The Croque Madame
So what's new?
Since we tried it out when it first opened, Bellanger has revamped its brunch and breakfast menu and opened a smart new terrace overlooking Islington Green. All of which made it easy to persuade us back to try it again.
The terrace has around six large tables on it and was pretty popular when we visited on a summery Sunday. If you don't manage to score an outside table, ask for one by the sliding doors on the right as you enter for the best of both worlds.
Avocado with poached eggs and vine tomatoes on toasted sourdough
We spotted numerous new dishes on the weekend brunch menu. Because it was brunch it felt criminal to ignore the avocado dish - so one of us had the avocado and poached eggs on toasted sourdough with unbilled vine tomatoes - great value at £6.75. My Croque Madame was a pitch perfect version of the dish (£7.95) and came with a lovely little gem and radish side salad.
For mains the Bellanger hamburger could have done with being a little pinker in the middle but was served with exemplary fries and the Dorset crab, crayfish and avocado chopped salad was a huge serving and generous with the crayfish at £12.50.
Crayfish, crab and avocado chopped salad
We weren't going to order dessert - until we took at look at the menu. There's a rather nice option of Cafe Gourmand - £6 for a pot of Americano with a selection of mini carrot cake, paris brest and madeleine. But we were quite taken with our trifle-like Gewurztraminer custard with gooseberry compote and crumble topping- £5.50 which went down a treat (with two spoons).
Bellanger serves brunch every Saturday and Sunday until late afternoon at 9 Islington Green, London N1 2XH. Keep up with their news on Twitter @bellanger_n1
