The Good egg – Hoxton (pop-up)

Funky Gainsbourgh studios with its giant and slightly eerie Alfred Hitchcock sculpture is the temporary home to Brunch specialists The Good egg company. Cortado is the café on the ground floor of the modern block of flats and is currently hosting this nomad brunch club on Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 4pm. The menu is loosely Israeli themed but one item on the menu fits very nicely with the nation of Algeria. Shakshuka is a popular dish in Israel but also in North Africa from where the dish originates. It is the national breakfast dish in Algeria and Tunisia and in winter is the nation’s favourite food even ahead of better known (in the West) falafel or hummus. Having done a little research I decided The good egg’s Shakshuka would be the one to trial, having recently been voted London’s best by foodedited.com (http://foodedited.com/edits/shakshuka).

We were lucky enough to score one of their outside picnic benches, located by the canal, but nice and shady, so perfect for these hot summer weekends (I have decided they are all going to be this hot and sunny from now on!). 

So what is Shakshuka? Well this particular version was baked eggs in a smoky tomato & pepper sauce topped with preserved lemon yogurt and za’tar bread. It then came with a choice of merguez sausages or grilled halloumi, or both for an extra £1.50, which is what I went for.

Merguez are mutton sausages and these had a deep meaty flavour, the halloumi was well done, not at all rubbery as it sometimes can be. The za’tar bread was a sourdough dusted in oregano basil & thyme. To be honest the herbs didn’t really add much for me but the bread was great for mopping up the rich tomato sauce. The baked eggs were delicious, with deep orange yolks running into the rest of the dish. You wouldn’t expect anything less from these guys; after all they are the egg-perts. 

The verdict
A refreshingly different full breakfast with quality ingredients. Give it a go – soon!

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