Me neither. But that didn’t stop me telling my chums that that’s how I got us a table at Grain Store.

Wondering around Kings Cross I noticed quite a change in its offerings. It seemed a lot of development had taken place and as a result lots of amazing new places to eat had popped up. We were happily guided towards Charlie's recommendation of Grain Store only to be told it would be a 45 minute wait for a table. If I'm pretty much guaranteed great food that kind of a wait wouldn't usually put me off but when you are three hungry women with full bladders, little sleep and cold fingers, waiting even two minutes can feel like lifetime. OK, new plan, new place.

"In the BLUE corner is the waffle and in the RED corner is the banana bread. Let the FIGHT begin."

As we made our way out into London's unforgiving chill to find shelter elsewhere I suggested that we put our names down just incase and come back if we still can't find anywhere. I raced back inside but before I could say peanut smuggler the lady at the front said “We have a table available now if you like? We just had someone cancel.” Erm, yes I would like. I would like very much. Out I sauntered with a swag that would make anyone believe I’d just bagged us front row seats at the Oscars. “I just said, ‘don’t you know who I am!’ and they gave us a table.” Charlie and Zoe just looked at me. Baffled and confused. They clearly weren’t biting but they happily went along with it. Who cares anyway, we got a bloody table! Cold hands, tummies and bladders rejoice!

Seated next to the Christmas tree it was all feeling very festive. I scoured the menu and it looked incredible. The hard bit wasn’t choosing what I wanted (because I wanted everything) it was deciding what I could live without.

I eventually came to the decision of the sweet potato waffles with fried Baghdad eggs, stewed peppers with yoghurt dressing and barberries. I was happy with my choice but knowing the menu as I did the fear of food envy hung over me like a dark cloud. Thankfully Zoe had ordered the same as me which ruled at least one potential case of envy, however Charlie was really testing me.

Her toasted banana loaf with vanilla ricotta and warm passionfruit sauce looked rich and heavenly. And it tasted exactly that. The two perfectly portioned slabs of banana bread with enough ricotta to smear across both and the tangy sauce was like dangling a pair of Louboutins in front of shopaholic and telling them NO! Charlie was of course kind enough to let me have a bite for which I will be eternally grateful. 

But back to my dish. Now I'm making it sound like I was really hard done by but I seriously scored with my meal. The waffle was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside and made a nice change to a standard potato waffle. I found that there wasn't much contrast in texture between the eggs and the stewed peppers, it would have been good to have another textural element but the flavour sure made up for that. The eggs were perfect, obviously, and the sweet peppers complimented the tart yoghurt dressing. And for a vegetarian dish it was incredibly filling.

As was the banana bread it seemed. Charlie couldn't finish it but of course it was too good to leave (or give away apparently) so she had it bagged up to take home. Now something I've never seen before. She was asked to sign a form to say it was no fault of Grain Store should Charlie become ill as a result of eating her banana bread at home as opposed to the safety of the restaurant. It was of course a risk she was willing to take. 

Website: www.grainstore.com

Follow me @model_appetite on Instagram orTwitter to keep updated on my blog posts. Or subscribe below x

 
 
model appetite signature.jpg
 

1 Comment