Feya – Review

Last Updated on June 19, 2018

Healthy (well nearly) brunch at Feya, Marylebone:

Who says looks aren’t everything? In the last few years, food outlets have gone from being from being super snooty about customers taking photos of their food to actively encouraging the process with specifically designed dishes being Instagram friendly.

Chef Zahra Khan, a graduate of Gordon Ramsay’s Tante Marie Culinary Academy, has gone a stage further at Feya, her exquisitely designed new 31-seater Marylebone Café with every dish crying out to be photographed. But would they taste as good as they look? Zahra has combined ‘her lifelong passion for baking and her love for art’ in a series of dishes that include salads, sandwiches, cakes and patisserie alongside superfood lattes such as beetroot, blue algae and turmeric, Kusmi tea and Ozone coffee. There are gluten-free variations of the menu, vegetarian and vegan options as well as dairy-free alternatives.

Feya is situated in the St Christopher’s Place area of Marylebone, rather thoughtfully just around the corner from Selfridges. The interior features marble textures, florals and pastels beneath an amazing ‘Sakura’ style white cherry blossom tree that envelopes the interior. Zahra has collaborated with award-winning Finnish blogger and cookbook author Virpi Mikkonen who has designed the breakfast menu. Virpi promotes gluten-free, vegan and clean eating on her Instagram page ‘Vanelja’, an approach carried over into the Feya breakfast menu which I have been invited to review.

I perused the menu whilst sipping on a full-bodied Ozone decaf cappuccino.

My first choice was the Rose Avo Toast – gluten-free toast with beet hummus, avocado rose and sprouts with optional egg and smoked salmon. It’s unusual to have such a pretty savoury breakfast plate that tasted so good!

Happiness Pancakes promised a lot! A plate of whipped cream pancakes, Pitaya powder, peanut butter, maple syrup drizzle, blueberries and banana coins. They certainly made my mouth very happy and if it was unable to address my underlying issues of existential angst or concerns about Brexit, maybe that’s too much to ask of a breakfast plate!

Cold-pressed passion fruit, strawberry and ginger added a healthy zing to the morning’s proceedings. All in all the breakfast left me feeling nourished in a healthy fashion, enervated and relaxed, having enjoyed being in such a pretty space. I was the first customer that morning but Feya soon got busy with an international millennial clientele busy happily snapping and eating their delectable dishes.

I couldn’t leave without trying one of their tarts. The strawberry tart was full of fruit with a light crumbly pastry – I don’t know if it was healthy but there is only so much health you can have…I can’t wait to return to Feya to try the rest of the menu. It creates a healthy oasis of calm and beauty just off the hustle and bustle of Oxford St and if good-looking healthy plates are your thing you should pop in and try it.

FEYA (www.feya.co.uk)

Feya
23 James St, Marylebone, London W1U 1DT
020 7858 0858