Tuesday, August 30, 2016

A birthday breakfast at Smak

We don't often get out for breakfast, much as we would like to. Mornings at home are precious, especially after a long week of work, and some late nights. But last week a dear friend had a birthday and we decided to take her out for breakfast to celebrate. She chose to introduce us her favourite breakfast restaurant, SMAK in Bree Street. A first for us; she and her husband have grown fond of this newish venue which was opened by two young entrepreneurial chefs, Devin Hogan and Katia Scherf, in February 2016
They bill themselves as a delicatessen, patisserie, restaurant and coffee bar. It’s light, modern and open six days a week for breakfasts and lunch and take-aways. They are closed on Sundays
Plenty of seating just after 9 on Saturday morning, with lots of regulars
We began with a bottle of Colmant Brut Rosé which we had taken with us. They do not have a licence yet
It's an open kitchen
An Americano coffee with a small fennel and almond biscuit fits the bill
Chef Devin on the pass preparing a dish. Both chefs are graduates of Prue Leith’s Academy
They make their own pasta; we hear it is excellent
The good ol’ scramble with cream cheese, balsamic caramelised onions, scrambled eggs, pan-fried mushrooms & parmesan served on toasted ciabatta
A fluffy omelette for John with bacon and cheese, made to order
Lynne had the interesting take on an Arnold Bennett omelette. It comes in a cocotte, has scrambled eggs on the base, smoked haddock is substituted with smoked trout and it is topped with both béchamel and hollandaise sauces, quite rich, a scattering of parmesan and flashed under the salamander grill. Served with toasted ciabatta. Not for take away, it says on the menu
The Birthday girl had the smashed avocado on toast, topped with lemon juice and poached eggs. She said the eggs were perfect. Neither of us is able to reproduce these at home, much as we try all the different methods. Probably because the supermarket eggs we get are not fresh enough, is the theory
Prices are very reasonable, we felt very comfortable and relaxed and the Deli counter is full of lots of different temptations, including good looking gateaux. They also sell some good Italian ingredients
For once, we left the Nikon at home. The photographs were taken with John's Nokia Windows phone
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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