I love taking leisure breakfasts on the weekends. While there are sooo many brunch spots all across London on my forever-expanding list, I must say I generally feel quite lazy during weekend mornings to get out of my neighbourhood. Especially when I really want to beat the crowds, I ought to be quite early – but aren’t weekends supposed to be all relaxing?! In terms of neighbourhood spots, both The Allis and The Corner House made it to my list of regular neighbourhood spots. But in an attempt to discover more places, I decided to check out Proud Mary’s, a brunch spot roughly a 5-minute walk away from my flat.
Judging from its description, Proud Mary’s should be an easy win. It is an Aussie-style brunch spot and also pride themselves in serving quality coffee. I went around 10-ish on a Sunday morning and the place was buzzing. All the tables were filled and I was lucky to have a table right after the previous customers left.
Interior-wise, the place has a very laid back atmosphere with a subtle touch of rustic charm. It’s really got this nice neighbourhood coffee shop vibe where locals mingle.
Flat White
Let’s start with the good stuff, i.e. the coffee.
First and foremost, it’s always lovely to find a pretty latte art on your cup of coffee. The coffee itself was nice and strong. It was generally smooth to taste, with a subtle bitter touch. All in all, as I said, good stuff.
Eggs Florentine
Whilst the coffee was a ‘yes’, unfortunately, I can only say the Eggs Florentine were rather disappointing.
I was rather taken aback seeing a plateful of raw spinach. Later I found out youโd have to tell the waiter if youโd prefer having the spinach wilted. I donโt know about you but I felt that was rather unusual in my opinion.
My issue with this is why isnโt the option of raw/cooked being mentioned anywhere on the menu or by staff when ordering. Given the norm is to have cooked spinach, as a customer, I can appreciate if serving raw is the restaurantโs intended style but the staff at least should be able to disclose the options.
So I didnโt already have the most appealing start. Then as I took my first bite, a wave of dread rushed in me. All I could taste was a very heavy and overly rich hollandaise sauce. Instead of a velvety texture thatโs supposed to compliment the dish, it just tasted like a thick slab of sauce that I wanted to get rid of. There is a really sharp vinegar taste as well which was overpowering instead of adding an acidic tang.
On a positive note though, the poached eggs were perfectly made. Itโs always a delight to see the yolk gushing out upon slicing. In addition, I also thought itโs kind of cool to use bagels instead of the traditional English muffins.
In summary…
…would I return to Proud Mary’s as a regular brunch spot? Whilst the coffee was good, the Eggs Florentine kind of ruined it for me. Nonetheless, the pastries on display did look pretty decent. So I might stick with a simple takeaway coffee/breakfast if I were to revisit again rather than a sit-down brunch.
RATING:
Halal Status
Proud Mary’s does not offer halal meats. Vegetarian options are available.ย
Tel: 020 8834 4884
Instagram: @proudmaryslondon
Nearest station: Shepherds Bush Market
Hi there,
This is Andrew from Proud Marys Cafe. I just read your blog and just wanted to say โthank youโ for the lovely review and apologies for the food part.
My boss took this cafe over from another person in late 2018 and we have been trying our best to bring it back to LIFE. We did change the menu over to โfresh spinachโ pre COVID to make it clearer and always do wilted now if a customer prefers ๐
Please come back for a brunch on me next time .
Thank you
Hi Andrew,
Thanks for reading & leaving a comment. Do you want to pop me an email to [email protected] to discuss?
Best,
Eutonne