Tue—Fri 11am—11pm, Sat 9am—11pm, Sun 10am—4pm
The style:
A brunch spot on Portobello Road should, by rights, be pretentious and full of irritating people who use ‘brunch’ as a verb. Mercifully Goode & Wright are bucking a trend (that might not actually even be a trend) and offer up a pretty down-to-earth and inviting eatery where brunch is only part of the agenda.
The interior is a combination of dark wood panelling, kitsch décor and twee cushions on the banquette, which sounds a bit messy but sort of works.
Sat on the top end of Portobello Road not far from La Bodega, it is a bit drowned out on market days and took some hunting out.
The crowd:
At 10.30 on a Saturday morning the market was heaving but the restaurant was fairly empty. However by midday it was thronging with a mix of families, tourists, hungover W11 hipsters and market traders, all making for a very convivial scene.
The food:
I’m not usually a fan of brunch but this menu looked tempting – think brioche with dark chocolate ganache (£4.50), soft-boiled duck egg and soldiers (£2.50 each), full English and black pudding (£10) and smashed avocado on sourdough (£5). We eventually opted for eggs benedict (£8) and gypsy toast with maple pancetta (£7).
The eggs benedict was served in a brioche bun which had been hollowed out with a perfectly done egg placed inside. Topped off with crispy bacon and laced with a rich but balanced hollandaise sauce, it was about as good as eggs benedict gets. Cutting it almost seemed heretical. The gypsy toast (French toast, eggy bread etc) was a tower of fat slabs of egg soaked bread, sweet bacon and chargrilled tomato, all covered in maple syrup. Such a dish is in danger of becoming a too sweet and overpowering, however G&W have nailed the balance of sweet and savoury here.
You know it’s a good meal when you save bits of your food for your eating partner to try and then just fully swap dishes anyway. We did that. After speaking to the very affable owner Alex we were somehow convinced that pudding was a good idea and found ourselves, possibly not for the first time, eating a thick chocolate mousse and ice cream at 11.30am. It was exceptionally good although bordering on too rich. This was alongside another dessert of burnt marshmallow served with an espresso, which was exactly as it sounds.
When arranging to pop down to G&W I was strongly advised/pretty much told to try the brunch because it was excellent. Which made me question the rest of the menu and evening offerings. However, checking a few online reviews and speaking to the chef it seems that the evening’s seriously eclectic French bistro menu is equal to its mid-morning counterpart and, if brunch is anything to go by, definitely worth a try.
The drinks:
Being a Saturday morning we opted for tea and coffee — both of which were from independent producers, obviously. The loose-leaf tea was served in a glass teapot with all the usual paraphernalia of tea brewing; strainer, china cup and so on, which made for a good cuppa. The coffee was good but not particularly punchy in a flat white.
Considering it’s on one of London’s busiest markets Goode & Wright offers a great place to spend a few hours people watching and working your way through the menu.
