My dear friend Pavla told me about 26 Grains. As she is a huge porridge fan, she always wanted to go there and we said to each other we would go together. But it never happened and now she is on an amazing holiday for 3 months(Dubai, Bali and Sri Lanka.. Let’s pretend I’m  not jealous). Anyway, I decided to go alone as I wanted to see what it was like so I could share it with you. 26 Grains is all about.. I think you can guess.. Grains! They find inspiration from Scandinavian cooking traditions and spices. Their bowls of Hygge (Scandinavian, and with no direct English translation. But it means something like ‘coziness’, ‘relaxing with friends and loved ones’. What I think sounds so sweet and lovely that I don’t understand that there is not a word for this in every language.) are made out of healthy and fresh ingredients. Using grains as a base they then add Scandinavian spices and toppings in the end.

26 Grains is, like the WildFoodCafe I wrote about earlier, in Neal’s Yard. Inside and out it looks simple and pure, the kind of atmosphere what I expected it to be. I like their black sign, the plants on the green wooden doors and the cactuses and little paintings of veggies inside, but the only thing is that it’s very small. Inside there is only space for I think about 12 people. And I think even with only 12 people it will be a bit crazy. They do have some seats outside, which is lovely on a nice sunny day of course. One of the things I didn’t like too much were the seats, which are quite small(or maybe my bum is just too big) wooden blocks. They look nice, but it’s far from comfortable.

Not everything on their menu is vegan, so make sure to mention you are vegan when you are. I ordered the Hazelnut and Butter porridge + a green smoothie and as it was a bit busy I sat down near the wall where they created a wooden bar to create more seats. I looked around to see what other people ordered(so curious, but I know you all do it..) and I must say everything looks super nice, complete with yummy toppings and even flowers. I was very excited for them to serve mine. Even though they have a tiny kitchen I didn’t have to wait very long before a beautiful looking and smelling bowl was in front of me. It was delicious! Very filling and just the right amount and consistency. The green smoothie was btw also very good, simple, but tasty and a perfect combination with my porridge. I liked the refreshing taste of the smoothie with the rich nutty flavours in my porridge.

I think 26 Grains is a perfect place to have a late breakfast together with a friend, family member or your lover. It’s a great start of a day walking around in Covent Garden. Or why not go for lunch before seeing a musical in one of the nearby theatres?!

If you check their website, you can see they/re not only a lovely little restaurant, but they also do catering. So in case you need an original catering company with spicy options, check them out!

Do you know 26 Grains or are you going to check them out after reading this? I would love to hear when you did! Please let me know in a comment or share a beautiful picture of your bowl of hygge using #PlanetManel on Instagram. Thank you! X