Brunch on Saturday: Banana pancakes and curried scrambled eggs

In this week’s Brunch on Saturday Kirsty Major visits a hotel café that has become as popular with locals as guests, and Fern Green shows us how to make scrambled eggs – with a kick

Grab a perch at the copper-top bar that looks onto the open kitchen to watch the Cambridge Street café chefs at work

Brunching out...

On the ground floor of the boutique Artist Residence Hotel is the Cambridge Street café – but don’t fooled, the café has become just as popular with local residents as with transient hotel guests, and after a visit it’s not surprising that it’s become such a hub for Pimlico residents.

Outside, under candy-striped awnings, customers sip on coffees and inside is a colourful, bustling restaurant with soft banquette seating, reclaimed wooden walls and tables, neon signs and an eclectic mix of modern art adorning the walls. This is a place where you could easily lose a whole morning. If possible, grab a perch at the copper-top bar that looks onto the open kitchen to watch the chefs go about their artful preparation.

The menu serves up the usual brunch suspects with aplomb –full English, eggs benedict, royale or florentine. For the virtuous there is millet grain porridge with blackberries and honey. For the ravenously hungover, there is banana pancakes, crispy bacon and maple syrup, which are the perfect mix of crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

The drinks menu is just as copious, from the expansive coffee and tea selection to a great choice of cold pressed juices. We opted for the clean-living kale, apple and lemon to clean the palate after our maple syrup-drenched pancakes. If you’re starting the weekend as you intend to carry on – that is, drinking – go for an espresso martini, breakfast prosecco or a bloody mary. If you’d like something sweet afterwards, there is a selection of cakes to choose from the reclaimed deli counter near the entrance.

Breakfast for two, including hot drinks and two cold-pressed juices, came to just over £30.

Cambridge Street Kitchen, 53 Cambridge Street, Pimlico, SW1 4QQ; 02032620501; cambridgestreet.co.uk; open daily

Brunching in...

Curried scrambled eggs with Smoked Haddock & Tomato Chilli Jam

200g undyed smoked haddock
1tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, finely diced
1 green chilli, seeds removed and finely diced
½tsp hot red chilli powder
2 medium tomatoes, seeds removed and finely chopped
5 eggs, whisked
Small bunch of coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped

For the chilli jam

1tsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 red chilli, seeds removed and finely diced
100g light brown sugar
1tsp grated ginger
2 star anise
1tsp soy sauce
1tsp white wine vinegar

A twist on the classic breakfast dish, kedgeree. I love eggs and spices, and this dish goes so well with smoked fish, in this case haddock. I like to get a lot of charred lines on my bread to go with it, as I want it to take me back to a café in Mumbai. To make the tomato chilli jam, put the oil and onion into a large high-sided frying pan over a medium heat and fry for 1 minute. Add all of the tomatoes and the chilli, and cook for about

2–3 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for a further 30–40 minutes, stirring periodically to make sure the jam doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. After you’ve added the sugar, you will notice that the jam becomes sticky and shiny. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. Pour into a food processor and whizz up to make a smooth consistency. You can store the jam in a sterilised jam jar in the fridge up to 2 weeks, but it only lasts about 2 days in our house.

For the scramble, put the haddock into a saucepan, cover generously with water and bring to a simmer over a medium heat. Simmer for 4 minutes or until the fish is opaque and cooked through. Using a slotted spoon, lift the fish out from the pan and flake it into large pieces into a bowl. Set to one side.

Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add the onion. Fry for around 2-3 minutes until translucent. Add the chilli and chilli powder, followed by the tomatoes. Cook for a further 2 minutes and then stir in the eggs and coriander.

Increase the heat to cook the eggs through, which should take about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and gently stir the fish into the eggs. Serve with griddled bread and the tomato chilli jam.

Recipe from Breakfast, Morning, Noon and Night, by Fern Green. Published by Hardie Grant books, £18.99