In a continuing series we look at London’s best brunch places. This week the Ozone Coffee.
Whoever invented brunch was a genius. Take two perfectly ordinary, unadventurous meals, breakfast and lunch, add a few choice ingredients – a helping of avocado or salmon perhaps, a dollop of cream cheese, some top notch coffee and ta-dah – food heaven.
The genius of brunch is that it’s a social occasion that just so happens to be a meal. Brunch is the perfect opportunity for a catch up, as well as the best way to get the weekend off to a flying start. Where breakfast and lunch seem to come armed with a timer, you get the impression that brunch doesn’t even own a watch. Indeed, if brunch were a person, it would probably be the type that slept until the early afternoon.
The hours of brunch are hazy. Especially at weekends. Weekend brunch begins at ‘whenever I can be assed to get out of bed’ time and ends at “if we don’t leave now, I think they’re going to kick us out” o’clock.
Not surprisingly, London has developed a bit of a thing for brunch, whether it be of the boozy variety – the type that is invariably followed by a long afternoon nap – or the more wholesome type – which normally involves rifling through a list of allergens.
However, whatever your preference, these days, every restaurant, café and tea room worth its salt is offers brunch options, so working out what’s good and what’s not is getting harder and harder. Maybe that’s why God invented Ozone Coffee in London’s trendy Shoreditch.
The Ozone website would have you believe that they are all about the coffee but having visited the Leonard Street branch on several occasions, I can assure you that the food is pretty damn fine too.
The Pancake with crushed apple, smoked butterscotch, earl grey labneh & salted hazelnut is to die for and the portion is generous enough to make you feel like you want to skip dessert. For real decadence however, why not order the pancake with bacon, I know it sounds wrong, but it really works.
The field mushrooms on sourdough is well worth having too. The bread is absolutely gorgeous and the mushrooms are fleshy and flavoursome.
It would be cheating however not to mention the java. If your regular coffee comes doused in chocolate sauce, waffle bits or sprinkles then you really should treat yourself to a trip to the Ozone. This outfit have proper grownup coffees and best of all, the café has its own roastery downstairs if you feel like a bit of coffee theatre while you eat.
The café on Leonard Street is buzzy and fun but it does get busy at the weekends so arrive early if you can or expect to wait a bit for a table. Don’t be too put out though, the Ozone is certainly worth the wait.ses at 9pm)
Sat–Sun 8.30am-5.30pm (kitchen closes at 4.30pm)
For up to date menus, hours of opening and prices, please refer to the Ozone website: http://ozonecoffee.co.uk/?v=79cba1185463
For more information on London restaurants, click here: http://citycountdown.com/index.php/category/london-food-drink/
