The Lido Cafe Review
Saturday and/or Sunday mornings really require one thing – brunch. Now, the secret to a good brunch is that it has to be within easy reach (no one likes to have to go far in those early hours of the weekend) and ideally serve a really good full English breakfast, with the option of pancakes, maple syrup and bacon when the mood takes you.
Fortunately for me, the Brockwell Park Lido Café is neither far away, nor short on good English breakfasts or indeed American pancakes. A short bus journey from Brixton station (the 196 bus – there’s even a stop called Brockwell Lido) and home to a busy, creatively decorated and very pleasantly staffed café, the Lido Café is a busy little oasis on the edge of Brockwell Park.
Just a side note, a lido is an outdoor unheated swimming pool and, while that might sound fun in the summer when the mercury rises and you need to cool off, in November it’s a different game altogether. Not that you’d know it from the number of people bravely swimming lengths, without wetsuits or really the slightest sign of cold. We were reliably informed the water was about 10º C. It’s open year round for those of you inclined to such lengths of masochism…
Luckily brunch was not served at 10ºC and was a perfectly cooked mix of sausage, bacon, poached eggs, toast, baked beans, mushrooms, grilled tomatoes and the piece de resistance black pudding. (To my mind, no full English is complete without black pudding.) My better half opted to go for the blueberry pancakes, bacon and maple syrup option, so everyone got to try a bit of everything and I can vouch for the pancakes being freakin’ awesome too.
The Lido Café, I was thrilled to see and hear, was completely booked. Thankfully, the service was quick, efficient, polite and the turnaround the same. I suggest booking ahead, but even if you do chance it, you can be pretty sure of a table in not very much time at all. The setting itself is lovely on the edge of the underrated Brockwell Park and if you are that way inclined you could ‘earn’ your breakfast by swimming a few lengths in, what I can only imagine, is a very cold swimming pool.
Reporter: Peter Churchill @PeteJChurchill
Website: www.thelidocafe.co.uk
The cafe is also running a great Movember hastag #TLCtache, which I thoroughly endorse and recommend getting behind!
Dulwich Road
Brockwell Lido
London
SE24 0PA
0207 7378183
Openings: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner 7 days a week.
