Friday, June 22, 2018

Restaurant review: THE BREAKFAST CLUB (Soho)

The film is iconic, setting the bar for talky-dramedies channelling teenage angst for years to come. So famous is it, that is has been name-dropped or riffed on in several teenage-orientated movies, including Easy A and The DUFF, and most recently, Ready Player One.

The restaurant was established a good 20 years after the film was released, but such is the goodwill and strong reputation it has forged, that The Breakfast Club is as crucial to any London-based foodie’s itinerary as the film is to a movie buff’s viewing list.

I had long been scared off eating here, however, because on any random walk past the restaurant, it had always had a massive queue outside it. Having succumbed to the marvels of Eat Tokyo and On the Bab, my favourite Japanese and Korean restaurants in London, respectively, however, I modified my outlook on queuing.

Both these restaurants don’t take reservations, yet the food has been worth the wait, so with my fingers crossed, I hoped The Breakfast Club was another example of this.

As it so happened, I needn’t have thought about it so much. Whilst the restaurant is hot property during brunch times of 12pm – 3pm, we went a little after this, so we were seated straight away. So if you have an aversion to queuing, worth bearing in mind!

Between us, we had ‘Huevos al Benny’ and Korean fried chicken pancakes. With both priced at £10.50, I considered the portions to be very reasonable: -



The Korean fried chicken pancakes, which consisted of fried chicken, pancakes, fried egg, kimchi, coriander, chilli, spring onion & maple syrup, was a joyful explosion of flavour in a dish. The kimchi in it reminded me of the delicious pickled vegetables at Gogi Bar and Grill.

The portion sizes were very filling and satisfying. The ‘Huevos al Benny’ had poached eggs, peppers, avocado, chilies & hollandaise with a choice of fried chicken or chorizo (I had chicken). The blend of hollandaise was unusual, but moreishly tangy. However, the chicken in this dish wasn’t as good as that in the Korean fried chicken dish. The gulf in quality was particularly noticeable if you sampled each plate, one after the other.

The venue itself is a little pokey. Some may find the cramped conditions charming, but I value legroom more. We visited The Breakfast Club at a relatively quiet time, so at least I could put my handbag on the seat next to me. If it had been during a busier period, however, the handbag would have had to go on the floor, which is far from ideal.

Still, you get what you pay for, and at a total of £21 for two ridiculously indulgent meals, I can’t complain too much. Go visit The Breakfast Club if you want American diner-style food that’s brimming with flavour and invention, with absolutely no frills in the service experience.

Grade: B+

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For a compendium of my restaurant and bar review, click here!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Right away I am going to do my breakfast, later
than having my breakfast coming yet again to read more news.