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Nosh: Brunch at Providores, Marylebone High Street

Sunday 26 April 2009

James Street, Marylebone  

 

Ever had one of those days where the tide seemed to be with you? Well, that was yesterday for me.


There were three things on the agenda; firstly, meet a friend for brunch; second, find a blue cotton, patch pocket, unconstructed jacket for the summer; and finally, find a pair of wayfarers that suited my face. I managed all three, and in the process made some very useful discoveries.


The first of these was a little place on Marylebone High Street called The Providores. Established by two Kiwis called Peter Gordon and Michael McGrath (who moved to New Zealand as a boy), it represents all that a typical Kiwi dining experience should be; great food and service, and all for a fair price.

 
While Providores do lunches, dinner and Sunday evening roasts, in the main restaurant upstairs, they’re most famous for Saturday and Sunday Brunch in the ground floor Tapa Room. A cross between a bar, coffee shop and cafe it’s a popular meeting place. Indeed, get there too late and you’ll be joining a queue that stretches along the pavement.

Speaking for myself, I always preferred brunch to dinner, as an option for wining and dining a date. Firstly, if the brunch went well the chances are you’d spend the rest of the day in each others company, and after that night time jollies were a dead certainty. Conversely, if your date was a dud, you could say goodbye early afternoon and you hadn’t ruined your evening. I wasn’t on a date this time, merely meeting my friend Noreen for a long overdue catch-up. But I would strongly recommend Providores Tapa Room for any kind of get together.

For Kiwis brunch is almost a national pastime, and Westie and her friends frequently bemoan the difficulty of finding something similar to the offerings of home. Done right it’s a sort of informal formal dining, and there is no more pleasurable way to while away a few hours. Providores does it right, offering exceptional food coupled to a light, buzzing atmosphere –this is helped by the youngish crowd frequenting it. It’s small, and a long, raised central table can makes it fell cramped. That said it didn’t feel claustrophobic, and if you can get either one of the window seats or side tables along the walls. The atmosphere is helped by the waiting staff, who were full of smiles. All except the French waiter that is. But then you don’t get to call yourself a waiter in France unless you have the charm of a cold sore and social skills of a hermit. So that’s expected.

You can see the diverse menu on the website, but my guest and I had the French toast stuffed with Bananas and Pecans, topped with streaky bacon and vanilla syrup. It was sweet without being sickly, the bacon was flavoursome and the French toast light and moist. There was also a fine selection of coffees, of which we both had multiple cups. And don’t be put off by more conventional options like the granola and porridge. They won’t be like anything you’ve had before.

Our bill came to £35 for the two of us, including service charges. Both my friend and I left with the firm intention of returning. This is a golden find and one that everyman would do well to keep in his back pocket.

Tomorrow I’ll post on a great little independent menswear shop I found while making my way to Jermyn Street. Called T. Burrows, the website provides a teaser.

Posted by Stealth

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