Sunday Brunch is Big in Brum

Picture this: You've been out on Saturday night, you've had a few cocktails, a few wines, then the next morning you wake up and what is on your mind (aside from the dull pain of a mild hangover)? FOOD.

At that moment, all good intentions to eat moderate, healthy portions fly straight out of the window and you want as much tasty, delicious food as you can fit on your plate and, more importantly, in your soon-to-be expanded belly. Besides, it's Sunday right? You can eat what you want.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is exactly what happened to me not long ago (well, most weekends to be honest, I won't lie, but most Sunday's aren't as successful as the one I'm about to tell you about).

This particular Sunday I awoke in anticipation of the feast that was awaiting me in the 'local' Malmaison Brasserie. 'The Biggest Sunday Brunch in Town', they said. Well, OK, I thought - there are lots of places that do giant full English breakfasts, so we'll see how true this claim is.

Off I popped to meet a few lovely blogger friends (see below). Firstly I was greeted with a Bloody Mary - Praise the Lord! Sadly, I have to admit I was in dire need of this to pick me up a little as I arrived amongst lots more much fresher faces than mine was that particular morning.

Bloggers at Brunch!

Next, we chose an item from the Brunch menu - Eggs Royale in my case - if it's a good one, you can't beat it. The other options were Eggs Benedict or Mal Big Brunch Breakfast.

Eggs Royale

- So far so good.

After a little refreshment and placing our order, we were lead through to the chef's table which had on it the most scrumptious looking display of breakfast choices. 'Biggest Brunch in Town' was starting to become clear - you could load up your plate with as much or as little as you wanted from this table. We're talking unlimited hors d'oeuvres, cold meats, cheeses, smoked salmon, hot smoked salmon, pates, terrines, eggs, waffles and pancakes. 



The 'piece de resistence' for me - at least aesthetically - was the hand carved Serrano ham. Although I didn't actually try it so I couldn't judge on taste.

Hand carved Serrano Ham

So feeling full after two trips to the chef's table, followed by my Eggs Royale, I then learned that we had a third course... a dessert. Naturally my sweet tooth forced me to order an ice cream sundae. Sadly, that never got finished - a little too creamy for me by that time and I decided I needed to be able to walk out of the door, rather than be rolled out of the door in the style of Violet Beauregarde in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory when she blows up into a giant blueberry. Plus, just in case there are any Umpa Lumpas in exisence, I thought it best to avoid taking any chances on coming face to face with one since they freak me out a little in both versions of the film. The orange and green ones in the film with Gene Wilder more so than the others. But I digress...

I just about managed to walk home, where I proceeded to have a lazy Sunday afternoon on the sofa allowing my absolute feast of a brunch to go down whilst I attempted to watch the football on a fuzzy online stream. Aside from the fuzzy stream, I'd say that was a pretty successful morning/afternoon!

Of course you don't have to follow a big night out with a Sunday Brunch of such epic proportions. In fact, next time I'd be inclined to eat soup and salad the day before and then go for a long run in the morning just to make way for those extra calories I tried my hardest to resist last time.

If you fancy a treat of a Sunday morning, I'd recommend it!

More info here.