Cafe Pushkar

This place is now called Duck Egg, and since I didn’t visit Honest Foods this will be a review of the new incarnation.
Duck Egg is a quite unusual café that emphasizes on their specialty of duck eggs! They also have the option of hen eggs for all their dishes for those not so inclined. The food is based around breakfast/​brunch with a broad selection of types, but they also do lunch dishes. All the food is well presented, fresh and expertly cooked. They have fresh juices and Illy coffee too. Well worth a visit.

I visited this little café on a Sunday afternoon with a couple of friends, for a little lunch. Its quite a small place with a few tables, but has a nice relaxed atmosphere, with paintings on the wall which are for sale and papers available to mull over.
I opted for a sandwich, when they asked what bread i would like they told me out of the 6 choices only multigrain or olive was left. I opted for multigrain, but after i sat down was told there was none left and was asked to choose another choice of the list (which consisted of — er one choice — Olive). Anyway the food was quite slow and came out separately for me & my chums, so 1 had finished before another had even been given their food.
This being said the foody was quite yummy & reasonably priced, and available to eat in or take-​out. There is also a list showing where all the food was sourced from, with most coming from Brixton Market and different menus for brekfast lunch & dinner.
Drink list consisted of tea, coffee or freshly made smoothies and fruit juice. There is also some tap water in jugs available.
A nice place to relax to on a sunday afternoon, due to slow service, not sure it could work if you were in a rush…

The best fry up I’ve ever had was from this café. By the time I’d finished it, I was borderline emotional.
Each ingredient was so fantastically sourced & prepared that you couldn’t pick a favourite part. It wasn’t a particularly fancy or OTT preparation, the basic ingredients were just of such a high standard that you never wanted it to end. I’ve never had anything else there, and struggle to see myself moving beyond the fry-​up. I first discovered the place from some friends who lived in New Cross who travel across London just to get fry ups here because they’re so good.

REVIEW # 2
Having said all that (see below…) I ended up eating at Honest again yesterday and had a slightly better experience than the first. I wanted to take my boyfriend to Rosie’s Deli (
), which looks amazing, but it was the middle of the afternoon and they’d run out of a lot of the dishes so we decided to return another day. We even had a peek at Franco Manca (
) and the queue was predictably crazy, it bring a sunny weekend and all, so it was with some trepidation I steered him round the corner to Honest.
This time I went for a lentil stew which was completely vegan and quite pleasant. It was nothing you couldn’t rustle up yourself in ten minutes at home, but it only cost £4 and came with a couple of small pieces of posh bread which was tasty. The bread arrived buttered first time round despite my non-​dairy requests but the man serving us quickly realised his mistake and ran back to the kitchen to change it for me.
My hungry boyfriend ordered a cheese and potato bake off the specials board and when it arrived had to order another dish right away as it clearly wasn’t going to be anywhere big enough to fill him up. The bake was served on a little plate with no sides of any kind, and though it wasn’t exactly expensive, having to order another main to make up for the tiny portion meant my boyfriend’s lunch cost £8, when one of Rosie’s big platters is only £6.50.
I think from now on I’ll keep Honest for the odd coffee break. They do nice coffee.
—
REVIEW # 1
I got really excited about Honest Foods when I first discovered it here on Qype. «Several veggie breakfasts», I read with glee, and made plans to visit at the earliest opportunity. The soonest Sunday I could manage I went over there with my sister for breakfast but the café was shut. No signs of life, no rustlings in the kitchen, no nothing! A greasy spoon in Camberwell had to do the job instead. Boo!
Last Saturday a friend and I decided to try again, and were pleased to find the place open. On entering it seemed like just my sort of café: small enough to be cosy but with seating to spare, interesting photos on the wall and a laid back vibe. And then the service happened — or, rather, didn’t.
First, a disclaimer. As a tolerant vegan I understand I won’t get great food everywhere I go, and if a place isn’t specifically vegetarian or vegan I’m happy to settle for adaptations. I’ve been a waitress myself so I’m extra careful to make any requests for changes to a dish politely, and understand that things can easily go wrong when people aren’t used to serving dishes without dairy or eggs.
I don’t know how drastically Honest’s menu has changed since jenibo7’s visit, but of the «several» veggie breakfasts she saw listed only one currently remains, and I wish wish WISH I’d gone for that, substituting the eggs for an extra hash brown or something. Instead, as it was nearing lunchtime, I asked after the vegan-​ness of the veggie burger. Vegan — it was confirmed, and with our orders made my friend and I sat with coffee to enjoy a weekend natter. Time ticked by.
It became clear the lady behind the till was on her own apart from the chef, and there seemed to be quite a backlog of food orders to get through. It was at least half an hour before our food arrived and while my friend’s full English looked well worth the wait, my vegan veggie burger came adorned with mayonnaise and a big dollop of coleslaw on the side. When I asked what the stuff was (sometimes they use veganaise — it’s made with pea protein), the lady huffed and sighed and said «Shit, it was supposed to be vegan» and dashed away with my plate in her hand.
I’ve had to get used to people eating their dinners while mine is made again, but there’s usually an apology and often an offer of a small snack to be getting on with. Neither were forthcoming here. About 10 minutes later another burger appeared and this time the salad was flecked with some yellow liquid. When I meekly asked what it was a sharp «It’s vegan» came at me before the lady slammed the plate down (and I do mean slammed), turned on her heel and went back to the kitchen.
Another disclaimer: I know being short staffed and /​or having to do two peoples’ jobs is stressful — but it’s no excuse to be rude to me!
In the end the food was fine, though not amazing, and I’d have happily returned on a semi regular basis for brunches with friends if I hadn’t been put off by the bad customer service. If they expanded their menu with more veggie options I might consider it again, but as it stands I don’t feel I have any reason to return to Honest Foods. Honest.

I went to Honest for the 3^rd time on Sunday and it was as good as it was the 1^st and 2^nd time. Each time I have been there I have taken friends who have been visiting and they always leave raving about Honest’s fry-​up. For around 7 pounds you get a good hearty breakfast which includes homemade hash browns, a big curly sausage, two eggs cooked however you like, toast (they have around 5 different breads to choose from), grilled tomato, big field mushrooms and whatever other trimmings you may desire. They also do several veggie breakfast options and a selection of toasties on a bread of your choice (which you can also get as a takeaway). Their fruit juice selection is also vast and good for you! Highly recommended.