Pophams
It was a dark and stormy night.
Actually it was neither but I thought that would be an appropriate introduction. As the wind that day was horrendous. It seemed so great that I was worried that I (and our food) would blow away never to be seen again.
With such a gale blowing outside, unfortunately as a result of COVID 19 measures, we were not allowed to sit inside. Everyone was forced to sit on the benches outside. Through cunning foresight (waiting for a lull in the wind) I managed to take snapshots in such blustery conditions.
Treacle and clotted cream bun. Sweet and creamy. The honey layers of this bun with the smoothness of the cream was excellent. The pastry was substantial without being too heavy.
Flat white. Not bad and this must have been one of the most robust seeming take away cups I have come across. It felt substantial and made of quality materials. So much so that I was tempted to reuse it time and time again. Then again, wouldn’t want to push my luck with that as single use items tend to leak noxious substances when not used according to their instructions.
Marmite, Schlossberger, Spring Onion. A fascinating mix with the umami marmite, the smooth cheesy Schlossberger and the seemingly odd element of spring onion combining to create a mutant bread. Not the mutant that you would run screaming from like that unknown container in the back of the fridge, left sitting there for months but instead that rather odd combination that works out just right. Like mushroom ice cream, or chicken sashimi or durian toast. One of those is a red herring but I’ll let you figure out which one it is.
Bacon and maple swirl. A seemingly weird combination, it worked well just like maple syrup, pancakes and bacons. Salty and sweet with crunchy pastry created another winner here.
Pappardelle with oxtail ragu, 24 hour braised oxtail ragu served with parmesan. Delicately al dante pasta with extremely creamy ragu, this was one of the smoothess pastas I’ve had. As I lost myself in lack of attention, things disappeared down my gut.
Taglierini alla amatriciana, spicy house pomodoro sauce with Cobbie Lane cured pancetta served with parmesan. Whenever I eat pasta like this, I cannot help but be reminded of instant noodles given the quaint circumference of these noodles. However, the meaty explosion of the pancetta quickly reminded me that this was no cheap fix.
Almond crossaint. One of the best that I’ve ever had. The almonds were not to sweet or overpowering and instead had that hint of bitter almonds (not unlike explosives or cynadide) but without that threatening meance. The pastry was solid while retaining its flakiness, a fine line to toe. Probably their best of the more standard pastries on offer.
I find that as I get older, I must weigh up things more and more as my youthful stamina fades. I can only really take that much running around, unpleasant weather and food. So I try to complete weekly post mortems on my life to decide whether I should or should not do the same thing again. Sitting in my windless, warm room looking back, I think I’ll give Pophams another try in the near future and I’m not being a bag of hot air.
A quiet eating 8.5/10.
Coffee and a pastry was GBP 6 excluding drinks and service.
197 Richmond Road
London, E8 3NJ