Where the Pancakes Are, 8th October

Weekends to me mean brunch, and brunch very often means pancakes. The fluffy American kind (even though I’m a lover of the thin, English kind too). When I saw Where the Pancakes Are had opened up I was delighted.

They’ve set up in the newly created area that is Flat Iron Square on Bankside, where you can expect to find more foodie type places and even a new venue called Omeara to make up for the shortfall in London from all the ones we’ve recently lost.

I headed there on a Saturday afternoon at about 1 and we only had to wait all of ten minutes, if that, for a table (of course it is no bookings). I think I was there in its first couple of weeks though so don’t take that as gospel that you’ll always get seated so quickly! Especially now this new area is becoming more widely known. 

Choosing what I wanted was very difficult – the eternal question of whether to go savoury or sweet reared its head. Eventually savoury won out because I cannot resist having something with chilli in it! Rebecca, my dining companion for the meal, had a sweet option. I had a 1,000-baby-greens and added some more greenery in the form of avocado. My fluffy, squidgy pancakes were piled with baby leaves, spring onion, a good dollop of avocado and coriandier-lime butter. Fresh and lively. Could have handled more chilli (as per usual).

Rebecca’s Hummingbird plate looked fabulous – cream, cinnamon pineapple but the pomegranates, almond and coconut put me off stealing any of it. She seemed very pleased with her choice.

Each dish comes with two or three pancakes and that’s enough, although I probably could have squeezed in sharing a dessert version after mine. The savoury dishes are towards the higher end of what I’ve paid for brunch at other places (especially considering they’re pancakes which are normally quite a cheap item), at £10-£12 with extras being another £2 or so. But it doesn’t feel like a cheap brunch spot given the locale, and the types of pancake on offer are a cut above your average lemon and sugar. I’d happily go back.  

The Good Egg, 12th June

Squeaking in in the nick of time, Stephen and I got a table at The Good Egg for brunch. Not that I would have minded tucking into their Middle-Eastern-inspired main menu but the place is called The Good Egg and it felt wrong not to be having a dish with egg in it somewhere. Stephen had them baked with chorizo and I had them fried on a brisket hash. And I had a Bloody Mary because brunch. Of course it had to be the Red Hot with gin, pastrami spices, tomato juice & lemon and it was very pleasing, if not particularly hot. 

Each dish was hearty to say the least. Huge chunks of pastrami brisket were in mine, along with plenty of potatoes and some refreshing pickle to cut through the fattiness of the brisket. Stephen thought my eggs were overcooked but I liked them verging on (but not quite) solid. 

Stephen's Shakshuka was stuffed chorizo in its tomatoey, warmly spiced bath. I wanted to get something different to him but did have a little food envy as he scooped it all up with his bread. I managed to try one or two mouthfuls but was so stuffed from my own I didn't need to pester him for more. Didn't even try the good-looking babka on the counter so will need to come back at some point for that!

eatbrunch, 8th May

Apparently there are people out there who do not spend their Saturday nights out on the town until about 6 am and, therefore, are able to get up and go a-brunching at a reasonable hour on a Sunday. But what if you are not a part of this odd demographic? What if you really, really want brunch (complete with Bloody Mary hair of the dog) but you also really, really do not want to get out of bed?

Well, in that case, let me present to you EatFirst. They are a meal delivery service and as of May, they have added brunch to their offering. Bingo. I was invited along to a recreation of what a home-delivery brunch could be like when they hosted a pop-up at The Little Yellow Door in collaboration with Brünch who are doing a guest Berlin-inspired brunch with them. 

The food was amazing. All very fresh and healthy, with vibrant colours. Brünch seems to have handpicked some of my favourite foods and combined them to make them even better. The rosemary infused butternut squash and feta was probably my favourite but a surprise hit was the smoked mackerel pate with grated apple, horseradish and lemon juice. I normally find mackerel too fishy for my tastes but the additions cut right through that. I had several helpings! You can choose your dishes and they will arrive in prettily presented packaging for you to decant onto plates (this would also be perfect for brunching with guests if you can’t be bothered to cook) and you can even choose to have the ingredients for a bloody mary delivered! I was very impressed and have been telling all my fellow reprobate friends who can’t make it out of the house before 3pm to go to a restaurant.

A more traditional brunch comprising things like Asparagus Frittata, Eggs with Italian etc is also available and they will have other guest chefs creating menus for them along the way. Genius!

Egg Break, 1st May

My insta feed is always full of eggy goodness pictures from newly opened Eggbreak in Notting Hill. So it was the logical choice for a brunch date a few weeks ago.

Of course, I had to choose an egg dish. I had the corn cakes with poached eggs and sriracha hollandaise. I have to say, the cooking was uneven. One of my eggs had the most watery yolk when I pierced it. It gushed everywhere in a way that was almost offputting enough for me to send it back. The other egg, however, was overcooked and didn’t ooze anywhere at all. Flavourwise, the dish was fantastic so I forgave them the consistency. The hollandaise had a pleasant piquancy to it and the corn cakes had a lovely texture and flavour.

My friend had the crunchy French toast which was stuffed with banana and blueberries. If I liked berries then I would have had complete food envy, the bite I had of the plain French toast was divine. Crunchy is the way forward.

I ordered a bloody mary as well (it’s brunch – dem’s the rulz) but it wasn’t anything to write home about.

The place had a bit of a country pantry feel to it, bright but homely. And our waitress was super – she bonded with my friend over shared travel experiences.

The friend I went with came from way out West to meet me so Notting Hill was kind of in the middle for us. I did like the place and if I lived locally I’m sure I would give it another shot or two. I especially like that they do eggs all day – I wouldn’t have to worry about sleeping all day and missing brunch o’clock as I often do. 

Rawduck, 23rd January

I’m kind of a fan of masturdating – once I’ve decided I want to get something to eat, and where, I can’t really be bothered to find someone to accompany me. So I’m often a solo diner. Up at the counter is best I find – I feel a bit less like everyone else thinks I’m some oddball loser.

So when I woke up at a half decent time on a Saturday I decided to brunch at Raw Duck, where I have been wanting to brunch for some time. The atmosphere was perfect for a neighborhood joint. There were a lot of people there but it wasn’t so full that people couldn’t just drop in and be assured a seat. I was seated immediately where I had to face the eternal condundrum – do I fancy eggs or something sweet?

I hardly ever have pancakes, often erring towards eggs when I’m out so this time sweet won out and I ordered the buckwheat pancakces with smoked bacon. I balanced it by having a bloody mary, which certainly had some poke! It wasn’t particularly fancy, no odd flavours or elaborate garnishes, but it was probably the strongest bloody mary I’ve ever had.

I busied myself with the loner’s best friend – social media while I waited for my flapjacks. By this time I had forgotten the smoked element of the dish and when I bit into it the flavour hit me like a sledgehammer. This is no regular smoked bacon, like that Danepak crap you get in the supermarket. It is powerful. The smokiness clings to it. It is like sitting next to a wood fire and getting the smoke in your throat. It would have been too overpowering but for the sweetness of the maple syrup. Meanwhile the buckwheat pancakes were crispy and a reasurringly stodgy texture, while not being overly heavy. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

And thus I was reminded of the downsides of solo dining – no other dishes to try.

Trade, 29th August

Trade is, I think, a bit of a local’s secret. I was meeting a friend for brunch (my breakast as I had only just got up, his lunch) and had planned to go to Hotbox but just thought I’d check out the menu for Trade and suddenly thought I wanted to try that instead. When I arrived I walked right in and was just behind two other people. There wasn’t really a queue. Two minutes later and one practically stretched out the door!

It was a balmy day so we sat outside. Eventually I made my decision – avocado on toast with chorizo on the side. My friend had the reuben because they are not that ubiquitous over here.

When they arrived I had total food envy. His sandwich was huge! My dish looked paltry! But Trade knew what they were doing. Mine was more than adequate for a breakfast (as indeed mine was, even though it was 1 pm) and it meant I had room to try one of their delicious baked goods at the front.

It also tasted great. The avocado was mixed with feta which gave it a very pleasant tang and the chorizo was a fine example of what is almost always a sublime sausage. My only quibble would be that the toast should have been given more of a grilling as I wish it had been more crisp. This picture makes it look better than it was. 

My friend really loved his sandwich, and a bite from me confirmed it was a spot on reuben. 

I am keen to make this a regular haunt!

Morning Gloryville and Electric Diner, 20th June

Morning Gloryville is not on my List and would never have been put on my List because I would never realistically get up at 6 am just to go raving. Before work. I barely like getting up that early to go on holiday, let alone something I do most weekends.

But, they decided to launch a weekend version, which – provided I didn’t go out to all hours the night before – I thought wouldn’t entail getting up too unreasonably early for me. Of course, me being me, I didn’t end up going to sleep until around 3 am anyway on Friday night, but I was up at 9 the next day and at the venue just after 10. (Why oh why when it is normally held at Oval Space, within walking distance of my flat, did it have to be all the way over in West London?!)

Anyway, I went and I had an amazing time. I danced from the moment I got there to the moment they finished. At first I was worried. I had been concerned it would be a bit too hippiefied for me and the song playing when I arrived was something ‘uplifting’ which is not my thing. I like bass and I like it dutty. But soon they were playing all sorts, especially a lot of drum n bass and I didn’t want to stop dancing. Right at the end it all got a bit too spiritual for me, with everyone participating in a ‘grounding’ but overall I really loved it.

And what was especially good about it was that after three hours of solid dancing, I felt I could treat myself to a brunch at the Electric Diner, a short walk away. I went for a slightly healthier option as I fancied getting a milkshake too, so I had avocado on toast with a poached egg. The place was pretty buzzing but they managed to squeeze me in at the bar, which is perfect for solo dining.

I have to say I didn’t love it. It just wasn’t hot enough! A less than lukewarm poached egg is not optimum and the toast could have been… toastier. The avocado was nice enough but the chilli did not have a big enough hit. My Oreo milkshake was pretty good. It was certainly thick and creamy and had actual ice cream in it. The only thing I would say about that is I had to ask for a spoon because all the oreo collected at the bottom and it’s a bit odd they didn’t provide one with it straight away. All in all, it didn’t leave me with a desire to rush back and try everything else on the menu. 

Hash E8, 18th October

When I first saw the pics London the inside instagrammed from Hash E8 I got super excited. I immediately suggested we go and try it out, the very next weekend. Stat!

And so we did, this weekend falling on the one Saturday in about five weeks I’d been horridly hungover, and meaning I wasn’t able to get myself out of the house much before 3. (And I returned to bed straight after brunch.) So, was it worth leaving my bed for however briefly? Yes, I think so, although  it was a little rough around the edges.

They do brunch all day on weekends, and in the week as well, although they also do normal lunch options then. At the moment they only stay open until 5 but we were told they have plans to extend that and have their license all set up, they’re just still quite busy getting it all properly running. They must only be a few weeks old.

So, we rocked up just an hour before they shut. They have a couple of sweet options that sound delicious (stuffed French toast!) and many savoury options that sound equally tempting. They clearly also have a fondness for pig, with a piggy treat or option of adding one on nearly every dish. All music to my ears. Stephen had the special – a plate of pulled pork, potatoes, mushrooms and onions. I had the Hash benedict. With pork belly slice.

I sometimes think the foodie gods do not smile upon Stephen. I’m often more than happy with my choice while his is underwhelming. And so it was the case here, but mainly because the advertised mushrooms weren’t present, meaning his plate was a little meagre. We asked the waitress about this and she was duly mortified (especially as they’d kinda forgotten my pork, although it was brought out just as I was peering under my egg to see if it was there). They quickly rustled up a side of mushrooms with parsley, and Stephen added them to his plate. He said they made all the difference and seemed much happier after that. Our waitress (who was lovely, really) also gave us a complimentary diet coke each to make up for it.

But what about mine? Well, mine was pretty fab to be honest. Atop two fat, crispy hash browns sat a mound of kale, giving the dish a hefty iron tang, with two perfectly poached eggs. I highly recommend adding the belly pork – I got two bits which slotted easily under the eggs and gave the whole thing a nice salty, meaty high note. I was stuffed by the time I’d finished it all. The only thing that I would have added to both dishes was some hot sauce, but we could have just asked – we noted someone else did just that.

You are also welcome to add whatever sides you might want and pretty much every ingredient listed in the dishes can also be added as a side so you can mix and match to your heart’s content.

Hash itself just feels like a cute little café, not overly trendy, just basic and friendly. My seat had colourful astro-turf style upholstery but apart from water being served in milk bottles and a big slab with the special on it, there was no uber-quirkiness going on.

I think they may still be finding their feet but even with our little mishaps, I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt. Anywhere that does brunch all day is A-OK in my book, and I just have to try that French Toast!

Riding House Cafe, 23rd August

I can’t remember where I read such good things about the brunch at the Riding House Café that I put it on my list, but I kind of wish I hadn’t bothered.

Not that it isn’t a nice set of surroundings to eat in with its rustic/deco furnishings. Considering we just about made it in, and had to sit at the bar, plenty of people clearly really like it. But I was underwhelmed. Both Alison and I ordered the lobster benedict, which sounded gloriously indulgent. Instead, on two dry, unbuttered muffins were a few flaky, dryish bits of lobster, two smallish poached eggs and some hollandaise. I don’t often say this about lobster but – ‘meh’. It was alright. Not the decadence that you expect when you order lobster. And not cheap either, two eggs were £16!! I had also ordered some mashed potatoes with olive oil. Tasty enough but strangely dry considering the amount of oil it arrived in. 

Alison’s chicory salad was nice and fresh though, and I really enjoyed my bloody mary. Alison had a Prosecco which doesn’t require much remarking upon except to say that our bartender forgot to bring it to her and we had to remind him.

I fear we have been spoiled for brunch places of late with the likes of 100 Hoxton, L'entrepot, the Ginger Pig and Caravan, all of which I'd return to in a heartbeat.

100 Hoxton, 29th June

So, I’ve kinda gotten into brunch in a big way lately, mostly because for the first time in a long time, I’ve not been going out until all hours on a Saturday night, meaning I’m up early enough to take advantage of brunch hours. Also, I had always assumed because I know the Breakfast Club always has queues for brunch, that everywhere else does too, and I would have to be up with the birds in order to get in anywhere. The last few weeks have proved otherwise. And it’s been great. It cannot last however, and I will soon be returning to my partying ways, but before I do I can probably squeeze in another couple of brunch destinations.

Last week’s was 100 Hoxton, the sister restaurant to a place Alison and I discovered and delighted in on Upper Street called Zilouf’s. In the evenings they serve small plates with a Turkish twist but on the weekends they do their own take on some fabulous brunches. We met at about quarter to one, and the sun was shining. It was threatening to disappear though so we didn’t eat outside, instead choosing one of the many scandalously empty tables inside.

Sunday has a more limited brunch offering than Saturday, as they then start doing roasts from 1 pm. But it had enough to satisfy us. I had the 100 Hoxton Big breakfast and Alison had mushrooms on toast.

Both plates were very generously sized, and a decent price – mine was £9.50 and Alison’s was only £6.00!

I can’t fault my brunch – a decent slab of pork belly croquette, two fried eggs done just right, a slice of sourdough with plenty of butter, a mound of avocado and tomato salsa and hidden underneath all that the finest, densest hash brown I’ve ever had. It also should have come with mushrooms but I don’t like them so requested mine without. Drizzled all over was a jalapeno sauce with a heavy dose of coriander. I enjoyed every mouthful and thought the portion was just right. Big enough to sate but not too big that I couldn’t finish it all (it helped that I hadn’t yet eaten anything).

Alison’s mushrooms came with two eggs and roasted tomatoes and, like mine, a heap of cress on the top as garnish. As just stated, I’m not a mushroom fan so I didn’t try any of this dish and can’t comment on what it tasted like, but it looked beautiful and Alison polished it off no trouble and proclaimed it lovely so who am I to argue?

I was off the booze as I attempt to get myself into some semblance of my former shape so we didn’t try any of the cocktails, which is a damn shame. But I would like to come back in the evening to try their interesting small plates and I’m sure when I do I’ll be allowing myself an alcoholic treat.

Find the menu & restaurant information on Zomato

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!