Brunch on Saturday: Boston Tea Party review and sweet potato pancake recipe

Rachel Hosie visits one of the south west's stalwarts in tea and breakfast offerings in Bristol and we make sweet potato pancakes to tuck into at home

Enter the tardis: it might seem small from the street level, but there's plenty of space inside and out

Brunching out...

Boston Tea Party is a West Country-based institution that has more recently expanded across the UK. It's popular with students hitting the books in the nearby university buildings, as well as mums refuelling on tea and cake with their children. It’s known for its quirky cosiness, friendly atmosphere, delicious food and many healthy options. With six branches across Bristol, each has a different feel. I recently visited the flagship branch on one of the city's best-known streets, beautiful (and steep) Park Street.

Appearing small from the outside, there’s a lot more inside than you’d initially think, as well as outside space with it’s tiered hidden garden. And on a sunny morning, there’s no better setting for a leisurely brunch.

As we enter, we immediately start salivating at the enticing looking cakes on the counter. But my companion and I decide to stick to the main brunch menu.

Drinks-wise, choose from fresh juices, smoothies, milkshakes, a wide array of teas and coffees, mimosas and Bloody Marys. I opted for the green smoothie (£3.35), full of spinach, cucumber, banana, chia seeds, apple juice and lime. It wasn’t particularly thick or sweet but was deliciously refreshing. My friend had a fresh cloudy pressed apple juice (£2.95), which it’s hard to go wrong with, really.

The food menu is divided up into breakfast, brunch and lighter bites, but we both decided to go all out and choose from the main brunch menu.

The Big Boss is packed with all the breakfast essentials, perfect for those who are hungover

I had the sweet corn hash (£8.50), which was actually sweetcorn fritters. Served with halloumi, poached eggs, avocado and tomato salsa, it combined all the top veggie brunch foods. I’d have preferred the avocado in chunkier pieces and there was lots of coriander, which wasn’t specified on the menu, but the egg yolks were nicely runny and, most importantly, they didn’t scrimp on the halloumi.

My friend went all out with ‘The Boss’ (£10.95) which was pleasingly huge. Bacon, sausage, hog’s pudding (a Cornish version of the better-known black pudding), mushrooms, roasted new potatoes, roasted tomatoes, baked beans, scrambled egg and two rounds of toast make this perfect for the starving (or hungover).

There were so many different foods in one dish (including lots of toast) and the roast potatoes were a nice addition to your usual fry-up, while mixing in tomatoes in the scrambled eggs was a delicious touch, and the mushrooms were thinly sliced, so not too slimy. Afterwards, we eased our digestion with a pot of chocolate loose leaf tea (£2.35); the perfect combination of black tea with a hint of rich sweetness. It was a charming and delicious way to start the day.

Boston Tea Party, 75 Park St, Bristol BS1 5PF; bostonteaparty.co.uk; 0117 929 8601; open daily

Brunching in...

Sweet potato pancakes

1 medium sweet potato, roasted
 2 eggs 
1 tbsp paprika 
 pinch salt

Scoop the roast sweet potato from the skin and add to a bowl with all the other ingredients and mix until combined.

In a large frying pan over a medium heat, fry 2 tbsp of mixture (flattened into a pancake shape) per pancake in coconut oil. Remove and add to a baking tray.

Place in the oven and bake for 5-6 minutes at 200C. Remove and serve immediately.

Recipe from pollenandgrace.com