Brunch at The Delaunay: where the ladies got a bit cheeky

My original Filo foodie buddy A is back in London and what better way to celebrate her visit than a cheeky brunch date at The Delaunay?

I was really bummed when A left for Manila, but ever the caring friend, she introduced me to R who was quite the foodie as well. We ended up being really good friends. In fact, R is the hot babymommy of my godson E who features regularly on my Instagram. 

We started off with deliciously cheeky cocktails. R had an Abbey (gin, oj, bitters), I had a Mary Rose (gin, elderflower, rosemary), A had a Delaunay (gin, benedictine). All cocktails were £8.75 each and were very, very, worthwhile.

Thank God we had these twiggy bread (with salted butter!) to munch on. Those drinks were lethal!

The Delaunay serves amazing viennoiserie and is home to my favourite brekky counter. I usually get my morning croissants here at least two-three times a week.

At £3.95 a piece, the almond croissant is one of the pricey ones but I reckon it's one of the best in town. The pastry is crisp and flaky and the filling has a good consistency. The croissant is generously filled but not overly sweet. Yum.

It took us a while before we decided on our meal choices. The brunch menu looked appetizing enough but the all-day menu screamed delicious as well. In the end, we had quite the sausage fest. R & A both had wieners - you get two wieners of your choice for £11.50, served with sauerkraut, potato salad and caramelised onions.

Both girls had the berner wurstel and what's not to love about it? It's a sausage stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon. It reminded me of those bacon-wrapped red dogs served in our grade school cafeteria and in food carts. This, however, had a more refined taste, packing in a nice smoky, salty, absolutely porky flavour.

R had a nurnberger which is distinctively thinner than A's thuringer. The nurnberger was herby, the thuringer was quite spicy. Overall, the wiener plates seemed like a really good tasty deal.

I ordered a kase rarebit (£4.75) which was quite spot on. I'm not one to go verbose on humble cheese on toast. This was, simply put, delicious. Pickles were a nice touch to cut through that lardy feeling you get from cheese (so naughty, but so yum).

I also ordered some beetroot cured salmon (£9.50) which tasted just average on my palate. The salmon was cured nicely but I didn't particularly like the dill crust, nor the dill creme fraiche it came with. It was a tad too cold and a bit too overpowering.

After our little wiener and fish feast, we decided it was time to move on to mimosas. The drink isn't on the menu but you can ask the lovely servers to make it for you for £13 a pop.

We all grazed on a slice of Sachertorte (£5.50) for afters. It was rich and bittersweet in all the right parts. I enjoyed this with my mimosa.

Overall, we were happy wined-and-dined ladies. Food was decent enough with a few hits and maybe a miss here or two but there's a lot to choose from and I've only heard mostly positive reviews.

As always, ambience at The Delaunay was perfect and service was excellent. Brunch has always been a really exciting meal for me and the experience of having to share it with two awesome ladies (and cheeky drinks) made it all pleasurable.

The Delaunay
55 Aldwych, London, WC2B | T: +44 (0)207 499 8558
Ave spend pp: £50