My mother has always had an obsession with things going with other things – for example don’t eat a boiled egg with a packet of crisps on the side, don’t drink milk with dessert, don’t eat a banana sandwich with a side of cherry tomatoes. Essentially, you shouldn’t eat different types of food at the same time – they clash, apparently. Well, I’ve never really followed that train of thought and will quite happily eat a tuna toastie and a warm chocolate croissant at the same time. I’ll order salad with a side of mashed potato, eat chocolate with crisps, have sushi with pasta.
Although it can get a wee bit embarrassing at restaurants, no one really says anything but you can tell they are thinking “check out the weirdo on table 5”. Last week C and I went for a really late Sunday brunch, he had a hankering for a full English breakfast with a side of fries and I went for a chocolate crepe with ice cream and sultanas. So I alternated bites of crepe with fries dipped in ketchup and mayo. A bit of a strange sight.
On Saturday the situation presented itself again. We were wandering around Kensington High Street, having just bought tortillas, dip and sourdough bread in Wholefoods, when we came across Balans. It had a delicious menu, part American, part Mediterranean. What caught my eye was the brunch menu, even though it was five in the afternoon. C could not be tempted by brunch and went for a standard Balans burger. The blueberry pancakes with fresh fruit were really tempting me, but they also had tempura calamari which I love! I agonised over ordering the pancakes with a starter portion of calamari, but would the waiter think I was mental? In the end I decided the combination was too weird and ordered the pancakes and buttered crumpets instead.
It was the wrong decision as usual, as the crumpets arrived cold, though one still managed to be burnt? unbuttered and really tough. The pancakes were delicious though, especially combined with a stolen few fries from C’s plate. In retrospect, I should have gone for the calamari – next time, I shall fly the foodie freak flag high.
Balans Burger, complete with leaking meat juices….yuck!
Blueberry pancakes with maple syrup….sooo good.
Eater's Regret 