Tag Archives: Mr G’s

Nico’s Cafe-Diner

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So my meandering lunch visits took me recently to Cambridge Heath Road, the border that divides lovely Stepney and Whitechapel. On the western side of this important traffic artery sits Nico’s Cafe-Diner, a little treasure trove of all things food. Not limited to the usual greasy spoon fare, they offer greek specialties, grilled bits and all sorts of other goodies.

The condiments are placed strategically at the heart of the table, like a group of Russian Energia rockets.

The eggbaconchipsandbeans is truly magnificent and clearly is so far the best I’ve had in the whole of London and now nudges Mr G off his long held number one spot as the best EBCB in the capital. Just look at this:

These are not chips, but lovingly sauteed potatoes hiding under this magnificent bacon and egg arrangement. The beans are almost hiding in shame, confronted with all this magnificence. The bacon and eggs are placed in a bit of an oppressive fashion, with the plebeic potatoes almost asking for more air. All in all an amazing display, and well worth every penny.

All hail our new favourite ebcb.

Mr G’s Cafe, Stepney

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I did it again. I visited another Cafe in the East End to try out the Eggbaconchipsandbeans meme. This time it was the magnificent Mr G’s on Mile End Road in that lovelies of all East End quarters, Stepney. Mr G’s has a bright orange, friendly sign over his door that invites his guests into the small but cosy cafe.

The gentleman behind the counter (Mr G. himself?) takes your order, passes it through the window to the smiling chef and before you can fully open The Guardian and try to find the magazine, you already have an enormous plate in front of you. And if I say enormous, I mean enormous.

This is not just a plate full of eggbaconchipsandbeans. This the mother of all plates of eggbaconchipsandbeans. The chips are well done and have a decent crunch and desperately try to cosy themselves up to the sea of beans, that is covering the most magnificent two slices of bacon I have ever had, both in size ans in taste. The whole ensemble looks more like a picture of Andy Warhol and I was almost tempted not to spoil its beauty and just worship it silently, but then the hunger took over and soon this wonderful meal was unfortunately history.

The condiments are well placed and the tables are so clean that you might think you’re seeing double:

While one is silently chewing, the sociable gentleman behind the counter entertains his regulars with surprisingly erudite banter and keeps the atmosphere relaxed and positive. You leave MR. G’s not only well fed, but indeed also spiritualized, marvelling how you functional yet inspiring the interior is. Le Corbusier would have liked it here.

It doesn’t get much better than Mr. G’s, you know.

MrG’s Cafe, 222 Mile End Road, London E1 4LJ