Brunch at Origin Coffee Roasters

‘Now you won’t be telling anyone about this place?’ asked my friend the entrepreneur, as accompanied by his partner, the delightful Sarah made our way from Waterloo station. ‘No…of course not…if you don’t want me to’ I lied in response. The entrepreneur and Sarah were obviously very pleased with their find of a Sunday brunch spot unknown to me, which was ironically a stone’s throw from the office where I do my own daily grind.

Origin coffee roasters is down a side street someway between Southwark and London Bridge stations. From the outside it looks somewhat like an industrial unit that could be anything from a garage to a picture framer’s or in this case a coffee shop. The interior continues that ambiguity, being the sort of minimalist white and pine that has passed for stylish since the first Habitat opened its doors on the Tottenham Court Road.

Having grabbed a seat and been joined by the Entrepreneur’s and Sarah’s friend David, we additionally grabbed some menus and started gabbling excitedly over the contents. Whilst waiting to decide I ordered myself a flat white from the very busy barista.

With the number of orders going in, it took a few minutes for my coffee to arrive, when it did the first sip told me this was an artisanal coffee. A strong, well robust flavour filled my mouth, somewhat overpowering my taste buds, flattened like an arthritic hedgehog in a bus lane. It tasted as rich as Christmas pudding, and was about as filling.

The brunch dishes were detailed in terms of adjectives. Squash was no longer simply squash, but crown prince squash, which came with London fettle ewe’s cheese (yeah me neither.) On a recommendation from my fellow diners I ordered the bacon and eggs or as described on the menu, ‘MAPLE & TAHINI BACON & SCRAMBLED EGGS,’ Maple and tahini baked free range smoked streaky bacon, scrambled Cackleben eggs, sesame seeds, rocket, sourdough toast.

Now I have no idea what Cackleben eggs are, even after eating them. Are they the breed of hen that they emerge from or a way of preparing them that originated in a place called Cackleben? Or did a laughing, cackling chef called Ben devise them as his revenge on an uncaring world.

From the first bite it tastes as someone somewhere is trying to dispose of a national butter surplus through innovative egg-based cuisine. As well as butter there are so many other flavours battling it out for supremacy you are left imagining tiny armies fighting on your tongue. The fat from the eggs had soaked into the bread giving a texture somewhere between a muffin and a fried slice (remember those) both comforting and rather sickly at the same time. I didn’t like it.

The bacon though for me was the pinnacle of over thought and flavoured dishes. Covered in maple sugar the bacon seemed to retain little of its original flavour, now tasting somewhat like a piece of cake or cacon as I liked to call it. This dish was so sweet and so stodgy you could feel the diabetes and the heart attack fighting it out for control of your destiny with each forkful.

I must admit I seemed to be alone in my dislike for the food and ambivalence for the drink. My friends and it appears all other customers were consuming everything put in front of them with gusto. I got perhaps a glimpse of what they were experiencing when I decided to give the coffee a second chance and ordered a mocha.

This time the overpowered flavour of the coffee was offset nicely with tang of the dark chocolate, making one of the best mochas I’ve had. I did have to go home and mainline rennies in a darkened room until I felt my stomach recover from the morning’s ordeal, however.

So, there you have it, I broke my promise not to tell anyone about Origins coffee works, Southwark. I think you’ll agree though that this isn’t the most positive of my reviews. You might be wondering how much it cost, well for me the main cost was a wasted afternoon struggling with indigestion, but for two coffees and a brunch course it was about £17 including tip.

Anyway, if you want to experience sugar bacon fusion cuisine for yourself the address is

Origin Coffee Roasters

84 Scoresby St, London SE1 0XN