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