Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Towpath

Trendoids ahoy! I know where you all gather and nurse those Saturday night hangovers!

Towpath has been a long exalted mecca for brunch-lovers who flock to the East for a bit of Sunday relaxation. Located on the side of Regent's Canal, in Dalston, it is practically a hole in the wall. OK, ok, a very painfully fashionable hole in the wall, I hear you wayfarer-wearers cry. Between the yummy mummys, the boys with the half-shaven-half-quiffed hair and the girls with bright red lipstick a la Dita Von Teese, is a slick little operation that doesn't offer the most extensive menu, but definitely a very good one. Best friend M and I explored this joint...


 Distressed, eclectic, and with a vintage wash: the East End look du jour that gets punters from neighbouring areas to spend their Sunday morning watching the world go by...


 Here, here, a bit of inspiration on a blackboard is always welcome.


Nice to know what's always on the "menu"!


 Exercise? What's that?


And smell the coffee. It was rich, slightly foamy and had that much welcomed caffeine hit. 



Now here was me thinking that Towpath was all style and no substance, until this beauty comes along. It just went by the name of "Cheese Toastie" but was so much more. Sandwiched between two heavily buttered slices of sourdough, was a nutty cheese (perhaps gruyere or emmenthal?), dotted with spring onion. Who can resist a bit of melt with a pungent hit of onion? Certainly not me.


And to quench our thirst (toasties can be salty!), we decided on a lemonade and rice cake. I'm a big fan of juice with pulp, "chewing" on a drink is a small quirk of mine! The rice cake was very much rice pudding in muffin format - falling apart upon first bite, and delicately sweet and custardy.


Some rules to observe when visiting Towpath: 1) Vintage/street/designer-that-doesn't-look-designer is the name of the fashion game here. And you have to have an iPhone. Otherwise you can't possibly send GPS directions asking your other impeccably dressed friends to come. 2) Whilst the food is very good, we're talking fashionable prices too. It was £10 a head for a cheese toastie, coffee, lemonade and half a rice cake each. 3) When it's a fab day, you could spend all day there. Bring the Sunday papers, and catch up amidst canal life. Now pass me those Ray-Bans.

2 comments:

PaulieV said...

I cycle passed here on my way to work and have been known to join "The Beards" (for that is the true term for the treny hackneyites you refer to) for a latte before work. Indulgently they only serve coffee with full fat milk, as I have been testily told before. No Grande Iced Soy Mochaccinos here, thank God.
I'm really enoying your hearty food posts. Keep them coming

Hungry Female said...

The Beards - love it! How lucky you are to have this en route to work:-)