Top 5: Ways to Eat Brunch in London This WeekendBy Alicia Grimshaw
It’s Thursday which can only mean one thing: time to plan brunch. Happy eating, London:
What: For the first time OXO is introducing a weekend brunch menu in their Brasserie. The new menu has a more dedicated focus on British cuisine, flavours, provenance and seasonality. OXO’s star mixologist Sophie Bratt has also curated a cocktail menu to celebrate, which includes the ultimate Bloody Mary, the perfect companion to every brunch dish, and the Southbank Cocktail.
Eat: The offering includes a London take on an English breakfast made with the best ingredients from award-winning local producers; sautéed mushrooms on toast with a soft boiled egg, Severn & Wye’s smoked salmon served with potato rösti and crème fraiche; as well as corned beef hash, Eggs Royale, Eggs Florentine and Eggs Benedict.
Where: Saturdays and Sundays from 12pm-3pm every weekend, 8th floor, Oxo Tower Wharf, Bargehouse Street, South Bank, London SE1 9PH
2. For a Bottomless Menu: The Modern Pantry
What: Anna Hansen’s is the driving force behind The Modern Pantry. Since opening in 2008, the restaurant’s globally-inspired modern cuisine has earned Hansen a cookbook, an MBE and an epic reputation.The Modern Pantry Clerkenwell and Finsbury Square are now offering bottomless prosecco with their brunch menu. For £15 per person, enjoy bottomless prosecco for two hours.
Eat: The brunch menu includes dishes such as the coconut and cassava waffle served with pineapple and thyme salsa, salted peanut brittle and coconut yoghurt, and The Modern Pantry brunch favourite sugar-cured New Caledonian prawn omelette with green chilli, spring onion, coriander, smoked chilli samba and toast. Wear your best white shirt, the crowd is as cleaning look as the interiors.
Where: The Alphabeta Building, 14 Finsbury Square, London, EC2A 1AH and 47-48 St John’s Square, Clerkenwell, London, EC1V 4JJ
What: Grain Store has pioneered the use of vegetables as a hero ingredient since it opened in 2013. Although many dishes do have a meat or fish element, Grain Store’s menu gives vegetables a prominent, if not starring role. Bruno Loubet has recently launched a new weekend brunch menu at Grain Store, giving classic brunch dishes his Grain Store touch.
Eat: The menu includes Welsh rarebit muffin, a heavenly combination of baby spinach salad, piccalili, baked ham and fried egg. There’s also Asian greens with pickled radish, noodles, tofu and egg in chicken broth, and Bruno’s power breakfast – eggs benedict with truffle, broccolini, ratatouille, dukkah and avocado on toast. If you like sweet things, there’s also toasted banana loaf with vanilla ricotta and warm passion fruit sauce.
Where: Granary Square, King’s Cross, 1-3 Stable St, London N1C 4AB
4. For a Scandinavian Brunch: Curious Yellow Kafe
What: Curious Yellow Kafe on Pitfield Street is a trendy mid-week hangout for the yummy mummy and Swedish expat crowd alike. The cafe is small in size, but their weekend brunch menu certainly packs a brunch. They source their free-range eggs from the Duck Lane Farm in Bedfordshire and use the finest Lincolnshire free-range pork.
Eat: Classic brunchers can enjoy porridge with cinnamon, eggs Benedict with either spinach, ham or salmon, croissant with scrambled eggs, and bacon baps. For something different, order their Scandinavian breakfast – gravlax, ham, cheese, pate, gherkin, crudite and a bread selection. They make all their cakes onsite (oh hello, cranberry and banana loaf), and for Shrove Tuesday they’ll no doubt be baking fresh batches of their Semla buns – a traditional Scandi cake with cream and marzipan. If anything, just come for the coffee, they make killer flat whites.
Where: 77 Pitfield St, London N1 6BT
5. For a Classic Brunch: Trade
What: With it’s industrial interior, wooden worktops and low lighting, Trade oozes the East London charm. It’s a hipster haven that certainly attracts the double denim crowd, but delivers on all fronts – coffee from small-batch roasters, food made on scratch everyday and ingredients from quality ethical suppliers.
Eat: Pancakes. They bang out incredible light and fluffy buttermilk pancakes topped with various delicious sweet and savoury options. We’re talking crunchy peanut butter, chocolate chips with blueberrier or scrambled eggs with bacon. Highlights from the menu also includes; asparagus with prosciutto and eggs served on grilled sourdough and the pastrami Benedict featuring their house smoked pastrami on toasted cholla rolls with two poached eggs. For afters, order one of their homemade cakes with a coffee. That’s happiness, right there.
Where: 47 Commercial Street, Spitalfields, London E1 6BD
Photo Credit: Jeremy Freedman
