Brunch at The Midland Hotel

Peter Street, Manchester

Afternoon tea is great British tradition which is still as popular as it has ever been. But trendy cafes serving up brunch are on the rise. For those unaware, ‘brunch’ is a combination of breakfast and lunch, generally eaten at anytime in between, although why you’d choose to combine two meals to form one is something I’ll, personally, never understand.

Thus, The Midland Hotel, one of Manchester City Centre’s premier hotels, has combined these two past times to create a brand new concept: brunch in the style of afternoon tea.

How exactly does this work?

It’s a selection of miniature dishes served on a three-tiered cake stand, much like a traditional afternoon tea. There’s a mixture of savoury and sweet options. The only real difference is that all the dishes are breakfast themed.

Brunch: Afternoon Tea Style

The savoury course consisted of Spanish-style baked eggs with chorizo, spinach and Portobello mushroom, a mini Belgian waffle with streaky bacon and maple syrup and a mini open bagel with scrambled eggs and smoked salmon. All three were delicious, with the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs my particular favourite. I’ve always been sceptical of bacon and maple syrup, a staple American breakfast combination. I’m not a fan of mixing savoury and sweet in one dish, however, I admit that it works perfectly well together. It was a bit dry, though, it definitely needed more maple syrup to drizzle over the top.

Top Tier: Baked Eggs and Cinnamon French Toast

In the middle was a cheese scone served with butter containing bits of crispy pancetta. This, I’m afraid, didn’t work for me. Scones should be sweet. Whether they’re plain or made with fruit, the way to enjoy them is with jam and cream – though we perhaps shouldn’t talk about which way round. The pancetta butter was nice enough, but the cheese scone was a little claggy and I found it quite difficult to digest.

Middle Tier: Bacon and Maple Syrup Waffles and Smoked Salmon Bagels with Scrambled Eggs

For the sweet course, there was a triangle of brioche French toast with cinnamon, pancakes with clotted cream and blueberries and a granola and yoghurt pot, all washed down with a shot of kiwi and lemon smoothie. There was nothing particularly remarkable about any of the sweet options. The French toast was nice enough, but I wouldn’t have known whether it was supposed to be savoury or sweet, as there wasn’t much taste to it, definitely no hint of cinnamon. The texture was a little bit eggy and sloppy. The pancakes were fluffy but by the time we got round to eating them, they’d gone cold, so weren’t the most enjoyable, and could have done with an additional topping. The clotted cream was a little too heavy. The granola pot was delicious: crunchy, refreshing and tangy.

Lower Tier: Pancakes, Granola and a Lemon and Kiwi Smoothie Shot

This afternoon tea style brunch is £19 per person and includes a range of premium loose leaf tea from the hotel’s selection. For an additional £20 per person, you can turn into a Bottomless Brunch, with unlimited Prosecco, Mimosas, Bloody Marys and Bellinis on offer.

It was a unique experience which I’m glad I’ve tried, but overall the food was unremarkable. Although it’s a unique idea, the concept is still finding its feet.

Afternoon tea is just something that perhaps shouldn’t be tampered with.

For more information on visiting The Tea Room at The Midland Hotel, go to:

https://www.themidlandhotel.co.uk/tearoom