Top 5: Warming Winter Porridge in LondonBy Kathleen Fleming
From humble beginnings, porridge has become one of London’s most popular winter breakfasts. Loved by the healthy crowd, oats are nutrient packed and as a whole grain, keep you full for longer. Plus it can be topped with a multitude of “super foods”, making it the perfect power breakfast. The not-so-healthy love it too, comfort food topped with brown sugar, chocolate or even a splash of whisky. It also fits in easily to our fast paced lives – two minutes and breakfast is ready.
However as with a lot of dishes which appear easy to make, porridge is surprisingly easy to get wrong. So often it can feel as though you are spooning your way through something which resembles thick cement. Porridge purists know that porridge must be moist and creamy, almost pudding-like. As a bit of a porridge snob, I can tell when my oats have been properly and this winter I have gobbled my way around London’s breakfast menus to find five of the best bowls.
1. Best For Take Away: Leon
What: If you are in a hurry and need a good breakfast, Leon knows how to make a delicious porridge. Served with chopped banana, honey and shavings of Montezuma’s chocolate, the Porridge of the Gods tastes a little bit indulgent and knocks on the head every other “on-the-run” porridge. And if for some crazy reason, breakfast is too early for chocolate, Leon also does a mean porridge pot topped with fruit compote and granola.
How Much: £3.99
2. Best Served in Bed: Brew, Putney
What: What could be more comforting on a cold winter morning than a hot bowl of porridge in bed? Brew in Putney have comfy beds, fluffy blankets and will make you enormous bowls of oats topped with forest berry compote. So if you are feeling lazy, like your bowl big and your toppings generous, this is Sunday morning sorted. Plus their coffee is incredible.
How Much: £6.90
3. Best Free-From: Andina, Shoreditch
What: As not all oat products are gluten-free and most bowls of porridge are made with milk, porridge used to be off the breakfast menu of the “free from” crowd. Enter quinoa. For the past few years quinoa, a Peruvian seed often mistake for a grain, has become a “gluten-freer’s” best friend. Often found in salads, quinoa tastes pretty good in porridge form too. Andina’s Peruvian porridge is made from quinoa, amaranth, fruit and purple corn syrup with a nut milk option – an authentic superfood breakfast.
How Much: £4.50
4. Best for Accessorising: 26 Grains
What: One of the best things about porridge is that, unlike a lot of other breakfast foods, you can customise and accessorise, make it a little more interesting everyday. The ultimate porridge accessoriser is 26 Grains. At their porridge pop ups you can choose porridge made from various different grains such as buckwheat or millet, top with sweetness such as summer berries with cacao, or savouries such as carrot and hazelnut. For those who like to mix and match, this is your porridge.
How Much: £4.50
5. Best for Purists: Dean Street Townhouse
What: Simple yet perfectly made, Dean Street’s porridge is served with hot milk and brown sugar. One can only imagine that the porridge gods are smiling when this bowl is rolled out. Although certainly not the healthiest option around, it is worth tasting how porridge is supposed to be cooked – moist and creamy.
How Much: £4.50
