Porky's (NW1)

Pulled pork, cheese, fried eggs (in a muffin) and AMAZING hash browns - £6.95

Imagine the scene... It's a chilly winter's Sunday morning in Camden and it's raining. You're hungry. You're with six other people, including two children under ten. It's not quite the right time for Lebanese flat breads or Spanish churros. It's also a bit too early for nitrogen ice cream. Well never fear, Porky's is near.
Situated on Chalk Farm road, Porky's is not enveloped by the crowds of tourists flocking to Cyberdog, but it's still not entirely off the radar of the affluent north London familias. At ten thirty in the morning, every table in the cramped restaurant was being used, except for our one. We are placed in the cosy outside* area by a good-looking Nordic model. It's warm and the benches are not too uncomfortable.
"What's on the menu?" cries aged 4. "Are there pancakes?" aged 8 pipes up. "Don't like it" announces aged 4. (Bear in mind she'd just been deprived a doughnut.)
Straight-faced, the tall, Nordic model comes to take our order. Several of the dishes on the menu consist of an English muffin, fried egg, hash browns and some sort of meat, and at £6.95 I'm not complaining.
The pulled pork (my chosen meat) is tender and, well, pulled. It works nicely with the melted cheese and the runny egg yolk. The hash browns are delicious... Crispy and crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside, this is how hash browns should be.
The others are disappointed with their sausages in the Full English (chose the wrong dish, my friend), but the mushrooms are good (Full English ) and the bacon's alright (Muffin with bacon and sausage). Aged 8 is impressed, not least because of the saloon-style bathrooms.
Porky's is a nice place to have American/bbq-influenced food, but if you like to read the weekend papers with your breakfast, I suggest you find somewhere with more space. The meal's good, staff are okay, but aged 4 still wants a doughnut, so we head to Tesco.


*It's outside in the sense that you're sitting in a conservatory made with corrugated glass.

My guilty pleasure

My gulity pleasure (or one of them a least) is a hash brown. Fried, crispy, hot, tasty, this is the formula for an evil food.

This is my recipe for a healthier hash-brown which to be honest tastes more like a rosti. Either way it's a delicious treat.

Rosti/ healthy hash brown
For every 4 large potatoes, have 1 chunkily sliced white onion and 2 cloves of pressed garlic.
Boil the potatoes until they are half-cooked.
Put the potatoes under cold water to stop them cooking.
Grate the potatoes into a large mixing bowl.
Mix the grated potatoes with the sliced onion and garlic.
Either make into small patties, or cook as a whole like a Spanish tortilla in a large pan.
Fry until the sides are crispy and all of the potato is cooked.
This serves 4 greedy people, or 6 respectable sized portions.

Alterations
Add your favourite herb mixes to change the flavour of the rosti.
Fry in goose-fat for an indulgent version- but if you were to do this, you might as well go the whole haul and deep-fry.
Add grated carrots and courgettes for a slight bubble'n'squeak style.

The great thing(s) about this recipe...
All the basic ingredients for this recipe are essential dry store-cupboard ingredients.
It doesn't take long to make this guilty-free classic British dish.