Everyone loves a little cosy cafe with good food and good coffee (free wi-fi always a plus too!). Well, at least I do. I’m going to let you in on one of my favourite Antipodean cafe/bar/restaurant/coffeeroastery in London. Caravan sits at the corner of Exmouth Market in Farringdon. In the warmer months, they extend the restaurant into the market by setting tables outdoors. The basement is where all the coffee roasting action happens (which you’ll get to see when you go to the restrooms). The restaurant serves breakfast on weekdays from 8am till 11am (hurray for early risers like myself), and an all day menu from noon. Brunch is served on weekends. The bar opens till late. The food served is, in their words “well travelled”. Thus, one can expect nothing less than exotic and interesting flavours from Caravan.
Baked Eggs with Yogurt seems to be a very popular new comer in breakfast and brunch menus lately, with breakfast/brunch places like Ottolenghi, Kopapa etc priding themselves in this dish. The baked eggs at Caravan came in a little silver pan with a tomato and pepper ragout and blobs of greek yogurt on top. I ordered mine with additional chorizo and a side of sourdough bread (as recommended by the wait staff). I thought the baked eggs were very good. The ragout was spicy and they were very generous with their chorizo. I’ve had baked eggs at Kopapa previously and despite it being very tasty, I could not finish it because the eggs were swimming in oil. Caravan however, did the baked eggs very well. The eggs were neither undercooked nor overcooked (yummy runny eggs!), and it was not too oily and rich. The sourdough bread was sufficiently toasted and tasted great when dipped in the baked eggs. You have the option of granary bread as well.
The Coconut Bread was excellent. Time Out names this dish as one of the top 10 dishes in London, and after having it at Caravan, I can see why. Grilling the coconut bread was an excellent touch – It made the bread very fragrant and the sides were crispy and crunchy. It came with poached rhubarb and a thick layer of lemon curd cream cheese. I usually shun rhubarb due to a previous bad experience, however Caravan changed my mind about this little vegetable (or is it a fruit?). It was slightly sour which complimented the sweet and creamy lemon curd. Don’t let the picture fool you, the lemon curd cream cheese is not as thick as it looks, and it wasn’t sweet and sickly either. Lovely dish.
The Coffee at Caravan is excellent and I’m very very fussy when it comes to my coffee (sorry I didn’t take any pictures of the coffee – you can see empty coffee cup in the above picture though. It shows how much I loved it! I finished the coffee even before the food arrived). I usually buy Monmouth Espresso beans, however I thought the Caravan Espresso was very good so I will be back for a bag once my supplies run out. I’ve been to Caravan a few times and have had a variety of drinks. The Picolo latte (for those who are not familiar with this, a Picolo latte is something like a double macchiato) and the flat white were both good. My usual go-to drink is the flat white though. The espresso blend used is a medium roasted blend with good balanced acidity. It has a dried cranberry and milk chocolate sweetness and when combined with milk, one can expect butter cookie notes and a caramel finish. Caravan does single origin coffees as well (they have a few options every day and it changes all the time). I’ve had the Gethumbwini AB Kenya blend (full roast, excellent excellent coffee, £3.20) and one of the El Salvador blends as well (medium roast, £2.80. Very good as well but I prefer the Kenya).
Caravan Exmouth is a lovely place to sit and relax, which reminds me a lot of cafes in Australia and New Zealand. However, it does get noisy when the crowds start rolling in. I will definitely be back, if not for food, definitely for the coffee. I heard that they do their own cocktails as well, definitely want to try that. I foresee a night with lots of small plates and a bottle of wine soon. BRB, Caravan.
P.S. Modern Pantry uses coffee from Caravan. Reviews for Modern Pantry here!
Le Traveling Fork 