Breads Etcetera, Clapham High Street, London

(in memory of the lovely Cyd - above - who is back off to Canada on Sunday!)

London's not-so best kept brunch secret has just been discovered by yours truly. Breads etcetera is a fabulous little breakfast place on Clapham High Street, just a stone's throw from Clapham Common. This place is so hot on a Sunday that you have to queue outside if you're not savvy enough to get there before the brunch rush. Luckily, us clever people got there just before and got the last table big enough for 6 people. Score!

So what's it all about?

Basically, as the name would suggest, bread. But that's not all - They have a menu with about fifteen different breakfasts, ranging from the basic (toast + a side dish) to the delicious (fried egg in white sourdough bread with spicy onion sausage, 2 rashers of bacon and baked beans) and everything in between. All the breakfasts have one great thing in common: DIY toast.

It might seem a bit odd but this restaurant feels a bit like a country kitchen with your own Dualit toasters on the table and big flagons of tap water. In fact, it's the best thing ever. There's a big bread bar at the back of the shop where they have 5 or 6 types of bread to choose from and all the condiments you could ever possibly want (we had lemon curd, victoria plum, rhubarb jam, peanut butter & good old butter). You chop off some bread - again as much as you want - and take it back to the table to toast as you want, ensuring that the food is hot when you want it and exactly what you want! Perfect!

As we were six, we had a varied range of breakfasts:


- 2 DIY toasts + scrambled eggs
- 1 muesli breakfast (as you can see from the pics, lots of fruit and yoghut - yum!)
- 1 french toast
- 1 super duper huge omelette with gruyere, bacon and peppers (any guesses as to who ordered that?)
- 1 soft boiled option (egg + toast)

We also had delicious smoothies and coffees that made us feel revitalised and generally like super healthy people despite the calorific content of our meal.

Would I go back? Um... YES. Bread etcetera is a great, chilled out place where you can hang out with friends, go on that morning after breakfast or just scoff to your heart's content. It's a pretty quick turnaround and they don't want you to linger that long but it's worth the trek down to South London. Two thumbs up from this blogger!

Damage: between £5.50 - 10/person

Vitals

Breads Etcetera
127 Clapham High Street, Clapham, London, SW4 7SS
Tel: 020 7720 3601

Nearest tube: Clapham Common, Clapham North