Brunch At Brew

Sunday brunch seems to be one of those little luxuries in life that, in my opinion, you can’t beat. To me it always seems like a little decadent treat to go out on a Sunday morning and have a fancy breakfast made for you.

So when my mum came to stay last weekend it only seemed fitting to take her to her favourite cafe in Bristol for some Sunday brunching! We’ve made no bones about the fact that we love these guys, their coffee is ace, their snacks are scrumptious and the banter is pretty good too! We have, however, failed to actually ever review them… my bad! In order to rectify this here it is – our review of brunch at Brew!

Brew Coffee Shop – photo from their Twitter feed @Brewcc

Last Sunday Lawrence, my mum and I all walked to Brew at about 10ish to sample their tasty looking brunch after having a lovely weekend of just hanging out. My mum came to visit from sunny Reading and always loves to enjoy the independent Bristol vibe. When we arrived Brew was already pretty busy with nearly all the tables taken inside and a little queue to place orders. Now, Brew is like your regular coffee shop, they of course serve coffee (which just happens to be amazing), have a great choice of cakes and other tasty treats. They also have a menu for breakfast/brunch (and lunch) which they serve until 3pm which is prepared in there little kitchen out the back. Everything is made fresh onsite with high quality, local ingredients.

Latte and a tea while be made our minds up

The menu is lush.  It’s simple, not too fussy, yet seems to have pretty much everything tasty I could want from a brunch menu. It is, however, very important to note this is not a greasy spoon and you will find no full English, or any of the traditional breakfast bits on the menu. Instead you will find tasty delights such as the ‘Brewfast’ which contains sourdough toast served with avocado, crispy bacon, poached eggs and tomato relish. The only thing maybe missing is some sausages, but to be honest there’s so much that you don’t really miss them!

Everything else has been kept simple with offerings such as ‘things on toast’ (or bagels) and then you can add extras. I opted for mashed avocado with chill on sourdough toast with an extra side of bacon. I very nearly went for the smoked salmon on the side but I know from experience that the Brew bacon is exceptional so I’m not quite sure who I was trying to kid – clearly I was always going to opt for bacon! I can report this was the correct choice and my brunch was really ruddy tasty indeed. There was a good old spread of avocado on my toast, sprinkled with chilli topped off with two super crispy, thick rashes of bacon! It was basically faultless and I think it might be one of my new favourite things… It’s a good job I only live round the corner.

Mashed avocado with chill on sourdough toast topped off with amazing bacon!

My mum found it a hard choice but she finally went for the ‘Brewfast’ because as she put it, ‘she was on a mini holiday so why not treat herself’. She was certainly very pleased with her choice and described the tomato relish as having a ‘really nice little kick’. She said she also loved the fact that it all soaked into the bread making every mouthful scummy. Once I heard that I of course looked at her with puppy dog eyes and asked for a taste! The tomato relish really does have a nice little kick and when it soaks into the bread it is very scummy indeed.

The ‘Brewfeast’

Next up was Lawrence who opted for scrambled egg with chorizo crumb on sourdough toast, with an extra side of bacon because it really is that good he couldn’t go without. When his came out I have to say I was impressed – a decent sized portion with loads of chorizo crumb which is actually amazing big chunks of fried chorizo – not really much of a crumb! I couldn’t resist their goodness and pinched one right off Lawrence’s plate – it was awesome and totally worth it! Lawrence thoroughly enjoyed his brunch, even with my stealing of some, so it was a full house all round for brunch at Brew!

Scrambled egg with chorizo crumb on sourdough toast

Just as we were all enjoying our ace brunch the already pretty busy Brew got a whole lot busier – about 12 students put all the tables together outside and all ordered brunch too. It’s so ace to see how well these guys are doing, their reputation must be spreading and honestly if you go and it’s busy your breakfast will be worth the wait!

After we finished and nearly licked the plate clean I couldn’t leave without popping one of their gooey salted caramel brownies in my bag (I did pay for it – promise!) which I got to enjoy later that afternoon!

All in all brunch at Brew did not disappoint. The whole place has just got this lush little vibe that Matt and Joe, the owners, have totally nailed. In my opinion it’s just ace. You can tell they use high quality ingredients and that they have really thought about their menu. For me it really does make it one of the best places in Bristol for brunch, for coffee or just because it ruddy marvellous! (Also, they are number one on Trip Advisor, so it’s not just me who thinks so).

Brew can be found on Whiteladies road and see their website for more details – brewcoffeecompany.co.uk