Brunch

I was seeing friends for brunch on a Sunday and I suggested we meet at Foxcroft and Ginger in Soho. I had never been to this small café, but walked past it many times so I wanted to try it out. I walked through Soho and saw a huge queue outside of the Breakfast Club, a famous brunch place, and was surprised to see people queuing outside for a long time to get in there and no one really quieting outside of Foxcroft and Ginger. It just shows how over rated and hyped up some places can be.

I love the Japanese noodle restaurant Koya in Soho, located on Frith street, which serves delicious udon noodle dishes (cold, hot, in soup) and Koya recently expanded and opened Koya Bar on the same street in Soho. Koya Bar though is not just the same restaurant further down the street, it has a slightly different menu and it focuses on breakfast dishes, so you can go there early in the morning for a delicious Japanese breakfast with rice or noodles. The one thing I miss about Japan and liked it there so much was the breakfast. I am a huge fan of having noodles or rice for breakfast as I feel it gives me the right sort of carbs to get me throughout the day. If I could find these sort of dishes in London for breakfast, I would be having a Japanese breakfast every day.
 

Jackson & Rye is a US style breakfast, brunch and all day food restaurant in Soho. It looks very welcoming from the outside with large windows, and when you walk in, it has that sort of NY feel. I wanted to come here for brunch with my friend Una on a Saturday but a week before we decided to go all the brunch slots were already fully booked so we settled for breakfast at 10am. So if you want to go there for brunch, just like with the popular Riding House Café, you have to book in advance.

I was staying in Paris with my girlfriends for the weekend and on a Saturday morning we all fancied some light breakfast/ brunch in the neighbourhood area where we were staying. One of my friends suggested we go to Café Charlot, a neighbourhood French brasserie. Café Charlot is located on the corner of Rue Charlot and Rue de Bretagne in the Le Marais area in Paris. It is a very typical brasserie with people sitting outside and enjoying their morning cigarette and coffee and people sitting inside and eating a more substantial meal.  When we arrived at around 11.00 the place was full and they had problems finding us a table where to sit as there were seven of us.

My friend Katrina has been telling me about this casual brunch/ tea/ coffee restaurant for a while now and as it is conveniently located between both of our houses we decided to grab our boyfriends and go there for brunch on a Saturday morning.

We went to the Marylebone CocoMaya, located just by Edgware Road, and there are two shops there, the Cocomaya Fine Chocolatier and also the Cocomaya Artisan Baker and both places are located next to each other with seating inside both of them. We first went to the bakery part that also sells sandwiches, salads as well as patisserie, but as there was no space, we went to the Fine Chocolatier next door and sat on one of the large communal tables, sharing it with another group of 4. We could still order all the same food from the bakery, so it does not actually matter where you sit, unless you have a preference of looking at chocolate vs croissants or vice versa.