Brunch available Sat–Sun 11am–4pm
The blurb
In true Big Easy style, the brunch offers a choice between a barbecue and lobster option. The Big Pig Gig—Limitless Bar.B.Q includes North Carolina chopped pork, pit-smoked barbecue chicken and St Louis pork ribs served with slaw, pit-smoked beans, fries and fresh baked cornbread. Alternatively, guests opting for the Lobster Fest can select a whole fresh Nova Scotia lobster, lobster roll or lobster mac ‘n’ cheese, served with fries and house salad.
Alongside the unlimited boozy brunch, an a la carte brunch menu is also available. This features American-style brunch dishes such as French Toast Waffles (waffled eggy bread with bacon and maple syrup), Shrimp Po Boy (crispy fried shrimp, remoulade on a soft hoagie roll) and Mac Attack (mini skillets of lobster, brisket and plain mac ‘n’ cheese served with green salad). The weekend brunch menu is available from 11am to 4pm every Saturday and Sunday.
The crowd
Big Easy is the sort of place you bump into ex lovers, friends, and friends of friends—a King’s Road institution. And it’s for precisely this reason that I avoid it.
But I’d forgotten how great it was, the charm of its chequered tablecloths and crabshack all-American feel. The parquet floorboards and mahogany bar juxtaposed with its super laid-back vibe are exactly why it’s lasted so long in its original Chelsea setting.
This is why it’s great for a very long brunch—it steps the line between wholesome hungover breakfast joint and, two hours in, ‘let’s go to Bluebird/Beaufort/Raffles’. You could spend a whole afternoon fixing your hangover and intending to go home; but you won’t. You definitely won’t. You’ll amble down the road, happy as Larry and probably have the best night of your life. Feeling, as Bertie Wooster did after Jeeves’ Worcester sauce and raw egg secret hangover cure, that all’s right with the world.
The food
Delicious. Really delicious. Probably the only place in London to understand the proper garlic butter to lobster ratio (which, incidentally, is 50:50) and the mac ‘n’ cheese—oh the mac ‘n’ cheese… In the interests of full disclosure, there is a BBQ pork, chicken and ribs option. But we didn’t try this, because, well, fresh Maine lobster.
The drink
Bottomless prosecco with attentive refills—what’s not to love? Lager, house wine and frozen margaritas are also in the bottomless option. The margaritas were good, but sweet, and frozen drinks in winter aren’t really my bag. And the prosecco is good—not too sweet and not too dry.
In a nutshell
The best bottomless brunch option we’ve come across. The only issue could be getting a table—at the best of times Big Easy is busy, but with weekend brunches this exciting and everyone off the January wagon… Gather ye troops and book in advance.
