The Good Egg

The review is just for brunch. I am dying to come back for dinner.
I got this: Iraqi Aubergine Pita £7
Sabih, a Tel Aviv-​style pita stuffed with egg, fried aubergine,
zhoug, mango amba, tahini and house pickles
It was delicious and messy. The tahini, egg and aubergine blended so well in the two pitas you are given. The bread does fall apart though so expect a lot of napkins. My friend got this:
Shakshuka £9
Baked eggs with with tomato and peppers, with preserved
lemon yoghurt & sumac and a challah roll. With rare-​breed
merguez sausage or halloumi
She said it was a bit of pepper overload (not spicy, just the amount) but I loved it! The halloumi was particularly flavourful in the sauce.
Dinking a star for typical mediocre London service.

Met friends here for brunch and it was delicious. Service was great too. We 5 took up a table for a long time and they didn’t seem to mind. Bloody sunshine drink is like a Bloody Mary only uses yellow tomatoes instead to make it yellow. Unfortunately they had none so it was red instead. Tasty but not as spicy as I’m used to in the states. Babka with hazelnut and cinnamon had to be ordered as it reminded me of my nana from years ago and it was as I remembered.
I then had simple fried eggs which were cooked to order. They did find it strange that I wanted fruit on the side. Maybe fruit with breakfast is a U. S. thing. Everyone else got fancier meals and seemed happy.
So why 4 stars? This was a really expensive brunch. Yes I am aware we had drinks. But I’ve been traveling in London for a week now and this was the first time gratuity was added to my check. At least at home I get to decide how much to tip. I found that rude and unexpected. So plan on that in advance, and otherwise enjoy the meal.

A lovely space in Stoke Newington — really pleasant environment and amazing food. Everything we tried was incredible!

Good atmosphere, good food and coffee — I wanted to try this new place as it seemed a step up from the more tea-​room style café places along Stoke Newington Church Street and I’m happy to say I liked it greatly and will be back. The brunch offer mixes familiar and unusual: I had a ‘Jerusalem plate’ with borek, pickles, yoghurt and salad, but I was keen to try the shakshuka too — next time. A definite boon to the area — I hope it does very well.
One suggestion: there is a large forecourt outside which, I’d imagine, the GE hopes will become a sort of dining terrace when summer rolls around. In the meantime, perhaps it could be used as a mini car park for the standard-​issue N16 prams and strollers that use up the space where another couple of diners could fit in?

The four stars are for the addition to the area. The food is ‘good’… honest branding. The restaurant’s ambition exceeds its delivery, however. As an Antipodean, I’m used to some pretty excellent all-​day-​brunch outfits. This place shows potential but is not yet delivering a genuinely exciting option.
Avo on toast… I’ll stay home for that. The pittas are good. Light and flavoursome, but something is still missing. Maybe it’s the ubiquitous corn fritter (kidding).
One immediately identifiable fix is educating the floor staff. It’s a very small menu, so there is no excuse for not knowing it inside out.
I’d love it if Tatreez, down the road, and these guys hooked up. I really like the idea of both, but they each don’t quite follow through.

A very new and fresh menu. There are a lot of classics with a twist like the halva croissant or the bacon and egg pita with date paste. I’ve been there twice so far and the food is delicious. The atmosphere is very nice too, like a clean and posh diner might be, but not sterile. I’m afraid the only thing keeping me from giving it 5 stars is the wait staff as they seem to need some more training in what’s on the menu, cleaning tables and clearly taking orders, etc., however, they are very nice.

The Good Egg is new. New in a lot of ways. It’s new to Stoke Newington (after having been delayed for about a year). And it’s new to the cuisine scene in London — Mediterranean, Californian food. It’s a combination I’ve never heard of but enjoyed.
It’s still in it’s soft opening phase so I’m not going to judge it too harshly for things like service (which could have been better). The food though, top notch. Things like the Jerusalem bagel (which is more like oval shaped bread rather than a full bagel) was top notch, as was the fall off the bone fried chicken. The cauliflower was large and tasty but a little burnt and the burger was solid.
Good Egg also introduced me to Zoug, which is a green spicy paste from Yemen. We had it in a cocktail and on fries and either way it was… ok. But I think I might need to give it another shot to fully appreciate it.
It’s costly for sure, more expensive than other spots in the neighbourhood, but I’m excited to see what they do with it.