Electric Diner

 

I brunched this weekend at Electric Diner, which has been almost universally praised since it's late 2012 reopening, following a kitchen fire earlier last year.

It's totally changed, I went for brunch about 6 years ago, pre blog, and returned with the girls (minus Noy, who's sunning herself in Oz) last Saturday.  We arrived at 2, put our names down (no reservations) and were called about 20 minutes later as our booth was ready.  You only get an hour which means they're pretty swift at turning tables.  I didn't feel particularly rushed, but post meal lingering is certainly off limits.

I tried the bloody mary (£8), which really whacks you around the head with a hefty punch of all the usual trappings and many in addition to what you'd expect.  Sliced pickles, lots of lemon and olives giving it quite a tang.  Very good and did the job on on my hangover.

I ate the ham and gruyere open sandwich topped with a fried egg (£9) with a side of hash browns (£4).  This came with brioche bread with butter (room temperature so spreadable - an important note), jam and marmalade.  The fried egg was cooked how it should be and the cheese fondue ws lovely, essentially a bechamel with loads of cheese resulting in stringiness (a good thing) and there was a nice scattering of smoked ham, all topped with parsely.  I was pleased with my choice and the hash browns, whilst not what I was expecting were good.  They were more like rostis really.

Both the girls had the full English (£11) which they seemed more than happy with.  The thick cut bacon is particularly impressive.  I thought cynically that most of this would be fat but it was actually mostly pork and I heard no complaints from the girls.  In a thoughtful way the baked beans are ensconced in a little pot, albeit an overflowing one.  I know many a person who objects to bean juice infiltrating where it's not wanted.

I liked the meal but I can't see me returning any time soon, it's been 6 years since my last visit.  Nice location mind.  The no bookings policy will no doubt put many off, if the market happens to be on, it's obviously not a problem, but at other times, hanging around waiting for a table will be a bit boring.  Also, with all the chaos of primetime, people were not respecting the queue situation, behaviour which I absolutely cannot tolerate.

Electric Diner
191 Portobello Road
W11 2ED
7/10