Sausage & Mash Cafe, London

Sausage & Mash Cafe
48 Brushfield Street
London E1

Tel: 0207 247 2252

www.sandmcafe.co.uk

On Friday evening, I met up with a couple of mates and headed for the Sausage and Mash Cafe in Brushfield Street, a (reasonable) stones throw from Liverpool Street station.

The place itself is decorated like a little old 50's diner with plastic red check table cloths, padded bench seats against the wall and old wooden chairs.

I started with garlic mushrooms served with various greenery which was very tasty. The mushrooms were open face mushrooms that were sliced and there were plenty of them. I didn't think it was overly garlicy, but was told later that it was!

The main menu concept is quite good. They have a selection of different sausages, traditional and gourmet, from which you choose a selection depending on which menu price option you wish to go for (two sausages and mash, three sausages and mash, up to their "Desperate Dan" option of twelve sausages!) You then choose from a selection of mashed potatoes to accompany the sausages and finally you choose which gravy you would like.

There were a couple of veggie sausage options on the menu and one on the specials board, so I plumped for a three sausage selection and had one each of mushroom & tarragon, glamorgan leek and cheese and a mediterranean spicy. To accompany the sausages I had bubble & squeak mash (they had a selection including 'virgin' mashed potato and rosemary mash) and I finished the dish off with a tomato & basil gravy.

It was all very nice, personally I could've done with a bit more mash, but no mind - it was still filling. I have been told by other diners that the mash portions are usually quite large, so this maybe an unfair criticism.

Each table has a selection of gourmet mustards as well as ketchup and brown sauce, so each of my sausages was smeared with a different mustard.

After that, I had apple crumble and custard - very nice and just like your Mum used to make and it was washed down with a nice glass of London Pride. All that for around £17 a head.

Having thought earlier that the portions weren't as big as I would've liked, I found that I was very full indeed once we left.

They also have a breakfast menu, as well as an 'all day breakfast' on the menu (both meaty & veggie) so next time I arrive early in the area for an appointment I'll be giving McD's Egg McMuffin a miss and heading here instead.

Definitely recommended for something a bit different and fun.