Old readers of Matt The List will know that my love for The Good Egg runs deep, dating back to when I first ran into master of ceremonies Joel Braham slinging shakshuka before it was cool at Feast in Tobacco Dock back in March 2013. There’s a longer story involving Rotterdam and a trumpet from 2005 but that’s one for the pub.
Anyway, after a couple of years of hard grafting on the street food and popups scene around London, a brick and mortar site was successfully crowdfunded, and the restaurant opened in Stoke Newington in late 2015. It’s open all day, serving up dishes inspired by classic cafés, delis and street food spots from LA to Tel Aviv via New York and Los Angeles, drawing on recent travels and childhood memories. That may sound like an eclectic mix, but it sure does make for a bloody enticing menu. We’re talking Challah French toast, Iraqi aubergine pitas, daily babka (unmissable), breakfast burritos, roasted cauliflowers with pomegranate molasses, za’atar fried chicken with chilli honey, and smoked dry-cured short-rib pastrami. I had you at Challah, right?
I’ve only been in for brunch thus far, and we stuffed ourselves full of crowd-pleasing dishes (see below) until they ran out of zhoug. If it wasn’t an hour away, I’d be there on a weekly basis. It’s magnificent. Dinner has so far eluded me, but I plan to drop in soon for sharing plates and more to-die for breads from pastry chef Oded Mizrachi (snapped up from team Ottolenghi). It is the year of the babka after all.
N.B. The Good Egg only takes reservations for dinner with a maximum table size of six, and the restaurant is closed on Monday evenings. Check the website below for the latest opening times.
The Good Egg – www.thegoodeggn16.com
93 Stoke Newington Church Street, N16 0AS
