Join Maddie Salters for a wholesome superfood breakfast.
The scene outside of the 26 Grains Porridge Cafe could have been taken straight out of a 90’s film about coming-of-age. It’s an organic space, both literally and figuratively, with oak-slabbed communal tables and hearty plants growing along its wide barn doors. A woman in skinny jeans lounges in the chill beside a hand-written menu roughly the size of a school chalk board. It’s early on a Wednesday, and notably, the space is packed.
While the Neal’s Yard pop-up staple is known for its sumptuous porridges, which combine Scandinavia’s favourite spices with a healthy (and I do mean healthy) respect for steel-cut grains, what brought me hunkering in to grab a seat at the counter was was their deviously delicious new partnership with chocolate gurus Doisy & Dam.
It’s difficult to go wrong when you combine the words ‘cardamom’ and ‘cocoa’ in the same sentence, so I admit, I was excited before I even dug in. Doisy & Dam had just released their new Superfood-Packed Organic White & Milk Chocolate series, and the idea was simple, but genius: crumble up a bar or two, and use it as a topping for 26 Grains’ original Cacao & Vanilla Porridge. I’ve topped porridge with butter and cream before, but never lovingly-crafted organic milk chocolate with dates. The luxuriant lineup features chocolate infused with enough buzzword ingredients to send any foodie straight to Nirvana: himalayan sea salt, goji, maca, lacuma, quinoa. Which left me with the conundrum: which should I try?
While thinking it over, I cooled my heels with a bottle of Doisy & Dam’s Cold Brewed Cacao. The taste was surprising, unlike anything my palette had been exposed to before. Fresh, bittersweet, and with a definite chocolate tang. It was less like a typical cup of cold cocoa and more akin to a richly flavoured water, which left me feeling clean and light. A quick scan of the ingredients list pointed to pure vanilla bean being responsible for bolstering the round, softly sugared taste. As a consummate fan of cold brew coffee, I think I may have found my new spring fling– a wonderfully like alternative. (It’ll hits shelves next year, so I’ll have to contain my excitement until then.)
When my porridge arrived, I’d made my decision: I had to try everything. First, unadulterated, I took a taste of the porridge. The oats, soaked overnight in almond milk and thickened with shea butter, were deliciously creamy, and had just the texture profile– soft and gooey, with an underlying crunch. Warmed to my core, it was time to unabashedly pile on Doisy & Dam’s smorgasbord of toppings.
While I didn’t find a single taste I didn’t like, the stars for me were definitely the Lemon Curd Poppy Seed white chocolate, which was deliciously tangy, paired with the Roasted Cocoa Nibs (smoky-sweet, a great compliment to the cold brew), and the Quinoa, Smoked Tea, and Vanilla milk chocolate, which gave each bite beautifully chewy.
The verdict? Chocoholics rejoice… (or beware?), this may be the best combination since Nutella on toast (and certainly more Instagram-worthy).
If you visit 26 Grains, my advice is to go hungry: I wasn’t able to finish the last dredges of my bowl, but every satisfying bite certainly fortified me for the day ahead.
Find 26 Grains is located at 2 Neal’s Yard, London WC2H 9DP. Visit 26 Grains at 26grains.com.
For more about Doisy & Dam go to doisyanddam.com.
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