The Wolseley

As the last to arrive at our brunch perhaps it is fitting that I round off the reviews with the fifth perspective on the Wolseley.

I arrived rather late and very flustered (thank you London Underground 'improvement' works), and caught sight of the other girls sitting high up in a mezzanine above the main restaurant floor. The mini-mezzanine was shared with only one (or two?) other tables and was definitely the best location for getting cosy while enjoying the surroundings.

View from the mezzanine

I was absolutely starving so after quickly scanning the menu I ordered eggs royale (it had had some other name) in large and joined the others in munching through the mixed bread basket. My food arrived quickly (big thumbs up).

The meal itself was good - a generous helping of smooth, creamy smoked salmon and well-poached eggs that retained a runny yolk. My first gripe: the hollandaise sauce was a little too sharp and acrid for my liking. A further gripe is that the large was rather too large... the portion size of the small was one muffin which would not have been enough for me, but did they really need to double it in size for the large?! Ideally there should be something in-between for the intermediately greedy among us.

The large eggs royale

To accompany my main I ordered the house English breakfast tea, which came in a nice silver-plated set complete with teapot and strainer. I recall it was a good breakfast tea, but nothing sensational.

All in all, it was a good place to catch up with the girls but there are better alternatives whatever you may be looking for at similar or lower price points. If you want delicious food there are much better breakfast places (e.g. The Breakfast Club), if you want opulent surroundings there are more impressive venues (e.g. Apsleys). However, we have now ticked the Wolseley box and I look forward to our next culinary outing :).

Brunch au The Wolesley

9:55am on a Saturday approximately a month before Father Christmas is due to visit, the annual winter festivity was already in the air, and I was late.  Again.  As is typically the case with high end restaurants, our breakfast table had an invisible sand-clock measuring exactly 60mins, and three (including myself) out of five girls were already 10 minutes late. 

Hustling and bustling, chatters and clinking of glasses

Pushing through the heavy glass door and equally heavy black curtain, we are welcomed by a bright, spacious (vertically anyway) opening, hustling and bustling with fellow diners that nearly completely filled any available seats.  It gave the impression similar to that of a busy railway station; perhaps the Grand Central in middle of The Big Apple.  Looking around, to my relief, I find my friends perched and waving from a table on the balcony. 

Sand-clock now only 3/4 filled we skim through the menu.  After rather childishly giggling through the caviar section (Beluga caviar £255 per 50g), I settle on Viennoiserie mixed basket (£8.50) to share, small eggs florentine (£7.50).  If anything was "different" on the menu it was the drinks section which ranged from espresso on vanilla ice cream (Affogato, £5.75) to long espresso with mandarin napoleon and cognac, chocolate and whipped cream (The Wolesley Imperial, £7.75).  Feeling a little guilty of having alcohol so early in the morning, I order 'Mozart' (£6.75), long espresso with  hazelnut liqueur, hot chocolate and crème chantilly.

Viennoiserie mixed basket

The first to appear was the "all made on the premises" Viennoiserie mixed basket which didn't feel fresh, and the portion was small - half of the average size - but nevertheless the presentation and taste were slightly better than average.  These pastries were exactly quartered and shared amongst a rather hungry bunch.

Before long, the drinks had arrived.  Ah, yes, Mozart.  Now I see.  It must be none other than the whipped cream proudly towering on the cup shaped in the famous 18th century composer that has given its drink the name.  It therefore is a great shame for me to report that this was also the cause of the should-be-warm drink to go rather cold, and killed off the potentially delightful combination of espresso, hazelnut liqueur and chocolate...

Quartered pastries, Mozart and eggs florentine

And last but not least, the main: eggs florentine.  The small option consisted of single muffin, spinach, and an egg covered in Hollandaise sauce.  The large option?  Just add another set.  For a small breakfast eater, the small option was more than enough.  The egg yoke was perfectly runny and the creamy, flavourful Hollandaise sauce successfully pulled the three ingredients together, soaking the potentially dry muffin through and through.

Just to complete the report, another aspect that was indifferent from most other high end restaurants was the service: the waiters/waitresses were anything but enthusiastic and had "please don't bother me; I'm busy" written all over their faces.  However, on the contrary to our expectation the sand-clock seemed to have malfunctioned and we ended up enjoying the whole 2 hours of gossips and catch-ups, least of which was the news of engagement of one of our girls (congratulations N!).

All in all,  it was an above average experience; one I would most likely want to repeat.


Written by Teruleten Eg

Breakfast at The Wolseley - 23rd November 2013 Sat 9.45am

 Breakfast at The Wolseley

 

23rd November 2013 Sat 9.45am
 

http://www.thewolseley.com/

 

Food:
 

Eggs Benedict (small £7.50);

  “Viennoiserie” Mixed Basket (shared £8.50) - selection of mini croissant, pain au chocolat, danish, amandine pain sucré au beurre normand, cannelé bordelaise;

 

Drink:
 

Mozart (£6.75) - hazelnut liqueur, long espresso, hot chocolate with crème chantilly and almond flakes

 

Total price: £18.50

 
 

Having read many positive reviews of The Wolseley, my expectations were pretty high especially given that we waited 2 1/2 months for breakfast here!

 

The Wolseley is a café-restaurant situated in the posh area of Picadilly between The Ritz and Fortnum and Masons. Upon arrival at The Wolseley at 9.45am, we were guided to our seats in a secluded balcony area overlooking the entire restaurant, away from the hustle and bustle of the ground floor. There was a lovely sense of warmth and cosiness to our area despite the large open space of the restaurant.

 

The restaurant had great character and beautiful décor with the high ceiling, chandeliers and grand pillars. Being a relatively newbie to the breakfast scene in London, it was surprising to see the restaurant fully packed at this time in the morning!

 

The breakfast menu comprised of a wide range of hot and cold food from the standard porridge & yoghurt to the rather extravagant Caviar Omelette 30g (£67!).

After browsing through the menu, I decided to go for the classic Eggs benedict with the Mozart drink. The Eggs benedict (consisting of the typical English muffin, ham and hollandaise sauce) was enjoyable - the poached egg was runny and gooey and was cooked perfectly.

The Eggs Benedict

 

 

 The Mozart drink (hazelnut liqueur, long espresso, hot chocolate with crème chantilly and almond flakes) was not served hot and was somewhat disappointing. Although it looked extravagant, it tasted rather diluted and I could barely taste the coffee - £6.75 seemed overpriced.

 

The Mozart

 

 

The mixed basket of pastries (selection of mini croissant, pain au chocolat, danish, amandine pain sucré au beurre normand, cannelé bordelaise), was shared between the 5 of us. It was again enjoyable and tasted freshly baked, but does not stand out compared to other pastries that I've tried in London.

“Viennoiserie” Mixed Basket

The service was fairly slow but perhaps being in a secluded area did not help. The waiter seemed quite posh and gave no hint of a smile – maybe the flight of stairs up to our table tired him out. We asked for a group photo at which he was very reluctant.

 

Overall the ambience of the restaurant was great and it was nice catching up with the VVV ladies, but the food did not live up to my expectations. Definitely give it a go if you have not been here, even if it’s just to experience the charming, old-style atmosphere. I may come back to The Wolseley to try their lunch or dinner menu but I doubt I'll come back for breakfast anytime soon.

Rating:

Food: 3 / 5

Value: 2 ½ / 5

Ambience: 4 / 5

Service: 2 ½  / 5

Overall: 3 / 5

 

The Wolseley: Breakfast, Saturday 23rd November. By Septem

Food: Potato Rösti with Avocado, Tomato and a Hen’s Egg (£8.75) & Mixed basket (£8.50, shared)
Drink: Cappuccino (Small, £3.75)

On a cold Saturday morning, we gathered at The Wolseley for our first official Veni Vidi Vesci meeting. We've been wanting to come here for months, and made a reservation more than 2 months ago. Although it was completely booked up already, and the only time slot available was 9.45am...!!

A few of us were late, but the waiter didn't seem too annoyed that we were delaying their table turnover by 15 minutes. We had a nice table in the mezzanine overlooking the main floor, and the atmosphere was good. Even though the place felt like it was buzzing, our area was quiet and felt very private as well.  

Full at 10am!

After studying the menu, I opted for a Potato Rösti with Avocado, Tomato and a Hen’s Egg. My general rule when ordering at restaurants is that I want to eat something which I won't be able to make easily by myself. Therefore, this "Rösti" was a perfect choice- I didn't even know what it meant! I was given the option of having the egg fried or poached, and chose poached.

Turns out, it's basically a posh Swiss hash brown. (Sorry you can't see it in my photo- it's underneath all the veg!) It was cooked perfectly and tasted great, especially when the runny yolk soaked into the Rösti and made it into eggy gooey yumminess... It wasn't seasoned much, but it was probably intentional as the waiter offered to bring me ketchup. KETCHUP? Not gonna lie, I felt that ketchup has no place in a fancy French cafe, but it did taste right. And the ketchup came in a cute glass container, my reaction may have been more aversive if they brought me a Heinz bottle!

Potato Rösti with Avocado, Tomato and a Hen’s Egg (£8.75)

We also shared the mixed bread basket. (Contains: croissant, pain au chocolat, danish, amandine pain sucré au beurre normand, cannelé bordelais) It was a mission to share the minuscule pastries amongst the 5 of us, but we cut each of them into 4 and just took whatever we wanted. I don't remember most of what I ate, but I know that the cannelé was delicious, moist and not too sweet.

Mixed basket (£8.50)

The cappuccino was rather underwhelming, nothing exciting. One particular gripe is that they brought our drinks out together with the food, so my drink went cold whilst I was concentrating on my food. I don't know about you, but when I go for weekend breakfast or brunch, I like to sip my drink first whilst waiting for my food. I felt like I was robbed of that opportunity.

Cappuccino (Small, £3.75)

The service was adequate, and I really appreciated the fact that they didn't kick us out at 11.15am as stated in our reservation. They let us sit until noon, and probably even longer if we didn't have to go. Overall I had a good experience, and breakfast was not as expensive as I thought it would be. But maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I didn't have to drag my sorry self out of bed at 8am on a Saturday!I would like to return, possibly for lunch or afternoon tea, but given the fact that we had to book months in advance- I probably won't bother. My conclusion: Generally overhyped, but come if you can.

3 out of 5