It’s not every afternoon we get to take a trip to Wonderland. Scratch that, Oeufderland. Last week, Oeuf took us on a whimsical food-venture down the rabbit hole where the eggs just kept getting bigger and bigger. Or were we shrinking? (We weren’t, we’re too cynical to suspend disbelief that much.)
The Alice In Wonderland-themed Curious Egg Supper kicked off with a glittery margarita ‘potion’ – the start of a delightfully delicious journey to mess with our perspective. A pastel-hued tablescape dressed with Ombreflora blooms, pretty-as-a-picture coconut and lychee mocktails and sparkling Court Garden wine set the scene before we set off on our egg journey proper.
We tucked into spicy devilled hen’s eggs, moving on to soft-boiled quail’s eggs served with a parmesan crisp and a teensy-tiny doll’s spoon. Alice-esque riddles punctuated each course to introduce us to the next. The Mad Hatter had clearly been around as we sipped honeyed ‘tea’ from individual pots before we moved further up the size scale to a fried duck egg served with a rich truffle and parmesan curd with brioche soldiers for scooping.
But one pièce de résistance wasn’t enough for Oeuf. They had two. First up, a whopping great Ostrich egg the size of our head to share. It apparently takes a full 45 minutes to soft boil and is the equivalent of eating 24 hen eggs. We’re big egg fans, but that’s a stretch even for us. If you’ve never seen one in real life, the shells are like ceramic works of art and the first dunk into the huge deep yellow yolk was as satisfying as we’d hoped. Cue loads of pictures eating the giant egg with the tiny spoon.
Served with massive platters of meat and veg, including avocado flowers, sesame-crusted tuna and crispy bacon, and condiments like bone marrow butter, never mind Alice, this was a feast fit for the Queen of Hearts.
The final stage was some fantastically wibbly-wobbly jelly, followed by a show-stopping chocolate egg from Audrey’s. If you’ve been eating too much cheap chocolate lately, it’s the sort of thing that makes you remember what the proper stuff actually tastes like.
Oeuf are never afraid to have some fun (just look up while you’re there – how many cafes have Michelangelo-like ceiling frescoes?). And an Alice in Wonderland-inspired feast centred around a giant ostrich egg is exactly the sort of wonderfully whimsical idea they egg-cel at (sorry).
In a world where style increasingly trumps substance, it’s an absolute delight to have both at Oeuf. Ostrich eggs are coming to the menu soon – watch this space.
