As any good Classics scholar will tell you, brunch was invented by the gods in order to provide solace to weary, sore-headed mortals for whom breakfast was an impossible feat. Full of the important food groups - fat, carbohydrate, alcohol - brunch can have a divinely restorative effect when done properly, but can truly ruin your weekend when it’s not. It is with great joy, therefore, that we bring you tidings of the fantastic new weekend menu at one of the capital’s favourite steak houses, the Hawksmoor.
If you follow them on Twitter, you’ll know that they’ve put a serious amount of research into their new dishes and, if their preview session yesterday was anything to go by, it has truly paid off. We started with a couple of cocktails that they’ve specially developed for the daytime: a rich, chocolatey coffee stout & champagne mix and a zingy bloody Mary that comes with unlimited refills. Both were superb, so we were soon roaming happily through the rest of their selection, of which the terrifyingly potent Zombie and the fantastically fruity punches (which are available for up to 6 people to share) were memorable highlights.
The brunch & roast lunch menu is, quite literally, a sight for sore eyes. With options ranging from a mammoth full English for two, complete with unusual additions such as grilled bone marrow, to steak and eggs or a cheesy butternut squash, there seems to be something to please everyone. We couldn’t resist their ‘HkMuffin’, an indulgent tower of sausage, cheese, fried eggs, bacon and English muffin that delivers an enjoyably greasy hit but remains consistently delicious throughout. The sausage deserves a special mention, as the Hawksmoor’s blend of pork, beef and mutton delivers the well-balanced combination of meat and herbs that you’d expect from a proper English banger. We also tried the fillet roast, which our companion somewhat tearfully described as the best he’d ever had in London. At £12/100g it doesn’t come cheap, but the meat is spectacular and their bone marrow & onion gravy is the perfect complement to their huge Yorkshires and (sadly slightly undercooked) potatoes. If you don’t copy us and pig out on tasty sides such as their creamy short rib bubble and squeak, you might have room for one of the wacky breakfast-themed puddings such as a surreally enjoyable cornflake milkshake.
Overall, it was an accomplished, remarkably trouble-free debut from a new menu which has broken the usual ‘Eggs Benedict and pastries’ mould and forged a properly British brunch. Although its prices are slightly above the London average, the portion sizes and quality make it pretty good value for money and their innovative take on the roast means they’re a serious contender for the Sunday lunch market. The Hawksmoor will be open to cure your weekend troubles from 11am next Saturday and we’re sure that, not matter what state you're in when you arrive, you’ll leave feeling divine.
The Hawksmoor, Commercial St. E1 6BJ
