There’s nothing I love more than a good brunch. Eggs Benedict, avocado everything, toast and a good spicy Bloody Mary to cure a morning hangover? Well it’s the perfect combination.
And it’s been an interesting twist that restaurants in London (New York, cities and suburbs around the world) are now calling weekend lunch, brunch.
I get it. It’s essentially our OK way of ordering a cocktail at 11am without being labeled by your mates. Hallelujah to that.
So when the Big Easy started serving up a weekend brunch menu, I was intrigued as to what was going to be on the menu. Oh let me tell you, we found out. Big time.
On a Saturday early afternoon, we popped along to Covent Garden to venture into the Big Easy. I’ve been in once before for food, right when they first opened and we found ourselves desperate for food, we stumbled in ravenous only to find out it was their soft launch week and food was 50% off while the staff was training. Hook. Line. Sinker. Oh they got me good.
Our meal there was delicious, we dined like Kings, were given food on the house and service was ace. How would weekend brunch fair two years later?
Just as the raindrops started to fall, we hurried into the darkness that is the Big Easy. If you were expecting well-lit photos of my meal, turn around now. The lighting is subtle, sparkly and dark. It’s essentially what you think of when you envision classic American BBQ joints. Great for atmosphere, not so great for photo taking.
We were greeted warmly by the hostess who was rocking a spectacular manicure that I’d like to replicate at a later point in time, before being seated. When we arrived the restaurant was lively but not overly busy. Over the next hour and a bit, the place would become absoulte PACKED with people.
Our server explained that we had a couple of different brunching options. Go for the Unlimited Boozy Brunch? Unlimited beer, Prosecco or wine with one of two food choices. The Big Pig Gig – Limitless BBQ. Including pulled pork, ribs, chicken, beans, coleslaw and cornbread. Lobster dish, either a Lobster roll, a lobster pounder or lobster mac and cheese.
Joe picked the limitless BBQ, obviously. I wasn’t sure what I wanted, but settled on the lobster roll.
Other brunch options that aren’t in the limitless menu? If you’re looking for a more traditional brekkie, you’ve got a whole selection of options from the Bar.B.Q Frittata with BBQ pork, Roasted Peppers, Fried Potatoes with Carolina Sauce and Melted Cheese through to the French Toast Waffles with Waffled Eggy Bread with Bacon and Maple Syrup. In hindsight, I really wanted the waffles and should have ordered them. You know when you do that? I consistently pick things and then think, ah but that would have been excellent too. Next time those waffles are mine.
In the meantime, our drinks were served. Prosecco for me and beer for Joe.
Strangely, over the past few years, I’ve become very excited about barbecue. I’m not sure what happened, but one day I woke up and thought, ‘yep, let’s add BBQ and all the heat to this’. So when our food arrived, I was ready to dig in.
Warning: the dishes are pretty massive. You’d do well to finish half of it (I couldn’t).
(^^ my attempts at fixing the lighting on these photos. Spoiler alert, I’m not great at it)
So what did we think of the epic feast?
The stand out winners from the Big Pig BBQ? The chicken is by far the most superior dish. I ended up stealing some of Joe’s because it was just that good. The pulled pork a close second and the beans. Oh! And how could I forget? The cornbread – which is one of my all time favourite southern treats. I’ve never been that fussed about coleslaw, and the ribs were a bit chewy instead of a fall off the bone way. But as a non-expert in ribs, I think that’s how these in particular are meant to be served.
The lobster roll was good, rich, buttery, creamy and a bit on the heavy side. I definitely only managed to eat half of it. (I mean, I was sampling all of Joe’s food too by the way..) The Big Easy aren’t trying to let you go home feeling peckish. The fries are also a standard fav. And thank god for the introduction of the salad, a life saver because I could pretend that I ate ‘healthy’ for the day.
Overall? It’s definitely worth the value of the limitless price, if you have a few drinks – it’s practically paid for itself.
Interestingly, we only drank a glass and a bit each. While some tables that were being served were topped up fairly regularly, we nursed our drinks slowly. After all, Joe didn’t know it, but we had his big surprise birthday party later that night…!
Somehow though, Joe managed to fit in a vanilla ice cream, which he claimed was for ‘cleansing the palate’. Seriously.
With our stomachs absolutely brimming. We went home to take naps – I’m not even joking. And that’s about the perfect summary of where I’m at in life.
So what do you think? Will you be brunching at the Big Easy? (Followed by naps, obviously).
Kelly xoxo
Sophie says
Ah Kelly why have I never tried the Big Easy brunch? WHY?! Need to try it immediately!
Sophie
x