Notting Hill Diary

Uncles Café, Portobello Road. Hard to see, but Wifey is actually running backwards in slow motion.

Value for money: good
Atmosphere: good
Service: good (these days!)

I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to remember to review Uncles, if only because going to whichever establishment has occupied that spot for around wo decades has provided me with a number of anecdotes.

Until the mid 90s it was known as the Portobello Cáfe. Yes, the accent was over the “a”. It did decent burgers, English breakfasts, coffees and the like, great for veggies (you have to be to survive on Portobello Road), reasonable prices and open 7 days a week.

As the years went on, the service got worse and the quality of the food deteriorated. The “cáfe” reduced its opening times to Fridays and Saturdays and finally stopped opening altogether. Many believe the aroma of hash floating out from somewhere that may or may not have been the direction of the kitchen had something to do with the chef’s inability to deliver an order in a timely manner, or correctly at all.

The last time I went there when it was in that guise, it took 45 minutes for our cappucinos to arrive (there were only two of us there) and when my veggie burger finally did arrive, the burger itself was nowhere to be seen within the two halves of the bun.

It then mutated into a passable sushi bar. Either it wasn’t really all that good¹ or the area wasn’t yet ready for a sushi place, but after no more than a couple of years it became Uncles, as it is now.

Actually it’s basically a much better version of Portobello Cáfe and we go there at least once a month at weekends for an eggs benedict/eggs florentine respectively (that’s with respect to wifey/veggie boy). And we always order chips. They do good chips (that’s fries to non UK readers). Then we ask for the Tabasco bottle, which we usually empty. Wifey and I are real foodies, but boy do we like it hot! Tabasco to us is like drinking fruit juice.

Anyway, the point is that they do the best breakfasts/brunches for quality and value in Notting Hill. Of course the Electric Brasserie is great, but friggin’ expensive!

Oh yes - the other anecdote. Early on their service wasn’t quite so good. At least their service per se was, but their ability to split a bill wasn’t. One week they tried to charge us for both our meal and the one the people sitting oposite us had had. The next week we thought we’d make sure it didn’t happen again. Low and behold it did. We told them of the problem, they apologised profusely, adjusted the bill and promptly handed us a credit card chit (this was pre PIN) with … you guessed it, the other couple’s bill added back again.

305 Portobello Road
London W10 5TD
020 8962 0090

¹Actually my appreciation of sushi is muted somewhat by the fact that I’m a vegetarian. Even if you do eat fish it’s probably one of the more espensive way not to fill yourself up, but the veggie options usually amount to a sliver of cucumber in some rice at 4 or 5 pounds for 3 pieces. I’m not sure it’ll ever be fair of me to review any sushi restaurants, though there are a couple in the area.