Le Pain Quotidien, South Bank

Not gonna be too many words on this post, mainly because the pictures speak for themselves, you probably have a fair idea of what the items ordered taste like, and also because the waiting staff who served us was rude, smug and made us feel like we didn’t deserve to be there so the whole meal kind left a stale taste in my mouth.

Enjoyable, salty, as good as it could be.

Betty Bought Some Better Butter – Love the way the butter is presented (I love geometric-shaped food)

As much I as do find the food here enjoyable, and the setting usually quite relaxing, I find the smugness of some of the waiting staff (obviously not all of them) quite insulting. Anyhow, lots of other similar restaurants in London, so I guess if I don’t like it there, there’s always somewhere else to go to!

New York Eats – Cafe Metro

OK – so there are many locations for this cafe, and I, being the bright spark that I am, didn’t take note of which one we went to, so here’s the website and you can maybe try to figure out which one it was …



Nothing like a picture of a happy guy waving behind a food counter.



So anyhow, we stopped by this cafe for a quick brunch before shopping. Not that we could do much shopping anyway as the GBP was kinda trailing behind the USD in all sort of disappointing ways at the time (and still seems to be). Since we couldn't afford shopping for clothes, we could at least try to shop for food.

I mean, you have to do what you have to do for the economy.



Helpfully enough, these 2 bleary-eyed jet-lagged tourists had not just picture menus, but ACTUAL food items on display to assist with the ever arduous task of food ordering.

(Lighting kinda sucks because this was at the counter where there wasn't much natural light, but fear not, sunshine on food is on its way.)



So, as they say, start as you mean to go on, and since we meant to go on as eggs and bacon with a generous drizzle (downpour) of maple/pancake syrup, that was what we ordered.



Because you can never get enough of a good bacon and egg picture, here it is again.



When it drizzles (syrup), it pours (lots of syrup). Keep 'em coming. No, it's not completely empty in the carton yet ... go on, come on, quickly now.



And this is what 1,500 calories looks like (plus minus a few hundred calories). No joke. I may not know the exact amount of calories on this thing, but it was roughly around that mark because they mentioned it on the menu and I went Moly Macaroni, how much?!?!

Thing is, if you order this you shouldn't really be talking calories malories, so let's not. Besides, we're on holiday, and calories don't count, or even exist, on holiday.



Each piece of French toast was fluffy like cotton candy upon clouds, and when bit into, squelched out a lovely sweet little burst of syrup. What's not to like?

Bacon? Check - yummerz
Egg? Check - always a favourite no matter how it's cooked



Resistance is futile. One bite of this amazing syrup-fluff is enough to make you want more.

Cheesecake - when you haven't had enough for brunch

So, when in New York, how could we not try the New York Cheesecake. I don't know enough about this variety of cake to know if this is the real thing or not, but it sure tasted good.



Like, if you're really full, and can't eat anymore, but yet make the effort to have some cheesecake, and it still tastes good, you know it's a good piece of cake.

So, even though I am not sure which Cafe Metro we went to, or in fact, where it was in New York, the food we had at this one satisfied all our brunch cravings that day. The food was good, the place was comfy, and most importantly, they had a window with good lighting so I could take as many pics as I wanted.

Hoxton Apprentice, 16 Hoxton Square London N1 6NT

One sunny weekend (a few weekends ago), the bf and I decided to go to Hoxton Square to bring down the arty atmosphere there a notch or two. Hoxton Square is located near Shoreditch (or possibly, in Shoreditch?) which, come on, everyone knows is an arty sort of area.

For pictures of what the place looks like, check out the link to the restaurant. I didn’t take any pictures in the excitement in finding the place for brunch, though it was a really awesome sunny day, so the pictures would have been soooo good.

Anyway, this restaurant is something different altogether; something I found out while I was on my way to the ladies. Why, you ask (no, not why I was going to the ladies, but why is it different).

Well, as taken DIRECTLY from their website:

Hoxton Apprentice is part of a group of apprentice restaurants owned by the charity, Training For Life. It is a social enterprise combining two purposes – to serve you great modern European food at affordable prices and also to give people who have rather lost their way in life a chance to get their lives back on track, learning the skills that will secure them employment in the hospitality industry.

Which made it even more awe-inspiring that the guy serving us proved to be one of the most polite, attentive, and accommodating waiters we’ve had the pleasure of being served by.

Having only wanted to sit there for a drink, the menu proved too difficult to resist (like most menus). So, we picked the cheapest item there aside from the fries, and ordered it. The Eggs Benedict (about a fiver) was so very yummy.

For that price, we got quite alot. One English muffin (or, I call it, the McDonald’s-style muffin, yes, how un-haute cuisine) halved, toasted, topped with really beautiful, wobbling, delicate little poached eggs, and creamy hollandaise sauce.

Not the best picture of what it should look like, but it sure tasted good.

For the cheapest item on the menu, these fries were one of the best we’ve had.

Most definitely would recommend this place, we really enjoyed it, and would go back there again one sunny weekend.

Google Maps to here!

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