Giraffe restaurant at Southbank

Three months ago, my friend Khrystyne and I had brunch at Giraffe on London’s Southbank. She was a billion weeks pregnant and massively swollen, which I thought was incredibly cute but Khrystyne wasn’t really a fan.

Brunch was brilliant as usual as we sat in the warm(ish) London sunshine, drinking our hippy hippy shakes. When I got home after lunch – and you can totally picture this I’m sure – I launched for my netbook, wiggled my mouse and impatiently waited for the screen to wake up, so that I could tweet (yes, I really am that sad, whether you believe it or not is up to you).

Anyway, I tweeted something about a fabulous brunch and so glad my very pregnant friend didn’t pop on me. Giraffe promptly tweeted back and said when she did eventually pop, why don’t we bring bub down for another lovely brunch?

And so we did.

Two months into her little life, we showed little lady Emmerson just how ladies do brunch. Khrystyne, bub and I met down at Giraffe on Saturday, a beautifully sunny (albeit freezing) morning despite the shocking rain on Friday.

stacked blueberry & banana pancakes; full brunch plate (bacon, sausage, eggs, baked beans, wedges & toast); huevos rancheros mexican style breakfast (eggs, chorizo, black beans, cheese, adobe sauce, avocado & tomato salsa); smoked salmon & scrambled eggs on bagel

Somewhere in between gushing over little Emmerson and talking about prams, weight loss, expressing, colic, new boots, Bugaboos, dimples and Khrystyne’s upcoming meal at El Bulli (and her first trip since child birth, how very exciting), we managed to order some brunch.

If you look at the photo above, I’ve actually hustled up some pics from our brunch at  Giraffe three long months ago. Back then, we’d had the stacked blueberry & banana pancake and full brunch plate which is like an English breakfast on steroids.

Aside from the thickness of the pancakes (which was delicious, although I am and always will be a bigger fan of crepes), everything was mucho delicious-o, and the potato wedges with the full brunch earned some massive brownie points.

This time round, Khrystyne took the high healthy path and had the smoked salmon & scrambled eggs on a toasted poppy seed bagel. Despite having to eat most of her brunch with one hand (Emmerson was not in the mood to be laying in her pram), I think it all went down nicely.

I opted for the huevos rancheros Mexican style brekkie, which was a bunch of good stuff (eggs, chorizo, beans, avocado, salsa and cheese) all on a warm tortilla. To say this was yummy would be an understatement. Not sure if they noticed how sparkling clean my plate was, but I *ahem* licked the plate…. oh ok, I did not. But I wanted to.

fruitasia (raspberries, passionfruit, strawberries, banana & apple juice); mango mama (mango, strawberry, banana, orange & apple juice); hot chocolate with marshmallows

Certainly not a lesser part of Giraffe‘s scrumptious menu is their fresh fruit smoothie list. Hippy hippy shake (pineapple, passionfruit, mango, banana and pomegranate juice) is my usual favourite, but this time I went all crazy and had the mango mama instead, a concoction of mango, strawberry, banana, orange and apple juice.

Oh and Giraffe also serves a selection of gourmet coffees, although I only went so far as having a hot chocolate, but win all around ~ check out the mountain of marshmallows! 😀

giraffe_menu

Ah Giraffe. What can I say? Definitely one of my favourite places in London, especially the Southbank branch on a warm summer’s day. The food rocks, the service is great (well, once you get seated which could be a battle when there are queues) but oh one word of warning – it is 150% child friendly so if you don’t like them little people, it may not be the place for you!

ps. I know this post is called “baby Emmerson’s day out at Giraffe” but sadly she had nuthin’ but milk. She did however receive her very first balloon which was just mesmerising in all its orangeness. Very cool.

pps. Giraffe also do a fantastic lunch and rest-of-the-day menu. That’s a whole nother post though.

Giraffe
Southbank Centre
Belvedere Road
London, SE1 8XX
0207 928 2004
website

Giraffe on Urbanspoon

8 Thoughts on “ladies that do brunch: baby Emmerson’s day out at Giraffe

  1. marlena on November 11, 2009 at 6:47 pm said:

    oh Giraffe is one of my favorite places to eat when I’m in London also. I don’t remember where I went but the food was great and the whole place is amazingly cheerful and colourful!

  2. I love Giraffe! We have one in Bristol and it’s fab – so chilled, lovely staff and great food!

  3. marlena & Claire: i know, everyone whose been to Giraffe loves it, and the only thing they don’t love is the queue at some of the more popular branches in London but then again, there’s a queue cos people like it! vicious cycle *sigh* 🙂

  4. I want to go to Giraffe, if only to get one of those adorable giraffe-head stirrers (I’m assuming)! Emmerson is off to a great foodie start!

    (Writing that one line took a while – I kept scrolling up to stare at the stirrers and drool over the salmon and scrambled egg on toasted bagel . . . )

  5. Yes those are stirrers and what’s even cooler is if you lift them out, they have little feet! Damn I should’ve pulled one out for a pic. Will just have to go back to Giraffe 😉

  6. heard theres a porridge championship day in the next few weeks at giraffe.mmmmm…

    Baby emmerson, as in emmerson from pushing daisies? thats cute.

  7. Yinnie: really? porridge? like, how much porridge can you eat in a minute? that is SO weird, but I so wanna be in it LOL! As for Emmerson.. i have no idea if that’s where it came from, I’ll ask 🙂

  8. Charlotte on October 23, 2010 at 7:47 pm said:

    I’m planning to go here for brekkie in mid November ! Was the restaurant busy when you went ? We’re planning to go like 10-11am ish. I really hope there won’t be a queue.

    Looks all very yummy! x

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