Sweet treats: the Colony Grill Room’s pastries
(Picture: Cristian Barnett)Eggs, chocolate, chips, oats, bananas, salmon, caramel, avocado — there’s only one meal where this motley crew might share a table: brunch, or what might be thought of as the culinary equivalent of a day at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Whether it’s the mid-morning after the night before, a bi-monthly catch up with uni mates or a spontaneous Sunday situation with your other half, brunch is at once a deeply unifying and utterly individual meal. Everyone has a preferred coffee, dish and time for brunching. One person — the sensible one, who decided against shot-induced dancing last night — will always arrive early to sit with a book and a satisfied air whilst everyone else rolls up. Another will always phone their order in as they bowl out of the front door half-dressed and swearing, eschewing a shower in favour of heavy spritz of perfume. No matter. Brunch is for lingering, for ordering more coffee, more juice – even, eventually but often, cocktails. It’s for half-reading the papers, half-chatting, and half-dreaming of a post-prandial nap later. And there are few better places to do all of that than in these.
