I think that brunch might be my favourite meal of the day. In fact, if I lived in a city and wasn’t spending as much money visiting places I could quite easily get into the habit of going for brunch every weekend. It’s nice being able to have a lazier morning, enjoy a big meal and then not worry about eating for the rest of the day, but still having plenty of time to do things. I also think that brunch is late enough in the day that you can follow up your meal with some cake, whereas breakfast is just a bit too early for that unless it’s a special occasion.
When we visited Manchester we were staying with a couple who also enjoy going for brunch, so it was very much on the cards and they knew all the best places to go. The place we headed to was Home Sweet Home in the Northern Quarter. We were very lucky to get a table as even the outside tables were filled up. After arriving we watched multiple parties get turned away so make sure you don’t leave it too late to get here.
I was eager to have pancakes, so was disappointed when we were informed by our waitress that there was no pancake batter left, but they could do waffles with the pancake toppings instead. This is what one of our party decided to do, but instead I opted for a breakfast waffle which came topped with scrambled egg, bacon, blueberries and maple syrup. I really enjoyed it and although it was incredibly filling it was very tasty. Which is quite something to say I’m not the biggest waffle or bacon fan… I think the blueberries definitely added something!
When our breakfast was served it turned out that pancakes had been on the menu as Becky was served the pancake she originally ordered rather than the waffle she was then expecting. However I was quite glad that I had chosen the waffle in the end. Partly because I enjoyed it so much but also because I had expected the pancakes to come as a stack (as they usually would American-style). Instead it was one very large and very thick pancake which I’m not sure I’d have liked as much, but it was apparently very enjoyable.
James went for some sort of muffin stack (pictured above) which was apparently as difficult to eat as it looks! It contained bacon, black pudding, egg, cheese, various sauces (and probably a few things I’ve forgotten) all stacked up in a breakfast muffin. Needless to say once the skewer holding it together was pulled out it didn’t stay in a stack for long!
Although we didn’t try any as we were too full from our brunch, there was a cake cabinet which had lots of cakes made up of multiple layers and covered in cream or icing. Although they looked impressive, they just looked a bit too much and I’d have felt very gluttonous to try one! Brunch was just the start of a lovely day in Manchester (the sun was even shining!) and is a great thing to do on a city break. I was intrigued to hear that bottomless brunches are becoming ‘a thing’ (it was an entirely new concept to me) where you pay a certain amount and get unlimited alcohol along with your meal. Not sure it’s quite up my street…
Where’s your favourite place to go for brunch? I’m always looking for recommendations!
