mid-last week katy sent a link through to the squad chat that just about set my phone on fire: a two-for-one brunch event was happening over on the emerald street website, running from early last week through until the end of february. that's a whole month of two-for-the-price-of-one brunches. that's basically half price brunch. that's a fucking deal, you guys.
there's a whole host of brunch spots signed up to the promotion, and sadly for my purse, the majority of them are on my 'must go to' list. but the one that stuck out the most and got me the most excited was the fable, at holborn viaduct. ever since i was there late last year, i have been dreaming about going back and eating some real-life food there, so it took me zero seconds to click through and download my voucher, then book for brunch this weekend - all before i'd even found someone to go with. it's a good thing my pals all fucking love brunch as much as i do, eh.
so despite the awful weather, her awful hangover, and my awful journey from the south (which actually turned out to not be so bad, thanks thameslink!), i met katy in holborn on sunday for a quick spot of brunch. the voucher was valid to be used across the entiiiiiire brunch menu, which meant we weren't boxed into to eggs and pancakes and coffee (oh my!), and instead our options extended to mains like burgers (yum), steaks (oh god), and - the clincher: sunday roast.
i hadn't had a roast since christmas, so that was a no brainer. well-cooked chicken and some roasties is all i could think about, so i was mightily looking forward to that. katy agreed, and so we ordered two. when we'd arrived we were one table of a handful eating, a few more had been seated since us, but with the amount of staff working (a fricken lot) the floor and in the kitchen it meant our food came out suuuper quickly - and we were eating within 20 minutes of arriving. that's my kinda deal!
photo credit : little miss katy
and the meals were mahoosive. like, the menu said a half a chicken, but you never really believe that, right? especially not when the meal is only £12.95, but these plates were giant. there was like 60% chicken, 30% yorkshire pud and 10% vegetables. actually more like 5% veg and 5% condiments - bread sauce (according to katy, i didn't try it) and gravy, natch. oh, and pigs in blankets! there was so much food, and there was no way i was able to eat it all; thankfully i was finding it hard to get a lot of the meat off the bone (where's your mum when you need her?), so i didn't feel too bad when the wait staff took a lot of chicken still on the bone away when i was done.
we were seated, had ordered, were served and had finished eating in about an hour. which was incredible, really, considering the sheer amount of food we were served. the restaurant was buzzing with customers by the time we left, and part of the reason i was so keen to go there was because i love how busy the restaurant seems on a weekend in comparison to the empty city streets (holborn is like, in the banking district so on a weekend there is nooooone around) outside.
the food was delicious and the staff were plentiful (unnecessarily so), and considering once the voucher was applied the two meals plus three drinks and service charge (so many staff working our table, we felt it was important) still didn't hit £25, well, i'm pretty certain that was a successful sunday brunch! there are a ton of other restaurants i'm hoping to try during the promotion, and have another booked in at heddon street kitchen for galentine's day in a few weeks too. the vouchers are still available to download from emerald street, so if you're a londoner who loves brunch, get clicking now!
