Despite living in Mile End/Bow for over 6 months and passing through Victoria Park countless times, I've only ever had one chai at The Pavilion. It's probably because it tends to be the warmer months when the tables are all outside and full but the queue to order precludes patience.
No better time than a 10C sunny winter weekday which also happened to coincide with BBC 2 filming for a feature on the chef (they told me).
The menu is brunch/lunch with a nod to Sri Lanka and it's fun to read Sri Lanka The Cookbook from mid-2017 sitting on the shelves whilst waiting. After dinner at Hoppers a couple of nights earlier, it's a good daytime follow-up.
- Wild mushrooms with poached egg on sourdough toast £8.5 - an excellent dish of mixed mushrooms beautifully cooked with 2 soft poached eggs, quality sourdough and the lime brought all the flavours to life. Truly fantastic;
- Sri Lankan breakfast (turmeric egg curry, string hoppers, dhal, coconut sambal) £10 - a beautifully presented dish with a few setbacks. The potatoes in the curry were cold in the middle. The dhal and green vegetables were really salty. But it's ok.
The coconut chai is now cow-milk chai £3 and is very strongly spiced with loads of cardamom and some ginger. It's really excellent and different to the chais I've had around town (and so far in my travels).
I'll definitely try to get back before moving away.