A LITTLE OF WHAT YOU FANCY, DALSTON

I was chatting to my friend Mike the other day about good places to eat in Dalston. He had heard of a little place called A Little Of What You Fancy on Kingsland Road that was serving really good food so we popped along for brunch on Sunday.

We walked down Kingsland Road, past Dalston Junction and past the place we were looking for! You wouldn’t notice it at all if you weren’t looking for it. And you wouldn’t really notice it even if you are looking for it! It looks so unlike anywhere you would go for food. It almost looks a bit like the front of one of those dodgy holiday homes, with only a blackboard sitting outside with the name of the restaurant scribbled in chalk.

However, once you walk through the doors, you’re greeted with a bright, welcoming, cosy space with wooden crates of fruit and veg strewn around the bar area. There is an immediate feeling of familiarity but I think that comes from the furniture which was salvaged from a school, complete with compass-etched scribblings.

It would be a perfect place for an intimate romantic evening meal but since we were there on a very chilly, sunny Sunday lunchtime, we went straight for the breakfast menu. I was tempted by the Truffled Mushrooms on toast but then my eye caught the last entry in the breakfast menu….

Chorizo and avocado on sourdough toast with Greek yoghurt, sweet chilli jam and a soft poached egg.

This was bloody delicious! The crustiness of the toast with the soft avocado, the sweetness of the chilli jam and the runny egg with the smoky chorizo…it was like an explosion of flavours in your mouth. I could have eaten it all day and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

Mike went for Hansen and Lyndersen smoked salmon, vodka and peppercorn cured salmon and smoked sprats with horseradish crème fraîche and rye.

This was beautifully fresh and clean tasting. I think I preferred the cured salmon out of the three, and the horseradish crème fraîche was lovely. I can’t normally eat horseradish as I find it too hot, but mixed with the crème fraîche, you got the full flavour of the fresh horseradish with a gentle heat.

I loved this little place. The waitress was delightful. As Mike said, she almost danced from table to table. She was charming and helpful and really brought the place to life. The food is local, seasonal and sustainable. All meat and eggs are free range.

A Little Of What You Fancy is open from breakfast to dinner, and looking at the dinner menu, I will definitely be going back. I wish I lived round the corner, but I think that would be a bit dangerous for my waistline.

A Little of What You Fancy, 464 Kingsland Road, London, E8 4AE
Tel: 020 7275 0060
Twitter: @littlefancyfood

(It would be worth booking if you want to go. Mike and I were lucky to get a table when we wandered in at midday on Sunday as every other table had been booked. There were lots of people who were turned away while we were eating.)