suitable for eating breakfast at. The only menu I could see was on a large blackboard and I couldn't see salt, pepper or ketchup anywhere. I would have probably loved it here with a drink in the evening but as a daytime breakfast spot I was quite unimpressed. 4/10

Service - The staff here were friendly enough, my order was taken and I was given a table number and told to wait for my coffee. Shortly after sitting down with my coffee the breakfast arrived along with a separate plate of buttered toast and some cutlery. I wanted some salt, pepper and ketchup but didn't see anybody to ask after the food arrived. Nobody returned to ask if everything was ok which is quite rare these days but they were quite busy. 5/10

Contents - 1 large sausage, 2 bacon, 2 fried eggs, mushrooms, beans, tomato, 2 slices of buttered toast and a hot drink. 8/10

Presentation - Quite nicely presented and a bean barrier fan's dream come true. The shoddy looking eggs and uncut tomato let it down though leaving my thinking "why?" rather than "mmm!" 5/10

The food - I enjoyed the nicely browned bacon between the hot buttered toast, this is where the ketchup was desperately needed though! The sausage was no award winner but fairly nice and there was plenty of it. Despite the overcooked appearance of the eggs they did have nice runny yolks and suffered no undercooked white. The mushrooms were delicious and the beans nice and stodgy. The tomato tasted great but was piping hot one side and ice cold the other, it must had been plopped on the griddle without being turned. 5/10

Value for money - The cooked breakfast with buttered toast and a filter coffee cost just £6, this is incredibly cheap and I left feeling really full up. Unfortunately it was only mildly enjoyable and had a number of flaws leaving me wishing I had eaten elsewhere. 5/10

Veggie option - No
Overall - The coffee here was great and during the evenings I am sure it is a great club venue. As far as the breakfast goes though it was a bit disappointing really and although reasonably priced not somewhere I would recommend or consider revisiting. 5/10

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