The Riding House Café is well-known for its weekend brunch and innovative menu, as well as its location in the heart of London, beckoning locals and tourists alike.
We wanted to try different contemporary places for our girls' weekly day brunch as foreigners in order to find the best brunch restaurant in London. As a result, my German friend, Paula, recommended several places she found on the Time Out London page, but The Riding House Café was the clear winner due to its reputation for offering a diverse, innovative menu at reasonable prices per plate.
I recognised the logo as soon as I saw it, which led me to realise that I had visited its sister restaurant, The Rail House Café in Victoria, several times during my research. I've enjoyed my visits because of the attention, speed of service, and quality of the food, and it was never completely full; I never had to wait for a table.
Both are part of the House Café Company, which also operates the Loyal Tavern on Bermondsey Street in London.
The main head chef, Henry O'Mereye, created a modern European-British style of food for the Riding House Café based on our current society trends. They have been open since 2011, but were recently renovated, so all of the furniture is brand new. It is located at 43-51 Great Titchfield St, which is only a 10-minute walk from Oxford Circus Station. In all senses, it is a very central and frequently visited location.
From the outside, it didn't appear to be a typical restaurant in London, which are typically smaller than pubs. This one appeared to have a lot of space for the public. The atmosphere was one of the things that drew my attention. The majority of the furniture was made of wood, lending the space a warm, old-house feel. In contrast to the Riding House Café in Victoria, the Riding House Café in Oxford Circus was completely packed. The hostess informed us that there were no tables available, so we could eat at the bar, but there would be a 20 to 25-minute wait.
Meanwhile, we waited for about 40 minutes at the hostess' marble wood table. It gave me enough time to look around and memorise the menu. For starters, the menu is a little confusing to someone whose first language is not English, but there is a sense of innovation in the classic plates' ingredients, such as the English breakfast (£14.50), which is described with refreshing words, or the bowls section called Punch Bowls, with plates like Kentucky Bucket or Pyrenean Pot.
The majority of the plates, however, were very familiar because they were on the menu of the Rail House Café in Victoria. As I previously stated, the food was of good quality. The truffled mac & cheese with shallot rings (£8), for example, tasted natural and freshly made, but I had a bad experience with the beef burger (£12.50), which tasted like lamb.
I had no idea about some of the ingredients. The pancakes were £9.80 for the small and £10.50 for the large, which was not too bad for my budget. I asked my American friend, Barbara, about it, and my decision about what to order became clearer.
Finally, after 40 minutes, just as we were about to give up and leave, the Italian hostess who was rushing from place to place informed us that we had been assigned a seat in the bar. When she helped me sit in a heavy rocking chair, I realised she was Italian because of her accent. I told her I was overweight, and she replied, "No, you don't. This chair weighs more than anything!" Looking around while we waited for the bartender to take our order, I noticed that the majority of the patrons were young adults in their late twenties and thirties. They were mostly in groups of four, looking like a double date and reminding me of my single status.
Aside from the wait, the bartender was very friendly, courteous, and quick to serve. Paula and Mia, a friend from Bermuda, both ordered the pancakes and one Eggs Benedict. My desire for a salty plate won out over my desire for a sweet one, so I ordered the two Eggs Benedict (£12.70) with an Americano (£3), my third of the day, and an orange juice (£3.50), just like my friends. The orange juice tasted freshly made, according to the four of us. It received a perfect score of ten out of ten. We waited about 15 minutes before our food arrived. The size of the eggs Benedict was slightly smaller than expected, and they tasted no different from other ones I'd had. But, as Mia and Paula agreed at the end, the pancakes were large enough for two and tasted homemade. We arrived at the conclusion that it was a 10/10. Waiting 40 minutes was well worth it, but when I saw the bill and paid £18, my last pound of the weekend, for a brunch that didn't really satisfy my hunger, I began to doubt it.
Written for University: 22/09/2019
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