Brunch on Saturday: Innovative menus and vegan pancakes
This week in Brunch on Saturday, we take a relaxing brunch near one of the capital's busiest spots and make vegan friendly pancakes at home
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Before tackling one of London’s biggest and busiest shopping streets, Oxford Street, fill up at Over Easy, the newest addition from the Breakfast Group which opened mid-September.
Serving brunch all day, the menu is innovative and steers away from traditional brunches of just poached eggs and avocado that we have become so accustomed to. Taking its inspiration from Melbourne’s café culture, the trendy hangout is set for lounging with weekend papers on the central table – next to a delicious selection of cakes – to help yourself to. The bar and back walls are adorned with the latest eatery interior trend, white shiny tiles, matched with heavy wood and a touch of brushed copper on pendant lights.
The original menu is divided into smalls, biggies, sides and lunch. A must-try is the sweetcorn doughnuts with jalapeno jelly (£3) – as strange as it might sound, they’re sweet and perfect for sharing. Helen Carey, general manager, and head chef Kendal Zaluski are most proud of their truffled pain perdu – made up of black pudding, kale and a fried egg (£8.50).
Turning traditional benedict dishes on its head is the crab benedict, with avocado crema and passion fruit hollandaise. The baked eggs are rich and smoky if you add the chorizo, and served with thin butted sliced bread. For something gloriously sweet, try the Dutch baby puffed pancakes, topped with whipped ricotta, nectarine and almond praline (£7.50). And from the lunch menu, the Kale, Cesear! salad is pretty hefty, and well dressed with an anchovy vinaigrette and plenty of crispy prosciutto – make sure you add the poached egg on top too.
The coffee is strong – with ethically sourced beans from Allpress in Dalston, and tea is loose leaf served in a glass cylindrical pots with sweet mini medicine milk bottle. But for something a little more fun, their signature cocktail is the Mr Black’s espresso martini, along with mimosas and bloody Mary’s which are given their own twists. So go with time to spare for an indulgent brunch.
Brunch for two, with coffees and cocktails comes to around £40.
Over Easy, 31 Duke Street, London W1U 1LG; Mon-Fri 8am-8pm, Sat 9am-8pm, Sun 10am-7pm; overeasylondon.com
Brunching in...
Panqueques piquantes – corn and jalapeño pancakes
We don’t really eat breakfast foods or many sweets – give us a bowl of pho for breakfast any day! But this pancake recipe is the perfect combo of savoury, sweet and spicy. It’s everything we love about cornbread, pancakes and the idea that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But feel free to eat these at any time.
Serves 4–6
150 g plain (all-purpose) flour
75 g fine polenta
2 tablespoons caster (superfine) sugar
2 teaspoons no egg powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
375 ml soy milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons melted butter, plus a few knobs, to serve
100 g frozen or fresh corn kernels
½–1 jalapeño, finely chopped (add the
whole chilli if you like it spicy), plus extra
thin slices, for garnish
olive oil spray
maple syrup, to serve
coconut bacon (if you can find it; optional)
Place the flour, polenta, sugar, no egg powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt in a large bowl, and stir well to combine. In a separate bowl or jug, combine the soy milk, lemon juice and melted butter, and give it a quick stir. Set aside for 1 minute to allow the mixture to thicken. Create a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the soy milk mixture. Whisk well until the batter is smooth.
Fold in the corn and jalapeño. If you can resist, let the pancake batter sit for at least 30 minutes before cooking.
Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and spray with olive oil. Pour in the batter to whatever size you like and cook until bubbles begin to appear on the surface. Flip and cook for a further 1 minute or until golden on the underside. Serve with maple syrup and a knob of butter and garnish with a few thin slices of fresh jalapeño. If you can get your hands on some coconut bacon, scatter it over the pancakes, just like we do at the restaurant!
This recipe is from Smith & Daughters: A Cookbook (That Happens To Be Vegan). By Shannon Martinez and Mo Wyse. Published by Hardie Grant on 3 November, £20
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