Samuel Johnson was rude about porridge but he’d be rewriting his dictionary if he’d eaten at the Porridge Cafe. It’s London’s first, set up by Nik and Elly of street food company Bow Street Kitchen and they have a winner on their hands. With pale woods, communal seating and film poster decoration this is a hangout that is attracting locals who know a successful new trend when they see one.
If you only eat porridge in the depths of winter you might be thinking a porridge cafe? has the world gone mad? Certainly a cafe that specialises in porridge can legitimately be called niche. But it turns out to be a good idea. And porridge is probably more widely defined than you are envisaging.
A question you’ve probably never pondered before is what makes a porridge a porridge? Here the vital ingredients are grains, and these are not restricted to the rolled oats seen on supermarket shelves. Each day the porridge cafe has a different selection of carefully-curated porridges on sale although some of these appear closer to risotto, albeit made with millet, barley or quinoa rather than rice.
The biggest surprise is that porridge doesn’t have to be sweet. When The Flaneur visited the savoury porridges on the menu included Roasted pepper, Chorizo & Chilli, which looks tempting and is made with barley to give it a pleasing texture. The chilli is an integral part of the recipe and adds to the enjoyment rather than blowing your head off.
Balance between all the ingredients has been well-achieved with some interesting mixes on the menu – maple syrup, Bacon and poached Egg on spelt and barley sounding especially impressive. Pomegranate, Orange and Dates is a coconut-milk and wheat flake concoction that looks exotic and tastes naturally sweet.
Healthy and imaginative, a trip to the porridge cafe will change how you view porridge, even if your head will be trying to label many of the dishes as risotto. It’s the sort of food that you feel worthy ordering – luckily you then discover it’s also delicious.
Popping up until the end of March at 70 Paul Street, Shoreditch
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