The Alice House, Queens Park 29.01.11

It's Saturday morning and in a bid to reduce my carbon footprint (read: being lazy) I decide to try the new Alice House in Queens Park... A long awaited new bar on the corner of Brondesbury Road and Salisbury Road it is a perfect pitch and a welcome new addition to our friendly neighbourhood! It's open date had been anticipated since October last year so you can imagine how eager I was to finally get to check it out.

Interior: Is it a moose? Is it a (rein)deer? 

Myself and Nicc rocked up rather late, 2pm late lunch time as opposed to a planned 11am wake up brunch! We got there and it was inevitably busy... Whom I can only assume was their Maitre 'd greeted us and suggested they were too packed to seat us straight away but if we wanted a drink at the bar a table would be free in 15-20mins. So we did. I ordered Prosecco and Nicc had a coke. After 10minutes, or so, we noticed some tables being cleared so checked to whether we would be called for an available table... It turned out that this was actually in our own hands and they did not actually have an official wait system, it's more of a 'grab it while you can' game... Slightly annoying as the lovely greeting suggested they had a more organised approach.

Never the less we got a table and I was pleasantly surprised to see they had an all day brunch menu.... but.... wait for it.... to my horror, there was no Eggy B! How dare they! Whilst I do respect them for a brave move to offer an alternative, compared to what can be found elsewhere nearby, I do assume that they overlooked my telegram about my expected arrival, and the purpose of said visit!

Onwards. What I did find was something which sounded a little like Eggs Royale meets Florentine meets... Hot smoked salmon with spinach, poached egg and hollandaise. Winner! I ordered promptly and asked if I could also have a slice of toast, on the side. (Yes, I'm a sucker for carbs).

What arrived was a meagre attempt at an Eggs Royale come Florentine. The spinach, egg and salmon all perched on top of a mildly toasted piece of bread. Not exactly what I imagined, but no less I was impressed with their creativity in the matter, accommodating my picky request and trying to muster up something a little bit special. It, however, failed. Miserably. The bread indeed immediately became soggy so I didn't enjoy that so much. There was a severe lack of hollandaise (which in itself was by far the loveliest part of the dish) and way too much over wilted spinach. If I wanted badly made Eggy B (or alternative) I would have eaten at home! (More on that later...)

On the plus side... the flavours were truly superb. The salmon (which they smoke in-house, according to the menu) was utterly mouth watering. The egg was slightly over poached but I didn't mind as the yolk was still gooey and the hollandaise had a beautifully delicate taste and silky texture. Although, this was overpowered by the strongly smoked salmon...

Soggy leftovers

What about the price I hear you cry? Well, for a glass of Prosecco, large coke, an all day breakfast for Nicc, my hot smoked salmon dish and extra toast it came to £29... I'll leave the judgement to value for money up to you!

Would I go back? I think I would but certainly with different intentions this time around. I'd like to try something from their lunch or dinner menu. And, for drinks, the new bar is seemingly a chilled place to be. 

So it's a thumbs down for the breakfast/brunch menu, at Alice House, but thumbs up to their arrival (finally)!

In the meantime? Back to the Diner!!!


Signing off,
B.x