This weekend at Borough Market: best eggs in town

Sleep and dreams being my favourite things, there are very few activities I'd get up early for on a Saturday morning (much less leave the house for). But when the craving hits for Spanish scrambled eggs at Brindisa, there's nothing for it but to set the alarm and haul my lazy head out of bed.

Even though Brindisa is at the end my street it still requires considerable effort to dress, buy the paper, face the world and get there with a reasonable chance of being seated before the strict kitchen cut off time of 11am. It can't be done with too much of a hangover: finding the right person to get you a table is a challenge; everyone moves very fast; the proliferation of shiny-haired people with babies can be daunting (as can the Borough Market crowds generally); and a bubble bap at Maria's inside the market is often a better option for the bug-eyed and dehydrated.

But this weekend, with my moon in the sign of can-do, I dragged dazed sweet cousin Annie off the couch at 9.30, shushing her confused mutterings with the promise of a perfect plate of Saturday morning sunshine.



The Brindisa breakfast menu only has a few things on it (most around £6), including chorizo, egg and chips for the meat-eaters and lavender honey on toast for the vegans. But there's really only one plate that matters, my heart having long ago been lost to a pile of deliciously fluffy, golden scrambled eggs with country toast, tomato, manchego cheese and wild mushrooms, accompanied by a cafe con leche that is better than most coffee in town. Annie was a little sceptical at first, likening her pile of mushrooms to the snake pit in Raiders of the Lost Ark, but she couldn't fault the flavour.

This weekend the eggy pile was as delectable as always, albeit a little smaller than usual. So I followed it with a rich, dark hot chocolate made with 70% solid Barcelona chocky. Sweet, dreamy love in a cup, it's so thick you'll need to spoon the ends out. If you get hooked on this or any of the other Spanish produce, you can buy most of it at the Brindisa stall in Borough Market.

And if you miss the 11am brekky deadline, no drama. Just go grazing in the market for a while then come back after noon when their tapas menu kicks in.