The Bruncheon Club

The Bruncheon Club — Pics @ The London Foodie
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Over the coming year, I will be visiting as many of London’s underground restaurants as I can get into, and will be posting my reviews here. I have been intrigued by this new eating concept in the London food scene, and am curious to find out where this will lead us. So watch my blog on
, more
reviews to follow.
It was a Sunday morning @ 10:30am as I woke up with the most horrendous hangover in history. I had 30mins to shower, get dressed and drive to The Bruncheon Club, the new pop up restaurant/​supper club at Maya and Gregg’s basement flat in Hackney. Having waited for nearly 2 months for my booking, I was determined not to miss it.
I got to The Bruncheon Club to find a friendly bunch of twenty-​somethings, all well educated professionals, mostly foodies and good conversationalists. On that particular sitting, a podcast was being recorded for a local Hackney newspaper by one of the guests.
We were shown to our table in their spacious garden, and soon enough, I had a very generous glass of Bloody Mary in my hands. It was very well put together by Gregg and I found that all the flavours balanced beautifully just the right amount of vodka for the quantity of tomato juice, tabasco, Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice. I could also taste the celery salt and was pleasantly surprised by the addition of horseradish which gave a real warm, lasting sensation in my throat after every sip. I love Bloody Marys and often make them at home, so I am not easily impressed. Gregg’s recipe was spot on.
We were then served a delicious berry salad containing strawberries, blackberries and blueberries with a lime and sugar syrup. The natural berry flavours were fresh and greatly intensified by the addition of the lime syrup.
The star of the day was the much anticipated Eggs Royale toasted English muffins, topped with smoked salmon, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. The Bruncheon Club’s Egg Royale is made from duck eggs supplied by Spitalfields City Farm where Maya and Gregg volunteer. The eggs were perfectly poached with the orangey yoke oozing out after every forkful. The hollandaise sauce was obviously homemade and tasted tangy, buttery and richly creamy from the duck yokes used to emulsify it. It was utterly scrumptious and I could not ask for a better hangover cure!
This was followed by coffee/​tea, warm croissants and raspberry jam.
I found Maya and Gregg a real pleasure to deal with from our initial mail correspondence through to finally waving us goodbye as we left — they were kind, friendly and very attentive. They were also very accommodating when I had a last minute request to change my sitting. They were the perfect hosts and certainly made us all feel welcome in their home. I was pleased I had finally made it to The Bruncheon Club, and will cherish this delightful experience for a long time.
Verdict Maya and Gregg are the perfect hosts and their Egg Royale and Bloody Mary are second to none. At a suggested donation of £12 per person, Gregg and Maya are obviously not motivated by profit. I loved my brunch, the delightful company, and felt privileged to have been welcomed in their beautiful home. Highly recommended.