Places To Eat In London: The Good Egg, Kingly Court

So, when it comes to travelling around London for food, I’m surprisingly lazy. I’ve known for ages that if I headed out to Stoke Newington to visit The Good Egg I’d get an amazing meal. I know people expect me to be the type of person who would travel ages for this awesome piece of food, but I’m actually really not. Stoke Newington is effort, so obviously it has taken me this long to review The Good Egg, because it has a) taken this long for The Good Egg to open up in Central London, and b) taken until the other week for a friend to choose it from the three options I usually counter with when I’m asked to suggest a dinner venue! But, now they’re located on Carnaby Street’s Kingly Court people like me who don’t like long tube journeys can now, thankfully, sample their famous babka (I’ve known people to order a piece to take away and stash it in the freezer!)

I met Jane for an early lunch (it was so great to finally meet after years and years of reading each others blogs from opposite sides of the world!) and while I’d planned on just filling up on green or peppermint tea, I changed my drinks order last minute as the freshly squeezed grapefruit juice she’d ordered just sounded so enticing. I’m so glad I did; it came beautifully, like a long cocktail, was ice cold, super refreshing and tart without being too sweet. If you’re not hitting the booze (the cocktail list looked great) go for the fresh juices.

While we were waiting for our mains, the babka. You get to choose from the two flavours of the day, and obviously we went for chocolate. Good god I now know why their babka is so famous. Soft. Crisp. Sweet. Buttery. Chocolatey. I’ve honestly don’t know how they could improve it, so whatever time of day you’re in, get one to tear and share. Or, take some away with you to snack on later for post-meal out, later on nibbles!

We both ordered from the lunch specials. I was super jealous of Jane’s order (she clearly had better lunchtime game than me that day), the ‘ZFC’, otherwise known as the Za’atar fried chicken. The chicken was crispy, juicy and tender, and the za’atar really made the difference, making it stand out from god knows how many other fried chicken places there are in London. It came with a honey dip on the side with a few spices mixed in, which was also divine. And how pretty does that plate look? Also, not listed on the menu is the side that comes with your chicken: crispy potatoes with a sweet pepper sauce. Also excellent, and very generous.

I had the Aubergine Shawarma which while also utterly delicious, was a bit of a disappointment in contrast. As I said, it was delicious, but it was just not that simple joy to eat that the chicken was. As you can see in some of the other pictures it came with flatbreads on the side which were a bit too oily to wrap your own shawarma; also, I have a thing about places that expect you to build your own meal. I’m looking at you Mein Tay in Fulham who expect you to soak your own wrappers for your summer rolls if you order from them on Deliveroo! If you’re after delicious, Israeli inspired Middle Eastern food go to The Good Egg. If you’re after killer shawarma, head upstairs to Le Bab.

We had a simply lovely lunch at The Good Egg, and while it is not something new and revolutionary in a city that does Middle Eastern restaurants really, really well (even just within walking distance of The Good Egg) it is really worth taking the time to go for the fried chicken, and that babka. Just stop by for that babka.

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