Week beginning April 7th - Canele and Pão de Queijo (Breakfast pies)

This week we welcome some new additions to Kaffeine’s staples; we tend to review our more familiar and regular edibles once a year. Whether it is improving on the recipe or visually giving everyday baked goods a little facelift. After all food evolves just as much as fashion, often needing to move with the times and seasons.

One new addition is a French pastry called canelé originating from Bordeaux. I admit I’ve seen these rather unremarkable pastries from time to time and never gave them much attention. That is until I read an article on how truly challenging they are to make if done correctly. Kaffeine's kitchen likes new challenges and has dedicated our labour to master the art of these mahogany striated cylinders. First a batter consisting of milk, eggs, sugar, flour, dark rum and vanilla pods is made, making sure no air is incorporated into the mixture while mixing. In this rare case air is bad.  Secondly the batter must sit for 2 days before baking. In order to give these French custards a shiny, crisp, caramelised exterior and a soft aerated custard centre they need to be baked in cooper moulds lined with a mixture of bee’s wax and butter. Lastly the canelé must be baked in an incredibly hot oven on a preheated baking tray. The various recipes on canelé are more of a guideline as it really does depend on your oven and the quality of the ingredients. I’ve been spending my weekends in Paris lately and have not found a decent canelé yet, all have been soft, soggy and rubbery which has made me all the more determined to help revive them back to their forgotten laurels. After several trials and testing’s I’ve nearly perfected Kaffeines version, so expect to see them on our display sometime this week.

Our next new big thing is Pão de Queijo, which means cheese bread in Portuguese. The bread is more of a pastry texture and is made using tapioca; tapioca is a starch that is extracted from cassava root from northern Brazil. The fine powder is then made into dough with milk, eggs and cheese and usually baked in small dough balls that puff up quite dramatically in a hot oven. Traditionally cheese bread is served with a slightly crispy crust and a chewy almost elastic cheesy centre. However after making it at home for my Brazilian partner I’ve realised if baked longer it makes great wheat and gluten free pastry and resembles a hybrid of puff pastry and choux pastry. So as of this week we say so long to our breakfast ciabattas and a warm cheesy welcome to Pão de Queijo Breakfast Pies. Currently we are filling them with the same filling as our ciabattas, however with time and once people begin to fall in love with their texture the fillings they will evolve once more. When asking for the Pão de Queijo Breakfast Pie be patient and let a staff member toast it in our sandwich press for a minute or two, this will bring them to life and crisp’n the pie to perfection.

So please come in a sample our new offerings along with our tasty seasonal lunch menu as seen below.  

Jared Bryant

Lead Chef

@redjar50

@kaffeinelondon

Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60

Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passion fruit) 3.70
Ciabatta roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Ciabatta roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.90
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with home made preserves 1.90
Pumpkin seed and apricot fruit toast 2.40
Banana bread 2.40
Porridge with choices of cinnamon, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey, golden syrup or compote 3.00

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissant 1.90
Pain au chocolat 2.50
Almond croissant 2.80

Baked Treats
Sweet Muffin: Blueberry and bran 2.40
Savoury Scone: Four cheese and ramsons 2.40
Yarrow and blood orange friands 2.40
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 2.00
Afgan Biscuits 2.00

Lunch

French retro baguettes 5.00
Crispy chicken with chilli, mint yoghurt dressing, red onion, avocado, rocket
Tomato, mozzarella, chimichurri, spinach

Foccacias 5.30

Ham, tomato, spicy oregano dressing, parmesan, rocket
Sweet potato cooked in sugar and vinegar, brie, basil, spinach

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Sang choy bow salad with pork and breakfast radish

Orange, watercress, chicory, garlic mustard and chalky white cheese (forage item)

Roasted beetroot with raspberry vinegar

Tart: 4.40 or 7.90 with salad
Crab, baked apples, sea kale and dattander (mustard leaf)