On Sunday the clocks went forward and it was the most beautiful spring day. Feeling incredibly proud of myself after an exhausting run round the park I felt brunch was a rightful prize. I visited Gordon Ramsay’s newest venture in St Pauls, Bread Street Kitchen when it first opened six months ago and was delighted to be returning to try the brunch menu.
The ambience of Bread Street Kitchen on a Sunday morning encourages a leisurely meal. A band play classics in one corner of the huge first floor dining room and groups of friends sit laughing or reading the weekend newspapers. The new Lazy Loaf Sunday Brunch menu, focused around the concept of a relaxed and languid meal seems to be bringing in the hungry hordes.
We had resisted eating all morning so we could indulge, a ploy I’d definitely recommend as there is so much to try. We ordered Ricotta hot cakes with berries and honeycomb butter, Bacon and egg roll, Ham hock hash with fried duck egg and BSK steak sandwich, caramelised onions and garlic mayonnaise with hand-cut chips. It was a feast of delectable dishes, cooked to perfection and presented beautifully.
The ricotta hot cakes are a little like scotch pancakes, quite thin but dense. If I’m honest I have tried better, and recently my pancake expectations have risen considerably. The flavour was nice but I would have appreciated a dollop of crème fraiche or cream to contrast with the sweetness. It is immediately obvious that BSK use the highest quality ingredients: the eggs had such vibrant orange yolks, I was mesmerised by the colour. The ham hock hash was a lovely little dish, a carefully stacked assortment of elements, contrasting perfectly in flavour and texture. My steak sandwich was divine, a sloppy sandwich with thin sliced grilled meat and the sweetest onions. The chips are triple fried and consequently contain triple the calories but are also three times as yummy with a crunchy crispy outer edge and soft fluffy potato inside. Along with our food, fresh orange juices and frothy cappuccinos arrived.
After eating, we indulged in a couple of BSK special brunch cocktails. The Lazy Loaf brunch offers a whole plethora of Bloody Mary opportunities… the DIY Bloody Mary buffet is found at the bar – here you can concoct and customise your own perfect Bloody Mary choosing from the array of ingredients. I found this idea very appealing but I’m not a big tomato juice fan so instead opted for a Marmalade Fizz made with Bombay Sapphire Gin, Marmalade, Demerara syrup and egg white, and my friend chose the Corpse Reviver #2 with Bambay Sapphire Gin, Cointreau, Lillet Blanc, Pernod and Absinthe. Both cocktails were very strong, my Marmalade Fizz was a unique twist of flavours with inventive use of the breakfast jam, sweet and sour with a frothy top from the egg. The Corpse Reviver was even more lethal with a kick from the absinthe, an eccentric mix of ingredients making a full bodied drink.
Bread Street Kitchen’s Lazy Loaf offers the ultimate Brunch experience with good food and good music, all in all a great place to spend a Sunday morning.
Visit the Bread Street Kitchen website here.