Brunch on Saturday: Roast, Borough Market review

Emma Henderson finds a brunch for the purists sitting above London's best food market

A great setting with great food but being very big an increase in floor staff would not go amiss

Brunching out...

If you ever walk through London’s best food hub – obviously Borough Market – you won’t expect to look in the direction of up.

There’s so much exciting stuff on stalls-level claiming your gaze, it would be like staring at the floor in the Sistine Chapel. From Jerusalem artichokes to huge tombs of freshly baked artisan bread to the most beautiful flowers and freshly shucked oysters on ice ready to slurp down. Not to mention the people everywhere that you’ve got to dodge.

But there is a reason to look up. Down Stoney Street, just above the Ginger Pig butchers on the right is a row of unassuming glass panels announced by a simple wooden sign that reads: Roast. It’s an all-day eatery known for its modern British cuisine. But its doorway (and lift) is pretty well-hidden between fruit and veg stalls. So unless you’re looking, and looking hard at that, you’re unlikely to see it.

At nearly £20 the lobster benedict is not cheap but it is meaty and well worth

But when you do, a Tardis-style restaurant opens up with huge glass windows which offer the best seats – perfect for watching the busy shoppers below.

When you get the menu, you’ll realise it’s all called “breakfast”. So don’t be asking for brunch this and brunch that. Although served up to 11.30am on weekends, it’s not your breakfast-and-lunch combo that stretches on into 4pm for the late-wakers with the likes of hefty towering burgers and three-times cooked hand-cut chunky chips.

No, Roast is for the purists. The “early” risers who like to mix a bow of gluten-free granola with blueberries, orange, pistachio, honey and yoghurt (albeit for an eyewatering £11) with their smoked salmon omelette (£12.50).

The ingredients and presentation are as hearty as you’d expect from a restaurant above a market

The main part of the menu is the classics with “full borough” and the nice addition of the “full Scottish” (eggs, streaky bacon, black pudding and haggis, sausages, grilled tomatoes and field mushrooms, £16.50) which my friend went for. The plate is huge and my only criticism would be there’s no hash brown. But my friend would disagree.

The baked section has the most innovative dishes, the standout being the wild boar chorizo and smoked bacon with mushrooms and rosemary dish (£16.50), which would have been my second choice.

Instead, I went for the lobster benedict – £9.50 for one muffin or £17.25 for two. I went for the latter, mainly because I saw someone else’s coming out and was sold on that. The lobster is a chunky as the muffins it sits on (which are about double the thickness of the ones we’re all used to) so you’re certainly not shortchanged from your twenty. It’s as it looks, filling and pretty excellent.

On a rare good-weather day, it’s a suntrap perfect for people-watching below, but the space is too big for the amount of staff. So you’ll continually be chasing your tail – or your waiter – for more drinks or to a clean fork if you’ve dropped yours. This undoubtedly becomes frustrating, especially if you’re after one of their excellent blinis. It’s certainly a great venue with an unusual vantage point, but to make the cost worth it, they need to invest in making for a smoother morning, both for customers and the waiting staff.

Roast, The Floral Hall, Stoney Street, London SE1 1TL; 020 3006 6111; open daily; roast-restaurant.com

The ultimate New York hash brown

Great served with grilled steak and sautéed curly kale.

Prep:10 mins
Cook:15 mins

Serves 4

300g Smooth potatoes (such as Desiree), peeled
1 large courgette
1 large onion
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 medium egg
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil

On the coarsest side of your grater, grate the potato, courgette and onion into a clean tea towel and squeeze all the excess water out of the vegetables. Place the vegetables into a large mixing bowl and combine well with the egg, chilli and thyme. Season with salt and milled pepper.

Place a large frying pan over a medium-low heat and add 1 tbsp of the olive oil. When hot, add the potato mixture, gently pressing to smooth over the top. Leave to cooking for about 7-8 minutes until golden and crisp. Now invert the potato onto a plate, so the crispy side is uppermost, return the pan to the heat. Add the last of the olive oil and when hot slide the potato back into the pan to crisp up the underside.

While this is cooking, grill some steak to your liking and steam some curly kale. Slice the steak over the potato and pop the kale to one side and serve at the table from the pan. This is also a great potato dish served with crispy bacon, roasted tomato and fried egg or sliced avocado, lime, coriander and sour cream. The choice is yours!

If you don’t have a courgette then try using, squash, beetroot, parsnip, or simply keep it as potato.

Recipe from lovepotatos.co.uk