Talking to Tim at Wai Kika Moo Kau

6th May.

* quick disclaimer - the following events occurred prior to both myself and my breakfast companion, Tim Huzar, seeing the Knife perfom in London. Any negativity that may be present in comments relating to and surrounding the aforementioned electronic music duo is a result of the two fastbreakers in the post, myself and Tim Huzar, having been subjected to performances that were dull, lazy, expensive, and could be summed up, if one was feeling vitriolic enough, as 'post-modern pigshit'*

It was the first bank holiday of the month. I found out at the start of the day that my planned breakfast buddy was not feeling up to it following two late and lengthy bar shifts over the weekend. Fortunately, I had a hungry housemate who was willing to step in and save the day, and so Tim and I set off into the warm morning sunlight to find some pancakes.

Tim is basically the reason I came to live in Brighton in the first place. Having completed my undergraduate degree at Exeter Uni I had nothing concrete ahead of me. Having completed the second year of his undergraduate degree at Brighton Uni and having lived at home in Ash and commuting down to Sussex a couple of times every week, Tim wanted to spend his final year based down in the city. He was in need of housemates, I was in need of a new plan. Four years later and we're still housemates (although he'll be moving out before the end of the year...) and I can honestly say he's the best housemate I've lived with outside of my family. Anyone who is willing to clear up a pile of a housemate's vomit from the corner of their bedroom deserves oodles of hyperbolic celebration.

We've known each other for the past 11 years and Tim has throughout proven to be a shining example of humankind, showing me how music, football, and table-top geek games should be played. He is very good at thinking about things, breaking them down and understanding the mechanics of how they work. This is a good skill to have, and has allowed him to succeed emphatically thus far in his two strongest fields; academia and life.

Our talk dove mainly around academia, about right-wing academics saying atrocious things in public and having to apologise, about Joey Barton's naivete (I was diasppointed to read him tweeting that historians only deal with facts and the truth, which was doubly disappointing in that he was referring to David Starkey...), about how tricky the step to PhD from MA is (particularly when doing one part-time), and about the important differences in writing pieces to be either read or heard. Academia, the pursuit of knowledge, and the subsequent sharing of this knowledge, is a territory that Tim is really beginning to stake his claim in. Already his work seems to be greatly accomplished, and although I am not an expert in his fields, I strongly believe that he is going to be publishing some important things in the future.

Currently in the first year of his PhD, Tim was preparing for an action-packed week, notably featuring the presentation of a paper in London about public libraries and democracy, followed by going to see The Knife deliver a performance at the Camden Roundhouse. To see how Tim's academic side collided with The Knife's, take a moment to peruse a short essay written by Huzar here. At that, I will cease talking about The Knife. Too much negativity can bring a good breakfast down and is also tiresome to read. I will be positive and leave that duo well alone, never for them to infringe upon the matter of breakfasting again!

And so, the breakfast:

Full Veggie Breakfast

2 free range fried eggs, 2 veggie sausages, oven baked tomato with rocket pesto, mushrooms, hash browns, baked beans, wholemeal toast, tea or filter coffee

Full Veggie Breakfast - £6.95

Everything was firm. The venue had a soft and friendly ambience, exemplified by the myriad of yoga leaflets in a rack by the door and the homely strains of Hugh Laurie welcoming us in. It was relaxed and casual, but this was not reflected in the breakfast. It was very similar to yoga; often portrayed as an easy form of exercise for the passive and peaceful, in reality yoga is firm, mastered only by the strong and powerful. See Dhalsim from the Street Fighter video games for a personification of this. Ergo, this was a very yogic breakfast.

The mushrooms had soft, garlicky flesh, but were firm and refused to yield simply to my inquisitive teeth. The tomatoes were similarly garlicky, strong and celebratory. The beans; rich, fruity yet firm. Toast; wholemeal, firm. The sausages, Quorn bangers I believe, had a wonderful fleshy texture that is rarely enacted well. Firm flesh. More firm than a group of football hooligans. Hell, even the eggs were firm, with solid yolks. No runny explosions of yoga fire, instead these were solid and meditative. This was my first encounter with solid yolks. Generally, I prefer the difference in texture that runniness provides and how easy it makes component collaboration.

Stock photo of Tim since I forgot to take one on the day

Another item that is usually firm is the hash brown, but here it went against the grain. This was a home-made hash, soft and crumbly. The onion flavours came forth strongly, and the texture marked a precise counterpoint its breakfast brethren around it on the plate. It was strange that this was the softest item on the plate, and made a sorely needed textural change.

In terms of flavours, the breakfast was generally strong. Only the sausages failed to back up their top-notch texture, lacking flavour almost to the point of mundanity. The addition of the rocket pesto was neat, and its sharp alacrity really took the tomato to another level. It would have been good to have had a wee bit more of this, to be tested alongside more of the components. This smattering was solely for the benefit of the red fruit, unfortunately.

A lovely innovation employed by Wai Kika Moo Kau is a deal that allows you to purchase any second hot drink for just £1. As my breakfast included a tea or filter coffee (as always I went for the coffee) I was able to finish myself off with a mocha, whilst Tim opted for a more genteel double espresso. I enjoyed this immensely; it encouraged us to stay a while longer after finishing our breakfast and enabled us to move from the confines of the cafe interior to the tables outside. We were able to bask in the rising late morning sun and watch the people scurry about North Laine with all the fervour that a bank holiday can bring. Any deal that rewards the customer willing to invest a bit more time in a venue is one that I wholeheartedly approve of.

Ultimately, Wai Kika Moo Kau felt like a winner. A pleasant, amiable environment for eating lovely food at one's leisure (I forgot to mention the table service earlier). The breakfast had its flaws - nearly everything was firm, sausages lacked flavour - but was on the whole a tasty affair. It didn't have anything that stood out as exceptional, but it added to what was an enjoyable eating experience. We have since been back to this eaterie and enjoyed what it has to offer for the lunch seeker. To summarise then, a great all-round venue for all occasions. There are certainly better breakfasts to be had out there, but this would be a decent call for just about any food-based adventure.

Function: firm but fair 4/5
Adherence to canon: a firm Yes
Taste: firmly tasty 4/5
Value: firm price, but potential for further cheapness 3/5
Presentation: firm ordering on plate, hidden egg though 3/5
Venue: firm future favourite 5/5

Overall: firm 4 on the strength of the venue - 4/5 

Damn the Knife.

Post-party politics #1

28th April.

This weekend I did not get the chance to go out for a cooked breakfast. This was due to events celebrating the births of Stuart Alley and Liz Hertogs taking pride of place across Saturday and Sunday. The centrepiece of the weekend was a debauched house party on the Saturday night, at which one could witness the likes of Jack the Ripper, Helen of Troy, King Arthur, Odin, a mermaid, and a phoenix all swapping clothes. Hedonism of mythological proportions, leading to a morning where most of the revellers felt like Prometheus having just been visited by an eagle.

We have a bit of a tradition that following a house party we set about having a large communally cooked breakfast. Sure, outsourcing makes things easy, but keeping it in house guarantees greater creative control and increases the chance of your end product resembling your desire. Or something like that. In any case, that's the way things are and the way that things should hopefully remain for the foreseeable future.

In the absence of a proper review, I thought I would put up some photos to document what was a tasty, tasty breakfast. Lazy, yes, but if there is any time where laziness can be excused it is the time after a night of swapping the uniform of late capitalism for the street attire of the Victorian harlot.

 

In this first one you can see a few tasty components laid out for those feasting to help themselves. Hash browns, tomatoes, a big bowl o' cheese, baked beans, and toast are the foods on parade here, backed up by tea, coffee and some fruit juices at the far end. Marvellous.

In this second one we see where some of the magic was happening. On the hobs we have a pan of delicious fried mushrooms and a pan of wonderfully orchestrated scrambled eggs. Om nom nom.

Finally, here is my plate, just before I begin breaking my fast. I have taken all of the available components and added a cheeky bit of salsa on the side. I discovered the merits of salsa with breakfast whilst in the US for a friend's wedding, and this proved to be a prime opportunity to revisit those transatlantic practices. It's a shame that the US style breakfasts I've had so far have ignored it.

I may have overdone the cheese...well, that is if it is indeed possible to overdo the cheese...the jury remains out on that one. I particularly enjoyed the tea-coffee-orange juice chaser combo. Definitely one for repeating.

I won't bother rating this breakfast, as I have too much political bias. The post-party breakfast is one of the most beautiful life experiences one can have in my book (on one lonely late-night train journey back from Cardiff I once composed a celebratory poem/rap about the subject which can be perused here; I'm quite pleased to note another allusion to Prometheus) and should you be fortunate to find yourself at one of our parties hopefully you will get to share this feeling.