eggbaconchipsandbeans

Raffles, Craven Road, W2

The other Russell took some pictures of Raffles for my book, but I'd never been there myself. I must admit I'd built an elaborate fantasy Raffles in my head, based on a nice looking fry-up and the green-checked table cloths, and it wasn't quite up to the standards of my imagination, but it was very nice.

Very pleasant bacon, and a generous portion, which conceals the yolk of the egg, like the sun on a cloudy day. The eggs had a scattered quality, like the timbers of a building after a hurricane. The beans are like, well, beans. But good beans. This is an excellent ebcb, and good value.

You see how the table-cloths sets it off nicely. There's probably something in colour theory that explains it all.

Great colours here too. The browns and whites of the salt and pepper echoed by the sugar and the brown sauce. Clean and simple.

Very respectable cup of tea and the often seen, tightly-wrapped knife and fork, which always reminds me of a mummy or disturbing chinese foot-binding practises.

It's a busy place, a blur of motion.

And I always like that slightly medieval feel to the lettering and quaint roof to the sign.

There's a platial map here.

Harris's Cafe Rest, Goldhawk Road, W12

No, this is not me eating by a mirror. This is two ebcb's on one table. Marvelous. A good egg - very white and very yellow. Deep, rich beans. Loads of chips, some of them very small, almost nano-chips. Super soggy bacon with a hint of carbonisation. And my companion pronounced the ebcb excellent.

And it's a fantastic place. Great signage and the loveliest people. And those lace curtains are special. Give it a 50s homeliness you can't resist. More and better pictures here.

The colours inside are fantastic. Glowing with imperial optimism.

The curtains again. They make you feel like all's right with the world. Like the Old King will go on forever and the British will be first on the moon.

And the condiments are textbook. Look at the size of that salt cellar. There's probably Dickensian salt in there.

GONE - Metropolitan, Edgware Road, W2

UPDATE: Now closed.

The Metropolitan is a classic cafe favourite. And rightly so. Faded 50s/60s atmos, bohemian credibility and magnificent chips. Brown, crunchy and austere like you might get in a Soviet chippy. Great, reduced, beans, all the juice boiled away to make a lovely beany paste. The egg all pale and interesting and the bacon stringy but nice. A curate's eggbaconchipsandbeans.

The first thing you notice is the green. There's green everywhere. The second thing you notice is the smoke. They really smoke hard in here. There was only three people in this morning but the smoke was so thick it slowed you down.

I really like this place. I can tell I'll be here again. There's all this history underneath the green paint.