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The modus operandi of Notting Hill’s Sunday in Brooklyn is simple but effective. This ‘modern American’ restaurant takes popular US dishes – fried chicken, pancakes, s’mores – and classes them up a little. The result is both dinner and brunch that feels relaxed but still refined: here, you’ll find diner standards given a modern kick up the backside, and LA-style veggies and salads, heavy on the garnishes.
For dinner, executive chef Esteve Prats has designed a selection of crowd-pleasers: there are burgers and steaks, as well as lighter fish and veggie options. Highlights include a wedge salad with savoury hazelnuts and a ‘fancy ranch’ dressing that you’ll have to be forcibly stopped from drinking, a fried chicken sandwich featuring the internet’s favourite ingredient, hot honey, and corn ‘ribs’, with a genius, salty kelp seasoning that properly showcases the sweetness of the corn.
Cream cheese-stuffed jalapeño poppers come out wrapped in bacon, swaddled like cute, delicious newborns
Of course, like any self-respecting diner, Sunday in Brooklyn is also a powerhouse of a brunch spot. At weekends, the dining room is super lively – and quite busy, so book – as the kitchen slings out plates of well-loved flavours, from breakfast slams as American as Uncle Sam, to pillowy slices of brioche piled high with ricotta and jam, or lavished in cream cheese and smoked salmon.
Across the board, the sweets are particularly special: the star of the brunch menu is the pancake: order just one to try it out, or a tower of three if you’re feeling brave. The batter is just dense enough to stand up to the thickness of the luxe hazelnut maple praline sauce it’s served with (the consistency of which is best described as ‘if CBBC gunge was delicious’), and though it’s a lot, you’ll find that this is the dish you can’t stop eating, no matter how full you get. A more chilled-out version, featuring brioche rolls for dipping into the praline goo, is also available on the dinner menu.
Though the food is largely pretty laid-back, there are touches that make a visit to Sunday in Brooklyn feel like a bit of an occasion. Creative cocktails are positively ornamental, and plates are presented with panache: eggs are draped in on themselves like silk bedsheets, while cream cheese-stuffed jalapeño poppers come out wrapped in bacon, swaddled like cute, delicious newborns.
The whole operation hits a bit of a sweet spot: the selection of dishes is accessible and fun enough that there’s something for most tastes, but there’s a level of sophistication on display that feels special. So should you be after a multi-tasking spot that’ll please everyone – including your pal who starts every sentence with the phrase ‘So when I lived in New York…’ – Sunday in Brooklyn is the move.