GOURMET LOVERS LAUNCH LONDON'S LATEST BRUNCH CLUB

"Breakfast is everything. The beginning, the first thing. It is the mouthful that is the commitment to a new day, a continuing life. ... It is one of the very few things that link ...everyone of us to everyone else." A.A Gill

Saturday the 17th July saw the launch of our very own underground restaurant concept the Gourmet Lovers Brunch Club. We have both been excited and inspired by the many wonderful supper clubs which have emerged across London in the last two years. So inspired in fact that we started our own.

Gourmet Lovers as a blog has been a real journey for us this year. Its been a great creative outlet and one in which we can explore more fully the bounds of our food passions. We've decided to extend it one step further and start sharing our love of food in a more literal sense - by serving it up to people.

Our first brunch club was a roaring success - we had great fun and enjoyed our day immensely. A big big thankyou to all the gourmet lovers who graced us with their presence and their appetites - you know who you are - we cannot have done it without your support.

And it wasn't just the food - getting the right setup meant numerous adventures trekking round London and scouring the internet for just the right set of things; we trapsed around Angel's Camden passage looking for vintage tea sets, we had multiple visits to our surprisingly well stocked local catering supply store, we purchased all manner of crazy kitchen items from Amazon and we scoured youtube to learn how to fold a napkin in the shape of a heart.

It couldn't have gone better really, we gathered some of our favorite foody family and friends and had a brunching feast filled with love and laughter.

But what about the food you ask?

Well we welcomed everyone with a spicy bloody mary and range of teas and coffees. Great way to start. Out of the 16 booked in to eat around 13 chose the bloody mary over a juice. So we now know to make an extra jug for next time.

Once spruced, juiced and relaxed we revealed our 'amuse bouche': a plate of brunch themed bite sized delights each paired with specific smoothie or juices to delight the senses and awaken the palate.

Our amuse bouche for our inaugural brunch club was as follows:

Nick's homemade rosemary and raisin toast with lemon iced tea

Champagne berry jelly with an apple and raspberry juice.

Quail eggs benedict with a banana and honey smoothie


There were much oohs and aahs when this was served - most of it was directed towards the heart shaped baby benedict which by all reports was a joy to eat (we would have to agree as well as we ate quite a few during the 'testing' phase the week before). We managed to capture the moment one of our uber-foodie friends was served her amuse bouche. We assume it was a look of joy and not one of sheer horror but thats certainly the kind of reaction we were aiming for.

For the main event we gave four brunch options for people to pre-select from:

Corn fritters with crispy bacon, oven dried tomatos, spinach and spicy avocado salsa

Vanilla & cinnamon French toast with bacon, banana and maple syrup

Heuvos rancheros; ranch style duck egg with spicy chorizo, tomato and bean mix and avocado salsa on a lightly toasted tortilla

Organic muesli with natural yoghurt and vanilla fruit compote
( No one ordered it this time around - next time perhaps?)

The corn fritters are one of our tried and tested brunch menu dishes which we have written about before in our own homage to brunching legend Bill Granger. We expected these to be popular. Not as popular as it turns out as the duck egg huevos rancheros - which just pipped out the fritters as the most popular dish. Speaking with some of our guests afterwards our suspicions were confirmed - mention the word "chorizo" and many people jumped on at that gravy train without even so much as examining the rest. Well all power to them - they were brindisa chorizos from Borough market after all. And there were of course a few rebel French toasters to round out the order - those with a sweet tooth who were not disappointed.

Speaking of sweet tooths after munching and brunching through their main, another round of teas, coffees were served along with Bex's signature hummingbird style velvet cupcakes. This time opting for "Blue Velvet" cupcakes which were adapted and miniaturised from a wonderful recipe posted by the talented Catty from http://www.thecattylife.com/. Baked for 18 minutes exactly with a blueberry baked inside for maximum moistness, the classic cream cheese icing had another blueberry crowning it on top. These mini cupcakes were splendiferous with many guests opting for two three or more extra helpings of these bite sized wonders.

Our youngest (and easily the cutest) Gourmet Lover on the day also gave Bex's cupcakes two thumbs up

With the sun streaming through the bay window our guests could sit back with the papers, take part in a quiz or have a go on the decks, listening to our collection of vintage vinyl. There were at least three DJs in the room so we were blessed with ample record flipping talent and good tune selection. With the brunch spilling in to an afternoon garden party it really became a weekend affair to remember.

Next Gourmet Lovers brunch club will take place Saturday August 7th in a London N16 location, to book a place please email gourmetloversblog@gmail.com We will shortly be announcing our menu and will ask you to confirm what you'd prefer from a list of four mains. Do let us know if you have any dietary requirements, i.e. dairy free, vegetarian and we'll do our very best to accommodate you.

And dont forget to join our Facebook group for the latest news and updates. We hope to meet lots of our fellow foodies out there who share our love for eating and entertaining.

With much gourmet love,

Bex & Nick

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