Fig & Olive, Islington

A little while ago we had the pleasure of a couple of friends coming down to London to stay with us. After a busy weekend, on the Sunday morning, we decided to head to Highbury & Islington for brunch, before seeing them off. We hadn't planned or booked ahead, instead we took a stroll down Upper Street to see what took our fancy.

As we were nearing Angel, Fig & Olive stopped us in our tracks. Not only was the bar piled high with cakes, pastries and salads, but it was busy and had a nice buzz to it. Luckily there was a table for 4 available near the window, so we quickly made our way indoors. Here we were greeted by a lovely waitress who served us water whilst we perused the menu. After little debate, we all decided upon their brunch dish. This consisted of either a bellini or bloody mary cocktail to drink, plus a grilled crab and salmon fishcake, poached egg and hollandaise sauce, avocado, wild rocket and toasted walnut loaf. All for a very reasonable £12.45! At the price you can't go wrong, especially in London. The cocktail alone would normally cost that.

I was intrigued to see how they would plate the list of ingredients, and to my surprise everything was displayed very separate. Something I wouldn't normally do myself, however it worked perfectly. Each element of the dish complimented the other beautifully, but by keeping them separate you have to option of trying everything alone or together.

The fishcake was quite honestly out of this world! And the walnut loaf, with real butter, was mouthwatering. I could've eaten these two all day! But we wanted to squeeze in room for coffee and dessert. You really can't visit Fig and Olive and not try one of their desserts. The bar and window are quite literally overflowing with them, and they all look amazing.

We each picked something different, with me and Stew sharing the lemon tart and a classic Napoleon slice, plus a latte each, and can I just point out - how cute is the latte art?

All in all this was a very inexpensive lunch/brunch and we will whole heartedly be back again soon. If you happen to find yourself in the Angel/Islington area I would highly recommend a visit :)