Ushering in the 50s Experience #40: Bottomless Brunch
My lovely beautician Leanne told me about a very drunken afternoon she experienced a while back. It involved endless Prosecco and food appearing so instantly I thought, “what’s not to like?” Bottomless brunch is quite a thing in the UK these days it seems. Many restaurants offer the deal, totally bringing ‘Lunch with the Girls’ into a whole new arena. In fact, I read that bottomless brunches have replaced the traditional Sunday roast. I’m not quite sure about that, but I figured the only way to find out what the fuss was about was to go.
So armed with my lovely, long-standing friend, Mrs. S, we headed to The Winehouse in Lichfield on a blustery Saturday afternoon with hungry tummy’s and thirsty mouths, ready for a long overdue catch-up.
>READ: SPRINGTIME BRUNCH COCKTAILS
The first thing that hit me when we walked in was the noise. The Winehouse isn’t the biggest of restaurants, so fill it with chattering, laughing, screeching women, and boy was it loud. The 20 or so tables were full of women, all bar 1 very brave man. They were in groups and duos with many birthday celebrations going on.
Everywhere, and I mean everywhere, I looked there was Prosecco being drunk or poured.
We were led to our table, and amongst the noise, managed to order some delicious sounding cocktails — a Ruby Rose and a Lemon Mojito — before we browsed the menu for our lunch. Obviously, the menu at these kinds of things is not extensive, but even for a vegetarian like me, there was enough choice. Food ordered, we drank our cocktails, somewhat quicker than normal, so we could make the most of our ‘bottomless’ window.
The noise in the room escalated around us as the Prosecco and cocktails took hold. Above the clinking of glasses and the clattering of cutlery, all you could hear was laughter. Lots of giggling, hoots of happiness and loud laughing.
Whilst it was hard to hear each other speak at times (I know I sound old!), it was lovely to be in an environment full of happiness.
We ordered another cocktail and a Prosecco — I figured these would be quicker to drink! We ate and caught up and put the world to rights. It really was the perfect girly afternoon and suddenly, far too quickly, our two hours were up. As we moved to the bar, we both felt decidedly… sober(ish). Oh.
As great as the bottomless brunch is, and believe me it is, we figured it’s hard to get drunk. You would literally need to be knocking back the drinks quicker than the barman could pour them. Whether it’s our age or our refined status as ladies, getting really tipsy at a Saturday lunch just doesn’t do it anymore. Don’t get me wrong. I like a drink and we certainly had enough. But we weren’t quite in the same socially relaxed state as some of the other diners.
I certainly would recommend the bottomless brunch — it’s fun, lively and good value.
But if you’re planning to go for a date or you need to tell someone your deepest, darkest secrets, I’d suggest booking somewhere else! And if you’ve got a group of girls who drink like fish, it could be very loud. At the end of the day, we left feeling full of nice food, delicious cocktails and the sense of well being that a lovely afternoon with a good friend brings you. Perfect!
