Proud Archivist - Haggerston

The last Sunday in September represented a milestone for me. It marked the fact that I had survived a month of attending 3 stag do's and a wedding. Naturally, after all of that I required some sustenance - a full fry I here you say. Well actually no, cue a health kick (kinda!).

Proud Archivist is down by the regent’s canal, which looked great in the late summer sunshine. This gallery come cafe restaurant has a weekend brunch menu, but no fry up. With my new found yearning for something green, I opted for the summer eggs. More precisely that is ‘Proud Archivist English muffins’ topped with asparagus, two poached eggs and hollandaise.

The decor look like a 14 year olds tech project combine with things found in local skips, but that can be forgiven because of the huge glass front that looks out to the canal making a great brunch backdrop.

And so onto the food; the asparagus was served slightly differently to how I had expected, chopped and lightly stewed, on top of two chunky English muffins. I would have probably preferred whole stems of asparagus, but this different take on the very British vegetable probably makes more sense when serving out of season. The eggs were poached very well and the hollandaise sauce was freshly made but the muffins were a bit thick and doughy for my liking. All in all, for £7.50 it was a bit on the small side, but was well prepared.

The service wasn't fantastic; we had to put up more of a fight than should have been required when a soya latte turned up with lumps in it. The regular latte I had was good, if a little small for the £3 price tag.

A quick word on the gallery which appears to be an ever changing collection; when we visited the focus was on paper craft with incredibly intricate models and sculpture. In fact if you have a couple of G spare, you can take some art home with you.

The verdict
Small but well-made brunches, why there is no fry up on the weekend brunch menu is beyond me.