The places that serve this super complete breakfast, consumed at a time closer to lunch time, are many and scattered throughout the city.
London is an eclectic city, especially when it comes to food, and finding dishes from all over the world isn’t hard, but finding good traditional brunch spots has become more difficult.
The brunch fashion came from the United States, but it is well integrated in all major European cities.
London above all.
The Fry Up or English breakfast consists of: bacon, sausages, fried eggs, black pudding (blood sausage), baked beans (beans in a semi-sweet sauce similar to diluted ketchup), mushrooms, fried tomatoes and toasted bread.
And of course butter, loads of butter for the bread.
The variants are many: in some versions there are more vegetables, in others the eggs are scrambled. In others you can find the bubble & squeak which is a pan-cooked pie of mixed vegetables.
Traditionally it was made with leftover vegetables from a roast meal from the night before.
It usually consists of potatoes, carrots and cabbage mostly.
At brunch is common to have bagels, a donut-shaped bread, usually covered in sesame or poppy seeds.
There are countless recipes, with eggs and bacon, ham, or one of the more refined versions, accompanied by smoked salmon, fresh cheese and dill.
Pancakes of American origin are one of the great weekend breakfast classics.
More or less tall pancakes served with various condiment are topped with crispy bacon and maple syrup and I had already dedicated a blog to them.
Eggs are a great English breakfast classic whether they are scrambled, fried, hard boiled, soft boiled, poached or in an omelette.
Egg benedicts are my favourite: it is a poached egg, served on an English Muffin (a round bun) with a slice of ham or bacon and covered with Hollandaise sauce.
There are variants that see bacon replaced by smoked salmon or vegetables, usually spinach or kale.
If you don't want to go be tempted by a salty and greasy breakfast, you can order a portion of porridge.
Porridge itself would deserve a blog on its own.
It is so British and it is a preparation based on oat flakes and milk usually served with various toppings including fresh fruit, nuts or dried fruit.
Porridge is more of an everyday breakfast, but it can be served at brunch too, perhaps accompanied by something more ‘fattening’.
It is obtained by boiling ground, crushed or minced oat flakes rich in starch and flavourings to add flavour to the water or milk being used.
It is usually served warm in a bowl and can be sweet or savoury.
Among the flavorings that can be used in sweet porridges are sugar, maple syrup and honey.
In savoury porridges one can find spices, vegetables, meats or broth.
If you want to make it yourself it is very simple:
first of all you need the classic porridge oats, I put about 3 tablespoons in a bowl, but you can vary the quantity.
Then heat some water (some use milk or even tea, make it your preference) as when preparing water for tea, for example.
Then pour a couple of tablespoons of boiling water into your porridge, and sprinkle them with a little cinnamon or nutmeg (optional and depending on whether or not you have allergies to these spices), and mix everything together very well. Here too it depends on tastes, some love them watery (therefore more water), others like me, want them more compact, so it is according to taste.
Sweet porridge
Savoury Porridge
