Bottoms up
Roll over Sunday roast, a fizz-filled brunch is the way to weekend, says Charlotte Lytton
How the boozy brunch usurped Sunday lunch
Fyou, yourthe arrivalyour two-hour friendsof ancy brunch?withhigh enougha glisteningtime streetyoura and bottomlessslotto It’s their Havingbrood accommodatefor begins Sunday, mimosa.a Bugaboos,tableon queuedwiththe midmorning.big Florentineareit’s request peach-infusedFood time passed menus– to could make around.with Bellini? promisingI artisanalthe have With nexta orders hollandaiseeggs in, Just conversationpeak one, conviviality,mind. reachesAs the the Freethe food drinks? top-ups arrives.Oh, for go have on we then. got And time for from somethingthe eight-page BloodyOf course Mary we menu?have: it’s only just gone 11am. If you’re reading this curled up in bed, a buttered slice of wholemeal in hand, you’re fast becoming the minority: cosy weekend mornings à deux have been hijacked in favour of fizz-fuelled affairs with friends. Once the preserve of east London-dwelling twentysomethings more concerned with Instagramming their avocado-smeared sourdough than actually eating it, the bottomless limited bruncha people breakfastGastal recommendsaroundhuge families. national “Brunch numberof whojustthe – GoingTop Brunch,whereon pastime.worldis to wakea no theof tea Sunday,” bottomlessfree those longerbest beforeandup refillstooa placescoffeewho websitesaysjust midday.late aren’t meanslovefor Mathieu– to foris eat thatit now“A are people spendget childrena yes, definedwith and to their drinkor basicallytwo friends parents,as hours mucheat– and,to as price.”they The can bottomlessfor a set brunch’shave done timings militaryesquemore sloshedthan get on us Sunday reshaping mornings: the they’reway we socialise together. Having two hours set aside for a catch-up before the afternoon has hit means that we can enjoy ourselves, yet still have a clear head in time for tea. If anything, the bottomless brunch is making us more efficient on our days off. But is the growing social acceptability of drinking so early in the day propelling Britain into another drinking crisis? Partaking in a single glass of something sparkling with your vegan granola may not be cause for concern, but encouraging people to cram in as many top-ups as they can manage could be.
Last week, Dr Omair Ahmed, consultant psychiatrist at the Priory Wellbeing Centre in Birmingham, suggested that brunch has “become one of those meals that people think justifies alcohol before midday – it is inextricably tied to Britain’s drinking culture”.
He added that at a bottomless brunch, customers are routinely “bombarded” with drinks and free refills: champagne-and-fruit mimosas and bellinis (billed on the menu as “sure to count towards your fivea-day…”), retooled Bloody Marys (“made with chorizo-infused vodka!”) and a new sub-genre of mixology: the “breakfast cocktail”. Think gin martinis made with marmalade, and “morning Mojitos” in which the rum is muddled with grapefruit, orange, lime and mint.
The craze has also prompted new interest in classic hangover drinks of yesteryear, such as the Prairie Oyster, a spicy mix of gin, egg and ketchup, and Bullshots, a potent vodka and beef bouillon hair-of-the-dog favoured by the late Queen Mother.
“Yet there is no mention of the other, very real side of alcohol consumption for drinkers,” said Dr Ahmed.
Breakfast and lunch first came together in the 1895 essay Brunch: A
Plea by English writer Guy Beringer,