Review: The Wolseley

The Wolseley is an all-day Grand European café-restaurant found next to the Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly, London. Created by Chris Corbin and Jeremy King who were behind the renewed fame and success of Le Caprice, The Ivy and J. Sheekey. In December 2011 they also opened The Delaunay on the corner of The Aldwych and Drury Lane, basically these guys know what they’re doing so I had no doubt my first experience at a Corbin and King eatery would be something special.

The building itself has quite a history to it, once the home of Wolseley Motors and Barclays Bank, the interior boasts marble pillars, arches and stairways. Sounds like a the perfect location for brunch? Well, that’s what we thought to! 😉

I ordered a pot of darjeeling tea and my dining partner went for a freshly pressed apple juice. We decided to go for a basket of mini viennoiserie (that’s pastries to me and you). The selection included a mini croissant, pain au chocolat, danish, amandine, pain sucré au beurre normand and a cannelé bordelais. Presented in a silver basket alongside marmalade and strawberry jam, it was quite the spread!

I couldn’t resist the sound of the Eggs Arlington, a swirl of smoked salmon on an English muffin with a poached egg and Hollandaise sauce. Following our selection of pastries I chose the smaller potion as did my dining partner, who went for the Wolseley Fishcake with Poached Egg.

The Eggs Arlington was absolutely devine, it had to be up there in my top 5 eggs and smoked salmon breakies. The smoked fish was thick, balancing on a white English muffin. Smothered in Hollandaise sauce, decorated with smoked paprika and chives. Simplicity at its best. The Wolseley Fishcake came on a bed of cooked spinach with a poached egg. It was rather on the filling side as the fish cake was quite dense and smokey in flavour. Delicious but perhaps more enjoyable on it’s own (not after a mound of pastries!).