Ginger Pig Cafe, 15th June

There are many places in East London to get a decent brunch these days but the Ginger Pig caught my eye with their menu a while ago and so me and my friend Alison went for a brunch date there the other day.

The Ginger Pig Café, is, oddly enough, not affiliated with the famed Ginger Pig butcheries. I do find it weird that they have chosen to name themselves so closely to something that already exists but the butchers don’t seem to mind.

Judging by their breakfasts though, The Ginger Pig are some serious meat lovers, and pig is indeed the flavor of the day.

We had been salivating over the menu online and were a little disappointed to see that it wasn’t the same as what was on offer on the day. My friend in particular had liked the look of the Mexican huevos rancheros, and I thought the grilled halloumi and poached egg sounded nice but neither of them were on the printed menu. Neither were the many varieties of eggs we thought would be on offer (benedict, royale, omelette). But in my heart I think I would have ordered what I got anyway as it has been so long since I’ve had pancakes and I love the sweet/savoury combination of pancakes, maple syrup, eggs and bacon.

So I ordered the lumberjack – two pancakes, two pork and leek sausages, three bacon rashers, two fried eggs, and some ham!

Alison at the very last minute decided to get the full monty – eggs how you like them, sausage, bacon, black pudding, beans and mushrooms. And toast.

I got a bloody mary, she got an aperol spritz and we waited. We actually waited quite a while but I didn’t mind, taking it as a sign it wasn’t all pre-cooked and just sitting there waiting to be ordered. We both savoured our cocktails. My bloody mary was a generous serve and lasted me the whole meal – at £4.50 you can’t afford not to have one!

When it arrived we were confused. Where were Alison’s mushrooms? Where were the beans? The waitress had said something as she set them down but we couldn’t make out what so we enquired. Turns out, these come separately because, rather than give you a handful of each, you get a full dish of both to go on the side! The portions were actually verging on ludicrous. Yet, as you’ll see, a valiant effort was made to eat it all.

The brunch was a top notch breakfast – pancakes were great and there was the right amount of maple syrup to last. For the money you pay I think you’ll be hard pressed to find a heartier meal anywhere. I almost finished it but left some of my ham (it’s not my favourite cut of pork and three kinds of pig on one place is more than enough!). If I had to gripe I would say just what I’ve said – maybe there isn’t a need for so much meat. A hash brown instead would be nice. And I prefer scrambled eggs and streaky bacon with my pancakes (I think it’s the more American way) but I enjoyed it thoroughly nonetheless. The sausages were fantastic – really full of flavor and I tried to make them last as long as I could.

I was stuffed by the end of it.

But not too full not to have a quick summery drink before heading out to conquer (yes, that’s right, no second place for me this time) A Door in a Wall.

We walked around the corner to Hoxton Square to the Fever Tree G & T pop-up and ordered a flight of four gins to share between us. This came with four varieties of fever tree tonic to go with them. I like gin (I like most alcohol) but have never really paid it much attention, I just drink what I’m given. It was great to explore the different flavours of gins and discover I actually had a preference. We also adored the Fever Tree tonics – elderflower was possibly just about my favourite but Mediterranean, bitter lemon and regular were all good. Sadly we were time pressed and couldn’t try any more but I would love to go back. You can sit outside if it’s sunny or enjoy the inside setting which is just as nice. And I love those big glasses!