• Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Snapchat
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

MsMarmiteLover

  • Food
    • Recipes
    • Vegetarian
    • Vegan
  • Travel
    • France
    • Italy
    • Spain
    • UK
  • Wine
  • Gardens
  • Supperclubs/Events
  • About
    • Press
    • Books
  • Shop
    • Cart

The Underground Breakfast

February 2, 2010 9 Comments Filed Under: Uncategorized

Menu

Bucks Fizz
Aga porridge
Aga yoghurt
Compote de pommes with bourbon and cinnamon
Nuts and fresh fruit
Sourdough bread with brittany butter, marmite, Bonne Maman jams and Carla’s apricot jam.
Mutant croissants
Buttermilk blinis made on the Aga griddle
Home cured smoked salmon
Scrambled eggs
Creme fraiche and dill
Scotch pancakes
Flambéed bananas with rum and caramel
Cafetiere coffee and tea
Orange juice
Sunday papers…all of them from broadsheets to red tops.
Van Morrison on the turntable, radio 4 in the kitchen.
If I thought breakfast would be easier, I couldn’t have been more mistaken…I never left the stove.
The day before I made Aga yoghurt: I’ve heard that it’s easy to make good yoghurt on an Aga but I’ve been resisting. My mother made us eat yoghurt and honey for pudding as kids for almost a decade. It seemed like a cheat. It’s not a proper dessert!
But the yoghurt I made was creamy and unctuous. Served with the compote and the slow cooked Aga porridge (2 cups water to 1 cup oats, pinch of salt) it was a luxurious breakfast. It’s hard to get hold of pinhead oats in normal shops but that works very well overnight in the Aga.
I spent Saturday afternoon making the croissants. It really is a complicated and drawn out process and they looked a little strange at the end, but they tasted good.
People chatted, read the papers, got their table to help them with the crossword.
When I lived in Los Angeles, Sunday brunch was my favourite meal and there was a good choice of cafes that served it…it’s a neglected meal in London.
I will be doing a monthly brunch in future…working my way through breakfast foods…home cured smoked kippers next time perhaps?
A little word about tips. People at this breakfast tipped well, which is a pleasure. In restaurants people tip at least ten percent, so why the lack of tips at a home restaurant where it’s often bigger quantities and a better deal?
The first few months the tips literally kept The Underground Restaurant going as I was operating at a loss and having to buy equipment.
If you aren’t happy with the meal and don’t want to tip for that reason, that’s fine, the same if you really can’t afford it. But if you are happy, feel you’ve had a great meal in the exclusive surroundings of someone’s home, then please tip. It’s not just the money, it’s a concrete way of saying thanks so much, I can see how hard you’ve worked on this, how much you’ve spent on ingredients, the research and the creativity. This way I can also keep my prices down, leaving guests an element of choice in how much they pay.
It’s embarassing to talk about it but the lack of tips tends to be worse, I’m afraid to say, on events where I’ve gone to considerable trouble to organise tastings of say, sherry or whisky, free to my guests. How often do you get a four course meal (often with cheese course which costs a fortune) plus cocktail (also get annoyed when people unfairly take more than one drink) for £30? Then also get free tasting of alcohol? Yep. Didn’t think so.
A piece I wrote about Porridge Lady.

Recent posts

Dr Saira Hameed pic:Kerstin Rodgers

The Full Diet: interview with obesity expert Dr Saira Hameed

July 5, 2022

Hostile environment training. Me in front with our kidnappers.

Hostile Environment Training

July 1, 2022

Air Fryer recipe: aubergine sticks with yoghurt, tahini sauce

June 20, 2022

Previous Post: « The fastest astrologer in the West
Next Post: Ahoy there! Wine, women and war »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jumbleberry Orchard

    February 2, 2010 at 5:13 pm

    I saw this on your ticketing site and was soooo tempted to buy tickets for me and my boyfriend; we are breakfast lovers to the extreme, and porridge is our religion! Unfortunately I couldn't make the date (we come from York so would spend the weekend in London probably), so I'm reallllly glad to see you'll be doing more of the same! It looks wonderful!

    Reply
  2. Dylan

    February 2, 2010 at 5:18 pm

    Now that is what I call a breakfast spread! Sure beats a bowl of cereal and some toast… hell I'd say it beats a bacon and egg sandwich… but only just!!!

    Look forward to reading about the next Brunch,

    Dylan

    http://fromcooktotrainedchefandbeyond.blogspot.com/2010/02/undersellover-deliver-budget-lunch.html

    Reply
  3. Chocoralie

    February 2, 2010 at 9:21 pm

    A monthly brunch, fab idea! (especially if you do that yogurt again) Count me in!

    Reply
  4. LexEat!

    February 3, 2010 at 12:09 am

    I'm salivating over the mutant croissants! I can tell they were delicious just by looking at them!

    Reply
  5. The Curious Cat

    February 3, 2010 at 11:08 am

    Looks wonderful – very relaxed for the customers! I love smoked salmon for breakfast…hmmm…you could also do different breakfasts from around the world -that could be cool?! xxx

    Reply
  6. bakelady59

    February 4, 2010 at 1:36 pm

    What a wonderful menu, where else would you get great 'Homemade' food, but in a home of course. Anything is good when it's Homemade.

    Reply
  7. shayma

    February 7, 2010 at 5:03 pm

    a lovely menu. and tipping is always a nice gesture, i just hate it in the US where the rates have gone up to 30%in places like manhattan. the buttermilk blinis sound fab. i would love to come to your restaurant one day when i am in london. x

    Reply
  8. Anonymous

    February 16, 2010 at 4:59 pm

    Interesting what you said about tips. Everyone seemed to love the first underground restaurant I did on Saturday. But it only occurred to less than half the people to tip. Wonder how I should encourage it!

    Reply
  9. Kavey

    February 26, 2010 at 12:09 am

    Ooh ooh ooh that's the jam Carla and I made together!
    (See my recent post called Jamming with Carla).
    Did you like it? 🙂

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

This is my food and travel blog, with recipes, reviews and travel stories. I also stray into politics, feminism, gardening.

Subscribe to my mailing list

msmarmitelover

Kerstin Rodgers/MsMarmiteLover
This vegetarian met the worlds most famous butcher This vegetarian met the worlds most famous butcher @dariocecchinimacellaio whose shop is located in Panzano, Tuscany. He trained my favourite food writer @bill.buford in butchery. I told him I didn’t eat meat & he twinkled ‘to beef or not to beef’. He has a Clark gable elegance: moustache, slicked back hair, charm, & a designer shirt depicting cows from @cotondoux paris. I instinctively wore a red & white striped dress which matched the colours of his shop, the red & white of the surgeon. They serve you glasses of Dario’s own Chianti Classico complete with straw bottomed ‘fiasco’. Now where else do you get that? When I return I will try the vegetarian menu at his restaurant opposite. #butcher #panzano #tuscany #chiantishire #chianticlassico #foodsiena #foodreportage
On a very steep street in siena, Tuscany. They’v On a very steep street in siena, Tuscany. They’ve had to be creative with the table legs. We went to the Palio horse race in the shell-shaped piazza where the passion & downright enmity of the different contrada or districts, each represented by an animal or mascot, was on display. The riders go bareback. It’s the horse that wins not the jockey. A riderless horse can win. There are many false starts, a massive explosion going boom in the square each time which led kids to cry. We waited for hours in the cheap seats- the burnt ochre brickwork of the centre. While tourists at windows paid 600 euros for the privilege. I loved the singing, like football chants but operatic- lots of finger pointing at each other. After I went to a contrada dinner on the streets of Siena, a rare opportunity. For 35 euros you attend the largest ‘supper club’ ever- 800 people, 4 courses, generous helpings of chianti. The servers are local teenagers. I wore my ‘Oca’ or goose scarf around my shoulders, looking like a girl guide. A bucket list item ticked off. I only wish my daughter @siennamarla was with me. #travel #food #italy #chiantishire #siena #palio #supperclub #oca #contrada
Looking at vegetables in Italy. Photo by @loredana Looking at vegetables in Italy. Photo by @loredanaparisi72
My piece in the @hamandhigh about the 3 day @heat My piece in the @hamandhigh about the  3 day @heathostile training course. Incredibly interesting & challenging. Link: https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/things-to-do/hostile-environment-training-9037980 to read more #hostileenvironmenttraining
Supper club dishes from Saturday: pickled beetroot Supper club dishes from Saturday: pickled beetroot eggs, cheeseboard, stracciatella & cucumber, tomato/strawberry/peashoot salad with real balsamic & spruce oil, home cured dill gravlax, smoked salmon, homemade sourdough crisp bread, potato salad with wild fennel & lots more! #supperclub #midsummer #eattherainbow (miss you @linnsoederstroem)
Last nights supper club. My first supper club in 2 Last nights supper club. My first supper club in 2 years was great fun. I’m pleased with my food, the guests were lovely, it looked magical in the garden. But the weather! I even had to bring my duvets from the bedroom out. They looked like refugees. But this brought even more laughter! Next event September
My first supperclub in two years will take place t My first supperclub in two years will take place this Saturday 18th June starting at 7.30pm. Tickets are £50 byo you can book here: https://msmarmitelover.com/product/midsommar-supper-club there are still a few places left. Pescetarian menu. Scandi and botanical influences. #gettingbackonmyfeet #postpandemic #smallbusinesses #supperclub #london
I recently completed the 3 day @heathostile train I recently completed the 3 day  @heathostile training course. On the last day I was kidnapped by ex-special forces for a few hours & learnt how to deal with compliance training & a hostile environment. It was one of the most interesting experiences of my life. 3 intense days of combat first aid, navigation & how to survive in a war zone. I handled short, long guns, mortars, grenades, bullets, and tourniquet & bandaged an amputee. I learnt where to sit in a car, where to hide from a bullet, where to protect myself if in a car. It was brilliant. Highly recommended for any journalists, photographers, cameramen, charity workers, paramedics going into any difficult environment say a disaster or war. The stories from the tutors & the other participants were so interesting. My piece on it out soon. Book a course: https://hostile-environment.co.uk/  They also do jungle & desert training. I’d love to join the Antarctic expedition. Anyway that’s me hooded in the front. #adventures #het #hostileenvironmenttraining #experiences #travel
Bundoran beach, Donegal. I spent a week knocking o Bundoran beach, Donegal. I spent a week knocking on doors, going to libraries, searching through graveyards for my Irish forebears. It’s really hard to find information prior to 1850. I found this in last years trip to Arbroath in Scotland. Headstones wear out, records are lost or burnt in a fire, everybody has the same name and are known by nicknames, successive children have the same first name, that usually means they died and the next one is called by the same thing. Women did have children out of wedlock, and people remarried more often than you’d think, plus families fall out & never see each other again. I learnt that my Irish great grandfather michael went to Glasgow & met a woman who came from a similar place: somewhere wild & beautiful by the sea. Then they and their children came to london. Chasing the work & the money always. Politics and economics matter for they push people around from rural to city. And now we rodgers are Londoners. #ireland #scotland #family #travel #roots
How some of us celebrate the Queen’s jubilee! My How some of us celebrate the Queen’s jubilee! My sister & a random Irishman come for the Rory Gallagher festival in ballyshannon. Sis has pulled already!  #getyourcoat #sexpistols #ballyshannon #rorygallagherfestival #ireland
Tullaghan, county Leitrim, Donegal, where my grea Tullaghan, county Leitrim, Donegal,  where my great great grandfather john Rodgers was a postman, then a tailor, then a pawnbroker. #irishheritage #donegal #myancestry #irish #rodgers #travel
I’ve taken down the previous post as it’s poor I’ve taken down the previous post as it’s poor timing considering what’s happened over the last 24 hours. Being British I’ve not grown up around guns. It’s interesting to be on this course and find out more about the reality of them, although my focus is learning the ‘golden triangle’ of first aid, communications and navigation. But at the same time It’s depressing how in America nothing will ever change regarding gun law. RIP.
Me as a punk. #pinkhair @caplanmelissa Me as a punk. #pinkhair @caplanmelissa
Sniffin’ glue: Me n @Jaybladesmbe at the Loctite Sniffin’ glue: Me n @Jaybladesmbe at the Loctite pop up yesterday. I’m all about repairing and upcycling my brocante finds: this time a beautiful pale wood lamp shade stand which had broken off at the bottom. I’m going to rewire it with 2 core sky blue twisted fabric wire, pop on my hand sewn pleated lampshade I learnt to do @workshopminerva and it shall be beautiful. Don’t chuck out your chintz: repair it! #therepairshop #selfie #interiors #popup
in June I’m having my first supper club in two y in June I’m having my first supper club in two years: here is the link to book: https://msmarmitelover.com/product/midsommar-supper-club £50 18th June  Saturday night. Byo.
#chelseaflower coming up. Last year I bought these succulents and planted them in a vintage zinc garden sieve. Now they are flowering. My balcony is like a little greenhouse: I can grow aubergines & other plants that usually need to be under glass. #londongarden #may #plants #succulents in the garden
Weekend in Suffolk chez @clairebelljar where I had Weekend in Suffolk chez @clairebelljar where I had the privilege of being taught some basic pottery & seeing her gorgeous house, workshop & honesty shop. We ate local produce: asparagus, @fenfarmdairy produce and talked about our lives and loves, the good and the bloody awful. #oldgirlfriends #suffolk #ceramics
Lemon drizzle cake. The trick is not to stint on t Lemon drizzle cake. The trick is not to stint on the citrus. I used 7: 2 Italian lemons (from Lidl):some ordinary lemons and some limes (18p) at Lidl. Don’t be afraid to mix and match your citrus. I also used buttermilk from @fenfarmdairy in Suffolk from their honesty shop. Last night we ate it still warm from the oven. #cake #lemondrizzle #homebaking #citrus #buttermilk
A Simple tomato, goats cheese and basil salad, spa A Simple tomato, goats cheese and basil salad, spanking fresh asparagus / fried in olive oil, season, then add a little boiling water, not too much, put on the lid, dressed with lemon zest & Parmesan, @fenfarmdairy baron bigod cheese, good bread. This is how I like to eat. Claire’s plates found at the beccles brocante. #suffolk #suffolkfood #supper #dinnerwithfriends  #vintageplates
Can’t wait to see what they will be like when th Can’t wait to see what they will be like when they are fired. All my favourite themes: gingham and scallops. Thanks to @clairebelljar for a wonderful weekend and pottery workshop. Such fun! #workingwithyourhands #playtime #creativity #ceramics #pottery #suffolk
Making plates with talented potter & old South Ham Making plates with talented potter & old South Hampstead girl @clairebelljar in Suffolk. She has the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen. Such a joy to be reunited with her. #friendsreunited #makers #potters #scalloped #wildflowers #cowparsley #pottery
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Archives

Copyright © 2022 msmarmitelover