REVIEW: Brew Café
Old York Road in Wandsworth must be one of the prettiest streets in London. With cobbles, tiny terraces and an eclectic range of eateries, it has an air of a quaint provincial town.
It’s the perfect spot for the latest branch of Brew – the popular brunch café (with other locations in Clapham and Wimbledon) inspired by relaxed Antipodean shores. With almost guaranteed queues every brunch-time, Brew have decided to extend their offerings into the evening. Enter an entirely new eating experience: Brinner.
That’s right: brunch crossed with dinner. If you missed the opportunity to eat blueberry pancakes that morning, you can order with abandon well into the evening. Same goes for Brew’s excellent toasted banana bread or Turkish eggs, both of which are far too delicious to be confined to the morning hours. The more causal café ambience makes for a wonderfully low-key dinner destination, and one which is very reasonably priced.
What’s more, you don’t even have to stick to breakfast fare, as my friend and I discovered when we visited on a balmy evening mid-week. Along with the brunch menu, our smiley waitress provided us with a sheet (brown, stylish, suspiciously recycled) listing dinner dishes. From fish cakes to burgers to risotto, it’s essentially comfort food with a bit of hipster-ish inventiveness.
We went for the polenta chips and the walnut and goats cheese salad to start. The combination of creamy cheese and tart rhubarb made for flavourful mouthfuls (even if the walnuts were a tad stale) and the chewy polenta fries were an instant stodge hit. Incidentally, both my friend and I were overwhelmed by food envy on spying the adjacent table's potato and bacon croquettes. They are three times the size of usual croquettes and judging by the sounds of appreciation coming from that table, three times as tasty.
My main of rib eye steak was sadly a little overcooked, but my friend’s fishcakes were fresh and perfectly crunchy, with the poached egg and hollandaise providing a nod to the Brinner concept. There is a decent and well-priced wine selection here too, which means we could each enjoy a different glass of white with our starter and reds with our mains. This is ideal for those who know their Pinotage from their Pinot (and for those, like myself, who sometimes find a whole bottle a bit of a commitment).
The pudding selection is not huge, but is supplemented by the range of cakes and cookies which are also available during the day. We sampled the flourless chocolate cake which was decadent and delicious, along with the homemade ice-cream (of which the chocolate and pistachio flavour is certainly worth a try).
Sipping wine and spooning in chocolate cake, while having the option to order further French toast, may well be the secret to happiness. Add those brochettes to the equation and you may well reach Brinner-based ecstasy…We’re planning our return visit to find out.
www.brew-cafe.com
It’s the perfect spot for the latest branch of Brew – the popular brunch café (with other locations in Clapham and Wimbledon) inspired by relaxed Antipodean shores. With almost guaranteed queues every brunch-time, Brew have decided to extend their offerings into the evening. Enter an entirely new eating experience: Brinner.
That’s right: brunch crossed with dinner. If you missed the opportunity to eat blueberry pancakes that morning, you can order with abandon well into the evening. Same goes for Brew’s excellent toasted banana bread or Turkish eggs, both of which are far too delicious to be confined to the morning hours. The more causal café ambience makes for a wonderfully low-key dinner destination, and one which is very reasonably priced.
What’s more, you don’t even have to stick to breakfast fare, as my friend and I discovered when we visited on a balmy evening mid-week. Along with the brunch menu, our smiley waitress provided us with a sheet (brown, stylish, suspiciously recycled) listing dinner dishes. From fish cakes to burgers to risotto, it’s essentially comfort food with a bit of hipster-ish inventiveness.
We went for the polenta chips and the walnut and goats cheese salad to start. The combination of creamy cheese and tart rhubarb made for flavourful mouthfuls (even if the walnuts were a tad stale) and the chewy polenta fries were an instant stodge hit. Incidentally, both my friend and I were overwhelmed by food envy on spying the adjacent table's potato and bacon croquettes. They are three times the size of usual croquettes and judging by the sounds of appreciation coming from that table, three times as tasty.
My main of rib eye steak was sadly a little overcooked, but my friend’s fishcakes were fresh and perfectly crunchy, with the poached egg and hollandaise providing a nod to the Brinner concept. There is a decent and well-priced wine selection here too, which means we could each enjoy a different glass of white with our starter and reds with our mains. This is ideal for those who know their Pinotage from their Pinot (and for those, like myself, who sometimes find a whole bottle a bit of a commitment).
The pudding selection is not huge, but is supplemented by the range of cakes and cookies which are also available during the day. We sampled the flourless chocolate cake which was decadent and delicious, along with the homemade ice-cream (of which the chocolate and pistachio flavour is certainly worth a try).
Sipping wine and spooning in chocolate cake, while having the option to order further French toast, may well be the secret to happiness. Add those brochettes to the equation and you may well reach Brinner-based ecstasy…We’re planning our return visit to find out.
www.brew-cafe.com