Archive for the ‘brunch’ tag
[PARIS] La Compagnie de Bretagne
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La Compagnie de Bretagne
Add: 9 rue de l’Ecole de Médicine, 75006 Paris
Tel: 01 43 29 39 00
Hours: 12pm~11pm (Sunday brunch 11am~3pm)
Website: www.compagnie-de-bretagne.com
Price: [brunch] €34~45 [a la carte] €20~30
Visited on: Nov 2012
When meeting a friend at La Compagnie de Bretagne, a chic (and huge) crêperie in Saint-Germain-des-Pres, all I wanted was a simple combo of galette and apple cider. Little did I know that on Sundays from 11am to 3pm, this place only offers an abundant €34 weekend brunch consisting of a hot and a cold drink, an appetizer buffet, a viennoiserie/dessert buffet, a made-to-order hot dish, and a made-to-order dessert crêpe. A total overkill for me!
Appetizer buffet: cold cuts, smoked salmon, cauliflower salad, cheeses, scrambled eggs, sausages…
Oh, and oysters!
[PARIS] Eggs & Co.
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Eggs & Co.
Add: 11 Rue Bernard Palissy 75006 Paris
Tel: 01 45 44 02 52
Hours: 10am~6pm (Thu 11am~11pm)
Website: www.eggsandco.fr
Price: [a la carte] €9~23 [brunch] €22~31
Visited on: Nov 2012
We all have our own particularities when it comes to how eggs should be cooked, and Eggs & Co., a small cafe in St. Germain-des-Pres, has got them all: en cocotte (baked), au plat (sunny side up), brouillés (scrambled), à la coque (soft-boiled), omelette, Benedict, Norwegian, Florentine, in a burger, served with red wine sauce…
The cafe first floor is tiny with only a few bar seats, but the second floor is more spacious with two rooms, one of which has a cozy loft-like atmosphere. VERY popular on weekends, reservation highly recommended.
The decor is consistently egg-y.
All brunch sets (€22~31) come with fresh orange juice, coffee/tea, eggs of choice served with oven-baked potatoes and mixed greens, pancake, and fruit salad. My friend chose eggs Benedict, poached eggs and bacon drizzled with Hollandaise sauce, served over grilled muffins. Not bad, not bad.
[PARIS] Au Comptoir de Brice
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Au Comptoir de Brice
Add: 33 Rue du Château d’Eau 75010 Paris
Tel: 07 59 84 63 30
Hours: [Tue-Sat] 9am~8pm [Sun] 9am~2pm
Website: www.aucomptoirdebrice.com
Price: [brunch] €25 [entrée] €9~12 [plat] €14~25 [desserts] €5~6
Visited on: Oct 2012
Brice Morvent, a Top Chef France 2010 semi-finalist, runs this cute little corner cafe tucked away in the St. Martin Market. He is especially known for his homemade burgers, but I found the brunch set to be a much better choice, especially on a late Sunday morning.
Love the warm and cozy wooden decor.
[PARIS] Restaurant Sesame
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Restaurant Sesame
Add: 51 Quai de Valmy 75010 Paris
Tel: 01 42 49 03 21
Hours: [Tue-Fri] 9am~12am [Sat] 10am~12pm [Sun] 10am~7pm [Mon] 10am~4pm
Website: www.au-sesame.com
Price: [a la carte] €4~16[brunch] €22
Visited on: 2012/09
Restaurant Sesame, a cute little cafe in the lively Canal St. Martin neighborhood, is a hotspot for Sunday brunches. Smoothies, eggs, bagels, and toasts with homemade jams – all organic!
[SHANGHAI] Brunch at Käfer by The Binjiang One
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Käfer by The Binjiang One
Add: Fucheng Lu, Shi Bu Jie, You Long Garden / 浦东富城路拾步街由隆花园, 近滨江大道
Tel: 5877 7500
Hours: 11:30am-11pm
Price: [brunch] 358 RMB [lunch] 148 RMB [dinner] 400+RMB
Visited on: 2012-06
Please note that this is an arranged tasting.
As the name suggests, Käfer by The Binjiang One is a collaboration between two entities, namely the BLN Restaurants & Caterings (most known for their Paulaner restaurants) and Germany dining brand Käfer. It’s located in a corner of Lujiazui that I’ve never ventured to before, and upon entering the airy restaurant, I was surprised to find it abuzz with a mix of local and foreign diners. The brunch deal here, 358 RMB for a free flow of wine and other drinks, an appetizer and dessert buffet, in addition to an all-you-can-eat a la carte menu, has apparently attracted quite a following.
The theme is contemporary European dining, though there are some Asian dishes on the a la carte menu as well as on the buffet table, presumably to cater to different types of guests. Green bean soup for dessert? It’s got to be a request from Chinese patrons.
[SYDNEY] La Renaissance
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La Renaissance Café Pâtisserie
Add: 47 Argyle Street The Rocks Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: +61 2 9241 4878
Hours: 8am~6pm
Website: www.larenaissance.com.au
Price: 15~25 AUD/person
Visited on: 2012-04
La Renaissance wasn’t really on my list until someone casually mentioned that it’s got Sydney’s best macarons. Uh, did you just say “best macarons”?
So there I was, the very next morning, lining up behind the crowd for a taste of La Renaissance’s pastries. This small cafe has a cozy courtyard in the back, which would be lovely on any sunny day.
Ordering at La Renaissance is one of those hectic experience where you try to eye everything on display before deciding which of these good-looking things you want on your plate, and you don’t want to take too long either because the customer next to you is growing impatient.
[SYDNEY] Bourke Street Bakery
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Bourke Street Bakery
Add: 633 Bourke Street Surry Hills
Tel: 9699 1011
Hours: [Mon-Fri] 7am~6pm [Sat-Sun] 8am~5pm
Website: www.bourkestreetbakery.com.au
Price: [food] 3~10 AUD [drinks] 3~4.50 AUD
Visited on: 2012-04
Before my trip to Sydney, I asked an Australian friend for some dining tips, and here’s her note on Bourke Street Bakery: “Drink their coffee, eat a pork and fennel sausage roll (yes even as a vegetarian I still advocate this), drink their Belgian chocolate milk (it’s in the fridge), eat a dark chocolate and cherry chunk cookie and buy all of their pastries!”
And so that’s what I did.
As you can see from the pictures above, Bourke Street Bakery is quite the hot spot. This tiny corner shop is stuffed with beautiful artisan breads, pastries and gourmet goods that keep its patrons hooked. There was a long queue of people when we arrived at 11am on a Saturday, and, seeing that all the seats are occupied, I was assigned the important task of snatching a table while my friends joined the queue for food.
The line moved rather quickly and we had our food in hands for about 5~10 minutes before a table cleared up. It was slightly awkward to stand there, plates in hand, and stare at other diners to figure out who will move out of their seats first. If you’d rather not wait for a table, you can choose to take everything to a nearby park for a picnic too.
[SHANGHAI] The Waldorf Champagne Brunch
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Waldorf Astoria
Address: Waldorf Astoria, Heritage Building, 2 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu, near Guangdong Lu
. 上海外滩华尔道夫酒店 中山东一路2号, 近广东路
Tel: 6322 9988
Hours: 11:00am~3:00pm
Website: www.waldorfastoria.com
Price: 688 RMB + 15% or 888 RMB + 15% (includes free-flow of Veuve Clicquot Champagne and wine)
Visited on: 2012-05
Please note that this is an arranged tasting.
The recently upgraded Waldorf Champagne Brunch is just about the most lavish (read: expensive) way you can spend a Sunday morning in Shanghai. As with the previous “Waldrof Brunch Tour”, brunchers commence at the Long Bar with flutes of Veuve Cliquot champagne and freshly shucked oysters, then waltz to the Grand Brasserie for its grand buffet and a la carte dishes from the Chef’s Specialties menu. Oh yes, come hungry, and don’t expect to leave the place until a good 3 hours later.
A few words on Long Bar. The space used to be the gathering place for la crème de la crème of Shanghai back in 1920s, and, interestingly, is also where the first KFC in Shanghai was located. The current decor is all dark leather and dark wood, with an impressive 34-meter-long bar that was reconstructed exactly according to old photographs. Take the time to soak up up the unique charms of this legendary space, but resist the temptation to overdose on oysters – you will need that stomach space for a latter part of the brunch.
[MELBOURNE] The Hardware Sociéte
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The Hardware Sociéte
Add: 120 Hardware Street, Melbourne
Tel: (03) 9078 5992
Hours: [Mon-Fri] 7:30am~3pm [Sat] 8:30am~2pm
Price: 20~25 AUD/person
Visited on: 2012-04
Ok, I can now say that I’ve eaten at the most popular brunch spot in Melbourne. When we arrived at Hardware Sociéte at 8:46am on a Saturday morning, only a mere 16 minutes after it opened, it was already full. At 8:46 in the morning, on a Saturday! What’s the charm?
[MELBOURNE] Hobba Coffee & Kitchen
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Hobba Coffee & Kitchen
Add: 428 Malvern Road, Prahran
Tel: (03) 9510 8336
Hours: [Mon-Sat] 7am~5pm [Sun] 8am~5pm
Webiste: hobba.com.au/Hobba
Price: 15~25 AUD/meal
Visited on: 2012-04
Through a string of serendipitous events, we arrived at the doorsteps of Hobba Coffee & Kitchen on a sunny late morning. We took a quick glance at this cafe, housed in a huge converted garage with an open-air design, lofty ceilings, bare bricks, and exposed wooden beams, and decided that this is a place to stay. As we eased ourselves into one of the wooden booths, I took note of its laid-back atmosphere, brought alive by friendly waitstaff and Melbourne’s early Autumn breeze. What’s on the brunch menu? Simple, comforting dishes made with fresh, local produce from “the most accomplished people in the industry”. Perfect, just what we were in the mood for.
First, flat white (3.80 AUD), latte (3.80 AUD), espresso (3.50 AUD), so smooth and aromatic, I was starting to think that it’s impossible to get a bad cup of coffee in Melbourne.
Here’s a friend’s fried egg, bubble & squeak, farmhouse slab bacon, roast tomato, brown butter hollandaise (16.50 AUD). What is “bubble & squeak”, you may ask? This traditional English dish, named after the sound made whilst cooking, is a mix of mashed potatoes and chopped cabbages (though carrots, peas, brussels sprouts or other vegetables can also be added), shallow-fried in a pan until browned at the sides. It’s that yellow thing is the second picture below, and it’s delicious. I was also very in love with the brown butter hollandaise, its creamy texture and nutty aroma made it a heavenly match with the crusty bread.
