Eggslut: Egg Based Fast Food in the Heart of London
A trip inspired by Jack Whitehall
Let’s face it, Lockdown was bleak. Even for those of us juggling work and homeschooling, there were long periods – periods when we would’ve been at the gym, the cinema, out with friends – when we were bored. We baked banana bread, learnt TikTok dances, and, in my case, started following comedians on Instagram.
It turns out comedians were bored too. Some invented pub quizzes (Jimmy Carr), some become NHS volunteers (Jason Manford – local Manchester legend), and some turned to food (the very posh Jack Whitehall). Jack Whitehall, the British star of an American film about a giant red dog, set up his own account based on very delicious, but always unhealthy, food. This is how I first came across Eggslut. Eggslut is an egg based (surprising that) fast food chain. Mainly based in California, they also have outposts in South East Asia and London. London is a day trip from Manchester, but in 2020, even London felt out of reach.
Thankfully, human endeavour prevailed, we got the vaccine and the world, with a few false starts, re-opened.
Fast forward to 2023. We’ve been spending a few days in London, and I managed to squeeze a trip to Notting Hill into our itinerary. Halfway down the famous Portbello Road – sandwiched between a charity shop and a leather shop – was an inauspicious looking Eggslut. I say inauspicious, what I mean was, it looked closed. On close inspection it was actually open and we decided to fulfil my lockdown fantasy.
I had the coddled egg with potato purée, accompanied by baguette, coffee and a side of rocket and manchego. For my American friends, rocket is arugula, not a weird space themed side dish! My teen went for the egg, bacon and cheese brioche bun. He went for it without the chipotle ketchup as he’s a fan of keeping things classic.
The teen and I chatted as our drinks, then food quickly arrived.
On first sight our food did not disappoint. I’m European and consider myself somewhat of an expert on European breads. I can confirm the bread was not French baguette but was in fact Italian ciabatta. As an aside, ciabatta is very much a new comer to the world bread market. A Venetian baker, Arnaldo Cavallari, invented it in 1982 to provide competition to the baguette. I’m sure Mr Cavallari would be happy to know his bread was being used in preference to a baguette, but less happy it was being described incorrectly.
I’d gone for two of my favourite pairings. Egg and coffee. Rocket and cheese. Both lived up to their billings and were drawn together by the creamy earthiness of the potato purée.
The teen, like most teens, is not generous with superlatives, he did inhale his bun so I’m assuming he enjoyed it. The teen then sat playing on his phone as I enjoyed my long awaited feast. As I did so, I contemplated the downside of the Eggslut. Perhaps slut is a less pejorative term in American English than the English English equivalent. I’ll be honest, the name nearly stopped me – and my feminist proclivities – visiting. But in the end, my desire to tick something off my post pandemic bucket list plus my love of egg based food made me very glad we did.
