Core

Went there on a Sunday. Not that busy, but service was sluggish. When we ordered, they said we’d need to wait 20 minutes as there was a bit of a rush on and they cook everything from fresh. Fair enough. Over an hour later (we were chatting and lost track of time) they said they’d forgotten our order, but would offer us some money off to compensate, and it would be with us soon. Again, fair enough, these things happen. Another 20 minutes and it arrived in dribs and drabs. The omelette was nearly stone cold, and my fresh rocket salad looked like it had been stuck in the bottom of the fridge for a week, it was so dry… Meanwhile the table next to us had left because the wait was son long…
We could have forgiven the wait if the food was great, but I can’t recommend it, go elsewhere!

A little gem in the Paddington Basin. It is as someone else has mentioned, a little difficult to find, but if you walk toward the junction of Praed Street and South Wharf Road, you’ll see a Tesco’s and a small alley way between the Tesco and the apartment entrance. Walk through there and you’ll find the little gem of the PB.
I’m a regular here only because of the group I run with on Saturdays. This is the place we get brunch on Saturday mornings and boy, I gotta say even if I wasn’t running on Saturdays, this is where I’d go for brunch if I was in the area. In general, the Paddington area has a dearth of good places to go for breakfast besides your generic chains, which honestly, I’d rather pass on.
The food is cooked fresh and is organic. I usually get the class apart which is a nicely smoked salmon clump served on a beautifully cooked bed of scrambled eggs. This is fenced by a ring of fresh avocado. Making it a calorific, but wonderfully scrumptious breakfast after a 6 mile run. Orange juice here is made freshly squeezed and couldn’t get any fresher if you made it yourself. Service is great and I couldn’t ever leave here unhappy. Major props.
4* only because they could certainly do with a bit more innovation in their food, but otherwise, AWESOME all around.

A convenient place for those that live in the Merchant Square buildings. We opted for the breakfast menu and tried the adult indulgence– grilled organic bacon, bananas, and maple syrup as well as the veggie omelette– organic omelette filled with plump tomatoes, spring onions, peppers, mushrooms, and cottage cheese. Pancakes had a slightly different texture than what I am used to. They seemed a bit heavy and also under cooked in some areas. I was a bit skeptical of having cottage cheese in my omelette but it actually tasted pretty good and added some good texture.

Friendly, efficient service. Limited menu but beautifully prepared and cooked. Deserves more clients. A haven in summer, with canal side seating. And the Jazz Night once a month is brilliant.

When I arrived there was a really big party, and my friend said she found it a little noisy. To be honest I didn’t really notice it until she mentioned it. The service was less than ok. As usual, I asked whether their smoked salmon was farmed or wild, and I was told it was wild, but then when I was leaving I grilled a chef behind the counter and he admitted that sometimes farmed and wild gets mixed, but that usually they get line caught fish. I don’t know why but my gut instinct is that ‘line caught salmon’ is a bit of a myth, just because of its size, and the fact that all scottish smoked salmon I have seen anywhere is always farmed…
Anyway, pedantics aside, I got the salmon omelette with avo and had the rye substituted with mushrooms. (did I mention I was eating Paleo?)
Well after one tea arrived, with the label soaked in the tea, and eventually, when the second tea arrived the same, we concluded soaking tea bag labels in the tea was just how they rolled :(
Then, once the food came, the chefs ‘special’ avocado spiral, was basically sliced avocado in a ring around the egg, nothing special at all :(
After getting the meal, tasting the mushrooms, they were definitely far too salty :(then atop the salmon there was too too much salt again :(when we mentioned it to the waitress who came to ask how it was, she didn’t offer to help, or take it back, and just shrugged it off, saying when she ate it she thought it was meant to be that salty… Not ideal a response :(eventually I asked for some cucumber on the side which helped deal with the excessive saltiness.
And just for the record the food itself had very little flavour or taste. The eggs were a little too raw, and it needed desperately some pepper or some salt seasoning to bring it to life. Also when the waitress said there was some green in the omelette, I think she must have been talking about some other omelette cos I hardly saw anything green in mine :(
On a final note, if you do go for the pancakes, ask for the fruit on the side, as the layer it right through. Also if you’re American, according to my American friend, they definitely weren’t ‘American’ pancakes by her standards :(you have been warned!

Note to self: Next time a party of 30 walks in 10 steps behind me, immediately turn around and walk to a different venue.
I think (at least I’m hoping) I came to Core on one of those off-​days that all businesses experience, because while Core had all of the right ingredients to be a great breakfast venue, the execution was beyond disappointing.
I sat down, ordered a coffee and watched as a group of 30 people approached the venue. I did not get that coffee until all 30 had been seated, had ordered drinks and had received their drinks. My coffee arrived as an afterthought 25 minutes later.
The rest of the meal followed suit. Case in point, we ordered two teas and only one was delivered. When I mentioned that two teas has been ordered, the server said, ‘no, actually, there’s just one tea on the ticket’. When I again mentioned that we had ordered two, she stopped, looked again, and told me that only one was on the ticket. (I seriously had to pause and go to my happy place to refrain from physical upheaval.) Happy place reached, I calmly reiterated that we had, in FACT, ordered two and that perhaps she could bring us another. She did not. 10 minutes later I had to ask a different server. 10 minutes after that our second tea arrived.
It’s only fair to head back to Core when I’m not experiencing everything on the tail end of a massive group arrival.
It’s also only fair to be able to accommodate all of the tables you offer at your venue…

Core is a little hard to find, but if you trust your GPS, you’ll find it. A short walk along Praed Street between Paddington and Edgware Road stations, look for the sandwich boards. It’s there!
Clearly, the focus here is on organic and they accent it with wooden tables and even wooden centerpieces for holding the silverware and the cruet set. Before you look over the menu, do look over the display cases which are chock full of delicious looking meats and sides. When I was there early on Sunday, some of them were still empty which I take as an indication that they are fresh.
My salmon was delicious and the «lightly scrambled» eggs tasted fresh. It was a good sized portion.
It’s not cheap, but it is worth it. I will absolutely return.

I enjoyed my breakfast here. the «fresh, local and organic» concept is mighty :)
I had pancake stacks «adult indulgence» and my buddy had «sensational berries». Both were good but could have been better. The pancakes were quite solid in texture, when they should be a little fluffy and light. I loved the banana and bacon with maple syrup combo! Bit too much fat on the bacon though. if it was crispy bacon I would eat it up but it was that fat fat texture… yuck!
Service was wonderful :) nice polite and courteous waitress :)

I walked into core with a pounding hangover and walked out fresh & breezy, so an automatic one star for that! A fine hangover breakfast (well cooked scrambled eggs and perfectly cooked bacon), with excellent coffee and a trendy buzzing atmosphere. In fact the atmosphere was perhaps a little too buzzing for the perilous state of my head. The only problem with the place was that it was a tad on the cold side, even the waitress was wearing a coat!
In conclusion, a great breakfast, good atmosphere but a tad on the chilly side…

I’ll take my hat off to this place, because there aren’t enough of them about. A place that does a good breakfast and is proud of it. I’m not talking about a greasy spoon, but a café — a canteen almost. Quality food, well cooked and served with consideration.
Sure the place is a bit too keen to stress how everything’s organic and the high warehouse like ceiling make the place a little too noisy — but this I can forgive.
They get extra marks for their delicious freshly squeezed orange juice and very well cooked scrambled eggs — creamy not rubbery. The chef can cook!
NB. I didn’t physically take my hat off — it was quite cold.