It’s the first official outing of the Brunch Club CBG (mainly because Noah values his privacy at breakfast), so we went to a favourite with (most) of the group.
Value for money: 💷💷💷▫▫
“Brunch and a couple of drinks for just under £20; not too bad at all…”
Hipster-ness: 👌👌👌▫▫
“Great use of wooden paddles instead of plates, but no Bennies on the menu… boo!”
Presentation: 🍽🍽🍽🍽▫
“All of the food looked great; nicely presented and laid out.”
Taste: 😋😋😋▫▫
“Would have been a higher, but some of the food was cold (mainly due to service time)”
Service Speed:⏰⏰▫▫▫
“Some of our group were served 50 minutes after the rest… despite prompting twice for somebody to check. Not cool.”
So, where to begin. From the off there were split views on Stir, most of our little group being massive fans but me myself being in the opposite camp (and I couldn’t remember why). But, after much moaning/persuading I agreed and as a group we set off for our first official #BrunchClubCBG brunch.
As soon as I looked at the menu, I remembered why I had such strong anti-Stir views; no Eggs Benedict! Not only did the original Benny not make an appearance, there was no Royale, Blackstone, Florentine, or any other Benny derivative available. As J pointed out when she went to order, there was poached egg and salmon on rye, but it just isn’t a Benny.
I settled on the Breakfast Board (a kind of paddle with all kinds of brunchieness), substituting (at cost) tomatoes for Salmon, an OJ and a large latte. The rest of the group chose their options, including four other brunch boards (more on that later).
The drinks came, and as a Barista trainer in a former life I have to say the coffee is exceptional… by far the stand out. The rest of the group chose various drinks including multi-coloured smoothies and fruit juices, and all was good. The sun was out, and we felt refreshed.
After about 15 minutes a very friendly member of staff came over with my Brunch board, and N, P and J also received their choices. I reminded the member of staff about my OJ (I bet you wondered what had happened to that, didn’t you?!) and it turned up pretty promptly. The OJ was also pretty great – clearly fresh and not chilled (Note to other establishments; chilling OJ is a travesty) and a large enough serving to have needed several trees of oranges to produce.
Looking at this plate made my mouth water; good enough to eat certainly! I amazed the others at my avo-prepping technique (ex-greengrocer trainer… always helps) and got ready to tuck in, waiting for the others. And waiting. And waiting…
After about five minutes of politeness, I succumbed and tucked into my (now slightly cool) brunch. The eggs were well poached, and the particular high point of the brunch itself for me was the tangy chutney – a really great addition to the Halloumi.
Remember the others? DK, T, and MT? They were still, still, waiting after I finished. MT had asked the question as to where their food was at the same time my OJ arrived, but still nothing. Eventually, J (after finishing her brunch) asked another server. A very apologetic member of staff said there had been a mix-up (read; mis-read ticket) in the kitchen and their food would be rushed across. She offered all of the order free coffees (not anything else, so I was OK but the caffeine-free members of our group had to go without) to compensate the wait. 50 Minutes after starting brunch, our final trio received theirs – tasty, but late.
To me, and speaking from my years in the hospitality business, if a table isn’t fully “mealed up” when you serve it, it’s always a good idea to check “is there anything else missing” and follow that through. This is an essential service tip, and one that I have always instilled in my teams. It is a shame that, for the lack of such a small and seemingly insignificant question, this issue occurred.
In summary, Stir creates great coffee, a good brunch, and is reasonably priced. But the kitchen cock-up left a sour taste even in the most devout Stir aficionados (MT?) mouth. The lack of a Benny will always be marked down for me; I don’t always choose it but I want the option, especially going for a high-hipster and higher-end establishment.
Overall, Stir scores an aggregate of 15/25 (or 3 out of 5, if you prefer). Definitely worth a trip (if you aren’t a Benny monster like me) but possibly needing to improve on it’s service management.