Meeting up with friends is often hard when everyone works Monday to Friday, with busy lives on top. Since I haven’t been working recently, I thought I would take some time to catch up with friends. Shikha from Why Waste Annual Leave had just got back from a few travels, so we were in need of a catch up.
Shikha and I last met up over brunch with the girls at Dalloway Terrace, so to keep traditions alive, we brunched. On a Monday. It happened. We just didn’t know where to go on a Monday, until Bronte came up in conversation. A beautiful spot in Charing Cross, with pastel coloured interiors and a lovely upscale diner feel crossed with a Hollywood actors dress room.
The coffee here is served strong, just how you would expect it to be on a Monday. How does the saying go… ah, yes…”May your coffee be strong and your Mondays be short.” but in this case, I never wanted my Monday to end. As I sipped on my caffeine fix, I felt instantly overwhelmed with great delight, that I had managed to get over Monday blues in style.
We woke ourself with our coffees and catch up, before dived in and got brunch serious.
There was lots of talk about Sheikh’s travels to Santorini and Croatia. It made me wish I was sipping ice cold cocktails on the side of a sandy beach or watching the sunset over the paper white buildings, whilst eating greek food. So dreamy! However, in reality we were sitting in having a bite to eat on a cloudy Monday in London, but that doesn’t stop us. We already the most appropriate thing for the time of day, that resembled a cocktail… brightly coloured cold mocktails and smoothies.
Shikha had a ‘Chilli Melon’ which was Watermelon, Lime, Chilli, Agave syrup, Habanero shrub, Cucumber giving it a lovely orange colour. I went for a ‘Merry Berry’ smoothie which was made up of Blackberries, Raspberries, Strawberries, Pineapple & Vanilla. I have to say, my smoothie was extremely delicious. I probably would go back to Bronte just for that smoothie!
I wanted something light yet filling. I spotted the ‘Roasted Rare Beef Salad’ on the menu but wasn’t really feeling the beef. The lovely waiter was kind enough to change it to chargrilled chicken for me, whilst keeping the rest of the salad ingredients the same.
It consisted of papaya, cucumber, mint, coriander, green chilli, pickled carrots & ground wild rice. A very refreshing, zesty, crunchy and well flavoured dish. The chilli added a nice kick to it and the papaya made it feel super exotic. If the smoothies and mocktails didn’t already make me want to be on holiday, this did. This dish would have been so ideal somewhere really hot. The portions were massive too, I tried so hard to finish it but I just got defeated by it.
Shikha ordered a series of small plates. Miso Aubergine served with crispy buckwheat, pomegranate and feta cheese, salt baked celeriac with truffle sour cream, pomegranate, giant couscous & crispy shallots and chorizo & prawn scotch egg with aleppo chilli sambal. The aubergine looks lovely and soft, as if it were grilled with a touch of oil. The baked celeriac looked a bit like boiled potato at first, looked quite delicious. As Shikha cut through the scotch egg, the egg had a runny yolk that just poured out. 😍 I liked the idea of the small plates though, especially if you’re the sort of person that likes to try many different things.
We couldn’t finish without something sweet, so we ordered some slow poached strawberries to share. Soft strawberries in a lovely sugary, sweet syrup with earl grey ice cream & lavender shortbread. So, so good!
I think I well and truly fell in love with Bronte. From the food, to the amazing pastel decor, to the service to the location. It’s literally perfect. (Oh… and they let us stay for 4 hours without pushing us on. We sure like to talk a lot…)
Star Rating for Bronte Restaurant:
Until next time…
