Lantana Cafe: A Brekkie Worth Getting Up For
My room’s being consumed by a tsunami of clutter. How has it happened again? The rate at which things accumulate (along with the dust bunnies) astounds me and I can never see or understand how that happens. What, do these things just appear whilst I sleep?! Who dreams ‘em up and then just chucks it in my room, on top of my bed, next to my make-up counter which serves as a study desk when the need arises. Where did all these computer/phone wires come from? Crap, was my wardrobe always that stuffed, threatening to spill out in waves and eat up the room completely? Or shall we just go back to square one and blame it on the room being the size of a miniature igloo (or worse). The collage I created through food photographs, magazine pages, a map of my uni campus, random shots from Gradball 09, a Vivienne Westwood postcard from a friend and some A/W 09 catwalk shots – beautiful and quite breathtakingly so since it’s the backdrop of my work desk – seeks to increase the confusion and ‘noise’ of the room. You can say my collection of things is a real eclectic mix – something I’ve always hoped to achieve in any room I live in and out of. Boudoir-ish, roccoco elements, bits of random vintage jewellery hanging about, interesting Indian fabrics draped from one corner to the other whilst candles melted into twisted monstrous shapes and sizes dot the room. I think this year I’ve quite achieved that with a purple/navy theme going on, quite different from my room last year in Birmingham which was full of Venetian masks and greens and blacks. Sometimes I just sit back, nod approvingly and give myself a pat on the back for managing to make my room almost homey and as eccentricly artsy as the area I live in. On bad days, I feel like burning it down.
On lazy days, I just hide under the covers and wish away all that clutter. Of course it never happens. And ranting about it doesn’t help either. The fact that I try to blitz my room almost twice a week makes me think I’m quite the independent and fairly neat 22-year old. The fact that the kitchen is so small and almost always cluttered with food and splashes of grease gives me a bit of headache. But blame it on London being too expensive to live in!
A change of perspective helps sort me out though. A bit of sunshine, which we had loads today (THREE CHEERS FOR THE FLIPPIN’ SUN!), also injects a bit of optimism into anything. If London’s that great, why the heck am I sitting in my room complaining about the clutter when I should be out there soaking up some good ol’ sun and exploring the fantastic eats in this gorgeous city?
And so I did. After a strong coffee. And some furious bbm-ing (if you don’t already know, Blackberry speak for our version of phone messaging) with Su-yin. A Lantana breakfast was so the right way to celebrate TGIF and wind down to our weekend. Su-yin totally deserved it after all her night shifts and although I haven’t done much to deserve it, I did score a 1st class for one of the essays I handed in after Christmas. So that’s probably something to be happy about. Anyway here’s what we ate. Delicious beyond delicious. And glad we didn’t even have to queue!
Corn fritters stacked with crispy bacon, avocado and roast tomato salsa, rocket and lime aioli
Bubble and squeak with fried egg, chorizo, rocket, tomato chutney and buttered sourdough
Happiness is breakfast.
Full up and very pleased with our meal and service, we strolled to Heal’s for a quick gander about the kitchenware and a gift for my dear sister. Couldn’t have had a better start to my Friday morning.
Lantana Cafe
13 Charlotte Place
London
W1T 1SN
http://www.lantanacafe.co.uk
February 5th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Ok. I’m noting this down so hub & I can go there for breakfast when we are in London in the near future.
February 5th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
I have those very same days where I just want to roll up in a ball under the covers and wish for the house to be clean poof poof pow, but it never works. Delicious looking breakfast, this is the most important meal of the day, I just had mine but I think I ll go have some more now. I love the coziness look of the cafe Thanks for sharing.
February 5th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
In my case, it was a brekkie worth staying up for.
Is it wrong that I could totally eat some more of that tomato chutney and sourdough now? Yum. Or some corn fritters even…
February 5th, 2010 at 11:57 pm
OH.. you did it to me again… I’m here reading your blog and you have a brekkie pic.. and it is early am, and I have not had my brekkie yet.. Whawwwww
I am a huge hider under the covers FAN… esp I don’t have to work till the afternoon so after the Mr. goes to work.. I SNOOZZZZZZZ
February 6th, 2010 at 1:27 am
Oh, I remember coming over to your blog…! I totally understand what you mean by accumulation things leading to clutter… however, I do force myself to throw things out every so often and it is during these times when I feel the pain – not because I will hve to part with the stuff because it is a sharp reminder of how much money I had thrown down the drain…
February 6th, 2010 at 4:05 am
Can you pass that plate of corn fritters? Pretty please??
February 6th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
OMG you are 22! I feel so old!!
Saw the lantana website earlier after read tweets that Catty and Mowie and Beth were going today. Looks like a good place, can’t believe I walked straight past it the other day going to Scandinavian Kitchen and missed a chance to check it out!
February 7th, 2010 at 2:45 am
WOW! Look at that egg yolk threatening to break apart! Gorgeous shot. What an amazing spread for brekkie. That corn fritter looks awesome.
February 7th, 2010 at 7:38 am
I’m totally with you on the messy whirlwind room. Sometimes I just chuck everything into a pile so only the PILE is messy, and i actually have space to move. My room isn’t even small! I think it’s a girl thing, or maybe just a messy-I-have-too-many-things-to-do-and-can’t-clean thing.
Oh well, least there’s always that gorgeous cafe u can run to! It looks amazing, jealous much!
February 8th, 2010 at 4:56 am
I connect with u about teh clutter esp when there are five other people in teh house.
I wld get up for breakfast if that kind of food was waiting for me!
February 8th, 2010 at 8:49 am
Your posts always make me want to go back to London! Lantana looks gorgeous – and congrats on your first class essay
I am such a messy person but entertain fantasies of having a bohemian, fabric-draped bedroom. Totally know how you feel about clutter though – I can never seem to put things AWAY before they start creeping back out to say hi again.
February 8th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
you got me there, i’m a sucker for breakfast food
February 8th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
well it’s NO secret that I love Lantana
It’s much better on a weekday too when it’s quiet. Weekends are crazy hectic but whatever, it’s still worth it. No one had baked eggs???
February 9th, 2010 at 12:43 am
They serve beautiful breakfast meals at this place.
February 9th, 2010 at 12:53 am
Oh wow, I so totally lost my concentration when I saw those thickly frosted cakes.
You really do eat a massive breakfast, hee hee
February 9th, 2010 at 3:59 am
It does look like a happy place to be. It IS worth living in a smaller place in London because of happy places like this
February 9th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Lantana cafe, how much do I love thee? Let me count the ways!
February 11th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Ok, how the hell do you stay looking so beautiful and slim eating like this? What an incredible, scrumptious meal! Wow! I want now! So, Diva, when i come visit, first I want to check out your apartment because it sounds intriguing and then we hop over for brunch at this restaurant? Deal?
February 12th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
“On bad days I feel like burning it down” – I know how yo ufeel – wait till you have a house, you’ll feel like that about the entire house, rather than one room
But yes, on good days it gives me the warm fuzzies just to know it’s mine and I never have to leave it if I don’t want to 
Re. the Lantana – why oh why do I live in the east??? I want this to be my local…