The Brunch Club

70 Peel St, Soho, Central
Visited 12th March

Tucked away on the upper fringes of Soho is the Brunch Club; a firm favourite amongst a group of my friends. It's setup more like a café than a formal restaurant; racks of magazines, comfortable couches, candles and a small courtyard out back. I was personally rather taken by the masses of flowers littering the place. Of course like every good Hong Kong restaurant they also have a second branch; in this case Brunch and Supper Club in Causeway Bay.

The menu consists of mainly western dishes as well as the popular all day breakfast options. We decided to share a set dinner and get (at my friend's insistence) an additional serve of eggs Benedict. Of the several available choices for each course and we opted for cauliflower and bacon soup, seared tuna salad, barbecued quails and lemon and raspberry tart to finish. The soup was pretty good with plenty of bacon chunks, while the tuna was OK; coated in sesame, the rare meat was tasty, though it was let down by the basic and rather average salad of lettuce and a couple of cherry tomatoes. The quails consisted of one and half grilled plump little birds served atop wilted spinach and pan-fried new potatoes; a nice dish. The lemon tart we had for dessert was tart and tasty, though the sliver we got was pretty thin and was topped with fake 'cream in a can'; always a turnoff. The highlight of the meal was definitely the eggs Benedict; well poached soft eggs, delightful lightly toasted, super soft muffins and a rich creamy sauce. I enjoyed a couple of glasses of crisp Willow Bridge Semillon Sav Blanc and my friend a banana smoothie.

Brunch club offers a pleasant, relaxed setting and friendly service; this is a big plus in the world of Soho restaurants were artificial, fake formality rules the day. I enjoyed my meal and I thought the set dinner pretty good value at $222 for the four courses and the eggs Benedict a bargain at $68, though $38 for a banana smoothie was perhaps pushing things a bit. It's called the Brunch Club and the best thing we had were the eggs, my suggestion; go for brunch!
Visit restaurant website.