As elegant as any casual dining establishment you’re apt to come across in upscale Chelsea and just a stone’s throw from Sloane Square Station, the Botanist is as smartly situated as London restaurants come. And with a newly introduced breakfast menu available all week, it’s now a smart place to start your day as well.
Hungry in SW1? Pull in The Botanist for its tummy filling take on ye olde full English. At £14, The Botanist Breakfast delivers a generous mound of smoked streaky bacon, a tidy and tasty stack of mini Cumberland sausages, a thick square of Mrs Brown’s black pudding (the best black pudding I can recollect having in quite some time), roast vine tomatoes, rather moreish field mushrooms, better than average baked beans, cumin spiced home fries (kinda bland to be honest), two eggs to order (I had mine poached and a little runny) and choice of rye or sourdough toast (I went with the sourdough). Yeah, I liked it – and didn’t even contemplate having another meal for another eight hours.
As much as I loved the above, I believe I probably would have been just as satiated with other options. Sweetcorn fritters with roast vine tomato, smoked streaky bacon, baby spinach and avocado salsa (£12) sounded delish and was highly recommended by the incredibly gracious server, Jess. I’m pretty sure the blueberry buttermilk pancakes with smoked streaky bacon and maple syrup (£11) could have done the trick if I’d been in that sort of mood. There’s a lot more to the menu that just those mentions too.
Other highlights from my lovely late morning linger included excellent coffee – just Illy but superbly tempered and pulled … great marmalade and strawberry jam … a “Popeye punch” juice featuring spirulina, spinach and apple juice (and more stuff I think) … a nice bossa nova heavy soundtrack wafting through the restaurant … free WiFi … and just staring out the window upon the tony streets of Chelsea and ogling the line up of luxury cars most mere mortals could never afford zip by. It was a gorgeous sunny morning too, and The Botanist’s wide open doors and large windows seemed ideally suited to take in plenty of the lovely natural light.
In fact, I was enjoying my time there so much, I stayed well after my brekkie to do a spot of work.
The Botanist is located at 7 Sloane Square, SW1W 8EE. Read about the new morning menu and everything else at thebotanistonsloanesquare.com.
