BRUNCH at ROUX AT THE LANDAU

Sunday brunch is the epitome of a happy, lazy weekend. Because I work full time and run pop up restaurants, it's often the case that I work 6+ days a week, so Sunday becomes my only day off. Therefore, what I do on and who I spend my Sunday with is even more important. So a late brunch (basically a late lunch) with my man, at one of my favourite chefs' restaurants is a pretty good way to celebrate Sunday. On the hottest day of the year so far we headed over to Roux at the Landau to sample their "Farmhouse Sunday Brunch" - a feast of epic proportions that is as delicious as it is generous. The whole restaurant is transformed, with huge buffets of colourful starters and puddings, and a guitarist playing and singing throughout the meal.

After being shown to our seats by the ever so attentive, and plentiful, staff, and being offered a choice of bubbles or Bloody Mary (both choosing the latter), we were invited to help ourselves to starters. These included beetroot "remoulade" with egg mimosa and watercress, Cornish oysters "mignonette", whisky cured salmon, pate en croute, charcuterie, Jersey Royal potato salad, green bean and smoked duck salad, black quinoa and caper salad, and octopus carpaccio. We picked our favourites from the selection and devoured plates stacked high with salads, meats and salmon. My personal favourite was the beetroot, and the French bean and smoked duck, though it was all excellent. 

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MY POP UP RESTAURANTS

It feels like it's been ages since I posted anything on here about my pop up restaurants! Last year I held regular pop ups at Angie's Little Food Shop in Chiswick, where I also did a Thanksgiving dinner with Tiki Chris, and I did takeovers at various other venues including 68 and Boston in Soho, Bart's in Chelsea, The Andaz Hotel in Liverpool Street, The Flying Boat Club on Tresco in the Isles of Scilly and Bert and May's warehouse in Hackney. On top of these I did tons of private events - birthday parties, weddings, hen dos and private dinner parties, and I did canapes and cocktails for lots of fun press events for River Island, hosted by lovelies including Pandora Sykes, Glamour mag's editor Jo Elvin and some fab fashion Instagram stars. 

As well as this, and my full time job and writing this blog, I also moved house. Having spent the last six years in West/South West London, I've moved to W9, which I'm absolutely loving. So it only seemed sensible to move my pop ups too! My pop ups will continue as they always have - an evening every four weeks or so of British seasonal produce made into a five course meal with a welcome cocktail. Next up is one of my personal favourites, rhubarb, which is the star of the show next Saturday, 4th March at a gorgeous venue in Queen's Park which I'm taking over for the evening. There's a few tickets still available so snap them up fast if you want to join us for the evening. If there's anything on the menu that you don't like or can't eat just mention in the comments when booking and I'll make an alternative for you. Groups, pairs, couples and solo diners are all welcome, as always. The full menu for the evening is:

Rhubarb Barentz (a wonderful jasmine scented gin) fizz welcome cocktail

Smoked eel and ham hock terrine with rhubarb salsa, pastry puff rolls

Duck and black pudding bon bon with rhubarb coulis, warm cauliflower and radicchio salad, chargrilled spring onions, cauliflower puree

Trio of rhubarb desserts - Individual rhubarb and pistachio cakes, rhubarb and lemon bars, rhubarb sorbet

British cheeseboard

Homemade chocolates

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KENSINGTON PLACE, NOTTING HILL

My first brunch of two last weekend was much closer to home. Emily had invited me to join her at Kensington Palace which sounded very regal so I jumped at the chance. Fast forward a few whatsapps and we'd worked out it was D&D restaurant Kensington Place, not Palace, but having checked out their menu I was still super keen to go. Kensington Place is a lovely modern brasserie style restaurant that's been running for over 25 years and is attached to a small fish market just off Notting Hill. No surprise then that they specialise in fish and seafood. They do a great brunch deal - 2 courses at the menu price, with a £15 supplement for bottomless prosecco or Bloody Marys. 

We settled in with a glass of prosecco while we tried to choose from the delicious sounding menu, which includes brunch dishes like eggs benedict; crispy squid with chilli and lime; flat iron steak, egg, chips and tomato chilli relish; and waffles with yoghurt and berries. 

With a weekend full of eating I went for the lighter option of oak smoked salmon, crushed avocado, poached egg, baby kale and charred dill and buckwheat toast. Perfectly poached eggs sat on wonderfully seasoned avocado and top quality smoked salmon. It was the perfect portion for me for brunch and all tasted so light and fresh and zingy. 

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ROTUNDA, KINGS CROSS

Two brunches in one weekend isn't something I normally do but last weekend was different. I basically ate my way through the entire weekend! My review of Saturday's brunch will be up soon, but I wanted to start with Sunday's brunch at Rotunda in Kings Cross. Rotunda is my kind of place. They really care about the provenance of the food they serve with their own farm in the Northumberland countryside supplying all the meat that's then dry aged in the restaurant's hanging room. The menu is short and sweet, nothing is over complicated, there's a great drinks list, and it's right on the canal so you can sit and watch the world go by at a slightly slower pace than it normally does in Kings Cross.

I met Michelle at the restaurant, when I finally found it - if you go, get down on to the canal by the walkway and it's easy from there! We went to check out brunch but in order to really check out their offerings I went for the brunch menu, which is served 11am - 3pm on Saturdays and Sundays, and Michelle had their roast. 

The brunch menu is excellent - there's something for everyone on there and for £26.95 you get one dish from the menu (which includes things like full English; Corneyside Farm 32 day aged steak with Clarence Court duck egg; Cornish crab with avocado, persimmon and buckwheat, and lots more choices) plus bottomless prosecco for 2 hours. I had the poached then deep fried eggs on brioche with creamed wild mushrooms and Parmesan which was so rich and indulgent but absolutely delicious! It's once in not very often kind of dish for me personally, but absolutely worth making the trip to Rotunda for again. Washed down with a glass of prosecco it was really was dreamy. 

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EAT FIRST - BRUNCH DELIVERY

There's a new-ish company in London that is literally the company of my dreams. Eat First are a food delivery company like no other. They don't go and collect your food from restaurants - they have their own kitchen, run by top professional chefs, where they make your food to order. You can order on the day you want food, or if you know you've got people coming round and want some top quality dishes to serve you can order in advance. Oh, and they also do brunch. And Bloody Marys! Delivered straight to your door exactly when you want them. Sounds pretty good?!

Eat First have recently teamed up with Noemi from Berlin Brunch to launch the brunch part of their delivery service. So if you know you're going out on a Friday and can't face cooking on the Saturday you can put your order for brunch (and booze) in during the week, and it will come straight to you when you need it. We went to The Little Yellow Door to check out Noemi's dishes, and sample some (all) of the drinks on offer too. Starting with a Bloody Mary made with clear tomato juice - using cyrofiltration (freezing the vegetable then straining it as it defrosts) - creating the most tomato-y flavoured tomato juice I've ever tried. Mix that with Our London vodka, some pickles and the horseradish sauce mix that comes with the drink in the delivery, and you've got a seriously good Bloody Mary.
 

We sampled all of the brunch items that Noemi has created for Eat First. My absolute favourite was the smoked mackerel pate with grated apple, fresh horseradish and rye bread. Other highlights included The Berliner - a platter of cheeses, cured meats and veggies, and the sweet potato and feta toasts. Beetroot hummus and avocado was brilliant, and for the sweet toothed, there was almond butter and banana with quark and chia granola.
 

 

There are other dishes available for brunch that have been created by head chef Benn Hodges, like the asparagus frittata with béchamel, and the flock and herd sausage ragout. Lunch and dinner dishes include salmon teriyaki, rare roast beef salad and spring lamb with vegetables to name just a few. And wine, beer and fresh juices and smoothies.

Eat First are revolutionising the food delivery market, offering top quality food made using the freshest ingredients, and I really like the ordering system - allowing you to plan ahead, or order off the cuff. Check out the dishes you can order from there here.

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DIRTY BONES, KENSINGTON

When an invite reads "Dirty Brunch - hangovers welcome" and is for the day after one of my pop ups, I don't have to think twice about accepting. So a couple of Sundays ago I headed into Kensington for a refuelling session courtesy of Dirty Bones and their new brunch menu. I arrived a bit late (midday on a Sunday post pop up was always going to be tricky) to be greeted with a table full of Bloody Mary ingredients and a very friendly barman who was about to show us how to make our own. This was a good start. I loved the use of pickle juice and hot sauce in the Dirty Mary, though have to say I was not sold on the crushed up sour cream pringles stuck to the rim of the glass. Unconvinced I wiped these off so I could enjoy my drink. Apparently I was missing out, but each to their own....

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THE IVY CAFE, MARYLEBONE

Boozy brunches are one of my favourite things. In fact, I've got lots of favourite things, but boozy brunches are right up there with them. I think it's the feeling of indulging - both in eating much more and much richer food than I normally would for breakfast or lunch, and drinking before midday just feels like all kinds of naughty! Emily and I went to check out the new Ivy Café in Marylebone for a morning of mimosas, buttery pastries and decadent eggs and avocado.

The Ivy Café is the newest of the Ivy group (the original is in Covent Garden and a new Ivy Garden sprung up in Chelsea earlier this year), and is somewhat smaller than its predecessors. Tucked away on Marylebone Lane, it's cosy yet still retains that grandeur associated with the group's other offerings. The walls are covered in ornate mirrors, there's stunning tapestries stitched in around the mirrors and the floors are made up of beautiful coloured tiles.

However, we were there to check out brunch, starting with mimosas, followed shortly by a Red Snapper Bloody Mary, which was utterly delicious - made with gin and green tabasco.

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BREAKFAST AT LIMA FLORAL, COVENT GARDEN

As I eat out a lot in the evenings I try and eat as healthily as possible during the day to balance it out. That means a banana for breakfast and greens or salad for lunch. For me, this works well and means I can indulge in the evenings without feeling guilty. However, an invite to Lima Floral for breakfast looked too good to turn down, so Lucy and I went to check out their new morning menu. Lima Floral is the sister restaurant to Michelin starred Lima, and is on Floral Street in Covent Garden. They've just launched a new breakfast menu taking inspiration from the Peruvian flavours of their main menu.

We started with coffee and fresh orange juice. Both were great, and exactly what was needed that early in the morning.

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