Brunch is one of my favourite meals. It’s that wondrous middle ground where it’s acceptable to drink alcohol with your first meal of the day, gorgeously runny eggs come with everything AND you can have dessert with your breakfast. What’s not to love?
Last week I spent the weekend visiting my cousin Sophia Patricia Mai in Chelsea where she introduced me to brunch at The Ivy Chelsea Garden.
We had a late start on Saturday morning after a few too many craft beers at The White Horse in Parsons Green the night before. We headed to the restaurant for an 11am reservation and were seated right away.
The interior of The Ivy Chelsea Garden is gorgeous, with lots of natural daylight and lush greenery.
The menu is equally as lush sounding, with dishes from the classic Full English, to kippers, to the ubiquitous avocado toast. The drink selection is also impressive, with juices, smoothies, coffee – of course – and lovely loose leaf tea.
Now, normally I would be all over a Bloody Mary, however as I was feeling a tad delicate from the night before, I went for the Garden Iced Tea.
This was a gorgeous, refreshing drink that combines peach, elderflower and lemon with Ivy 1917 and afternoon tea blends, served over ice with a slice of dehydrated orange. It was exactly what I needed!
I barely needed to look at the menu before I’d decided what to have. I’d read Sophia’s review of the Lobster Benedict just the week before and knew I had to try it. All my fellow diners went for the Full English, and I was a little worried that I’d get food envy, but once our meals arrived I knew I’d made the right choice.
The Lobster Benedict was presented beautifully, with crisp toast, perfectly poached eggs, chunks of chopped lobster meat in a bisque sauce and fresh asparagus. There was some serious egg porn going on as I cut into this…
As well as being extremely pretty, the Lobster Benedict also delivered on flavour. The sweet lobster was complimented by the fresh grassiness of the asparagus and of course, the rich egg yolk. The dish also had a lightness and didn’t leave me feeling sluggish, despite eating every bite.
The Full English also looked delicious and resulted in a full house of empty plates!
Now, normally that would have been enough for me, but when our lovely server came to clear our plates, she also informed us that there was a waffle menu available for dessert. Dessert with breakfast? You read right. I had to take advantage.
The waffle menu is great fun, you pick your waffle flavour and add one of each topping (fruit, ice cream, nuts, sauce). My choice was a vanilla waffle, banana, salted caramel ice cream, caramelised pecans and salted caramel sauce.
This waffle truly was a thing of beauty. It was also gigantic. So gigantic I forced my boyfriend to share it, as it was too big to get through on my own and definitely too good to waste. The waffle was crispy, the bananas had the perfect amount of crunchy caramelised topping and the ice cream was silky and delicious.
The Ivy Chelsea Garden is a gorgeous brunch spot, and reasonably priced for this area of London.
Want to try it yourself? Book a table at The Ivy Chelsea Garden (ask for a table in The Orangery for the best seats).
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