The Modern Pantry

Brunch at The Modern Pantry


Compared to some of the other great cities of the world, when it comes to brunch London is still catching up. Fortunately, the places that do do brunch, do it well and The Modern Pantry is no exception.


The food at the Modern Pantry is fresh and very well prepared. When your food arrives, you can see and taste that each item on the plate has been lovingly and individually prepared and despite this, the service was fast - perfect when you're terribly hungover and can't wait to eat (ehem).  

Vigin Mary and le Menu

Admittedly, ever since the first time I visited the Modern Pantry, I've stayed loyal to the first dish I tried, i.e. I can't tell you about anything else on the menu except the eggs with smoked streaky bacon, slow-roasted tomatoes, buttered mushrooms and toast. I've varied the eggs on occasion and sometimes added some...Vegemite (sorry Marmite, they just don't serve you here) to my crispy buttered toast. The thing is, when you've found something you can't fault, why choose anything else and risk not enjoying it quite so much? Each item is packed full of flavour.

Two poached eggs with smoked streaky bacon, slow-roasted tomatoes, buttered mushrooms and toast

It doesn't matter how you have the eggs cooked, the dish never leaves you feeling dirty and greasy compared to say a full English at a greasy spoon.

As above but with fried eggs. Wait, is that...is that Vegemite in the background!? Traitor.

One thing to mention on hot beverages - the hot chocolate was disappointing, too much cocoa powder and not enough milk so it was extremely bitter. The waitress defended it by saying the bitterness was due to the fact that "the chocolate used is of such high quality". Errrr!!!?? Insulting! I've been making hot chocolate with cocoa powder for donkey's years and I've also experimented with quantities so I KNOW when it's not been prepared correctly. Anyway, she agreed to substitute it for tea, which was also pretty sub-optimal but it could've been worse I suppose. Could've been continental Lipton. 


The Modern Pantry, 48 St. John's Square, London, EC1V 4JJ, Tel: 020 7553 9210