eggbaconchipsandbeans

Buscot Dairy Cafe, 44A Harrowby Street, W1

Christopher emailed me and suggested this place, and I'm very glad he did. It's fantastic. A proper working cafe with a high proportion of cabbies and high-viz jackets, but also bright, clean and airy.

Some ebcbs are all about boundaries, there are clear lines of demarkation between the different food groups. And some ebcbs are all about co-mingling, about the blending of the flavours and colours. This is one of those. The chips are golden and delicious, the egg is somehow simultaneously fluffy and soggy, which makes it marvelous, the beans are aligned like iron filings to a magnet and the bacon's comforting arms hold the whole thing together.

The infinite variety of cafe ordering systems always appeal to me. There's a fairly straightforward ticketing approach here. I'm always tempted to keep these things, start a collection, but they sit in my pocket for a few weeks and then get thrown out.

You can't beat those dayglo yellow starburst things for writing menu items on. I bought a pack from a catering shop once because I thought I could use them to lend a sense of urgency to my todo list. But I've not got around to todoing it yet.

Every cafe now seems to come with some copies of The Metro. It's one of the things I love about cafes, that sense of communal property, someone brings a paper, everyone gets to read it. It's like a socialist utopia. Well, not quite. But it's still a good thing.

Cherrytop Cafe, Paddington Street, London, W1

I love the Cherrytop Cafe. On the surface it’s just another cafe, but if you take the time to look you’ll see a really special place, a place that puts real effort and care into what they do.

Look at that fry-up to start with: I’ve never seen a neater EBCB, everything is lined up with military precision, smart rows of foodstuff presented for your delectation. And they’re not just neat, they’re deeply tasty too. Then take a second to examine that egg more closely – they’ve constructed an elaborate latticework of white over the yolk. I’ve never seen that before either, I can’t imagine what alchemical processes made that possible.

A lovely simple condiment display, with a generously stuffed sugar sachet bowl and nice full salt and pepper. No need to reach for anyone elses. You see the attention to detail?

There’s a note of quality in the fixings. This isn’t your bargain basement placemat or mug. There’s a nice floral theme, and nice heavy knifes and forks. Lovely.

And there’s a lovely warm glow to the place. Wood, nice lights, lots of glass and a purple monster thing ruling over the counter.

And the care extends to a smart bit of entrepreneurialism, a big sign in the window pointing out that an enormous fry-up counts as a diet meal in Dr Atkins’ world. Good work Cherrytop Cafe.

Gino's Coffee Bar, Marylebone Place, NW1

Gino's is a splendid place opposite Marylebone Station. The ebcb is magnificent. And delivered at a hundred miles an hour. (They offer all sorts of service speed pledges - they're obviously used to people trying to catch a train.) Big, fat chips, a lovely sloppy egg, bacon hiding ready to surprise you, a good lashing of beans.

But the best thing about this place, apart from the friendly efficiency, is the exuberant use of colour and signs.

Look at those dispensers. Blue pepper. Yellow salt.

Great stools for gazing out at the commuters, nursing fin de siecle ennui and weltschmertz.

Lots of flourescence.

Great window paintings.

And marvelous plastic food. My first find in a cafe. Along with a little model chef. Superb.

blandfords, chiltern street, w1

UPDATE: APRIL 2013, GOING STRONG

i was taken to blandfords by anne, she passes it a lot. it'd just been done-up on the outside. it's got a curious wallpaper/mural thing of a ship on the wall, the shot i took was all blurred so you won't see it. it's endorsed by ray davies from the kinks and someone else I can't remember.

the chips were lovely. a hint of crunchiness and a hint of browning. nice sauce. nice bit of bacon too, not a lot of it. beans were slightly suspect.

look at those piles of sliced bread packets, all ready to go in the glass cabinet by the counter.

nice cup of tea. shame about the kenco branded cups. i wonder if they're free.

apparently they get a lot of taxi drivers in there. makes sense.