The Jones Family Project - Shoreditch

Shoreditch is full of restaurants cafes and bars with quirky décor and edgy artwork, many of them offering quality food and drink (although not as many of them as I would like serve a fry up!). The Jones family project is no different with its exposed pipework and an indoor tree (we aren’t talking Waxy O’Connor’s in Soho and I’m no horticulturist but it was definitely a tree). But what really makes this place a little different is the idea of this being a ‘project’ run by a group of friends, rather than just a business.

The weekend brunch runs until well into the afternoon, but there aren’t many traditional breakfast type options on the menu. However, the most important dish is there – ‘The full on’ is Ginger Pig sausage and bacon, eggs, tomato, mushroom and baked beans with toasted white or wholemeal bread. I then added Smoked black pudding for an extra £2 (the chef’s recommendation). The brought the total cost up to £13. Pricey, so I was hoping for something special.

The menu was very keen to make sure I knew that the sausage and bacon where from the ‘Ginger pig‘ farm in North Yorkshire. The sausage was great, very meaty and mellow peppery flavours. Another plus point was the extra thick cut bread for the toast which formed a great base for the breakfast. There were problems though; my two poached eggs I had were overcooked, so no runny yolks for me and the mushroom was a bit washed out and lacked a depth of flavour.  And then there was the recommended black pudding, which I found very disappointing, for an extra 2 quid I was expecting something special, but it was quite dry and frankly very ordinary.

I can’t fault the service and the coffee was good. What I didn’t get however, was a sense that this place was anything different to all the rest. I didn’t get the ‘family vibe’ and I wasn’t wowed by the food.

The verdict
A trendy but expensive fry-up which didn't deliver much out of the ordinary.

Rating: