Pear Galettes, Mint Tea & Damp Dogs

After an early morning jog, followed by a full wake-up call involving freshly brewed Guatemalan coffee & an hour or so of study, I went to meet friends for brunch off Bermondsey Square. Del Aziz is a funky bakery-cum-bar-slash-restaurant sort of cafe. We spent a good two hours catching up, eating, drinking, coaxed by the heavy rain showers not to venture from our cozy hide-out (although incidentally, we did begin our meal at one of the tables facing the square, until it got just that little bit too breezy to be at ease). 


I went for the full veggie brunch (i'm by no means vegetarian, but I do often sway towards the non-meat courses earlier in the day, not the biggest enthusiast of either sausage or bacon). Eastern Mediterranean flavours sailed through the menu at large, although the white bean in tomato that graced my plate felt more like a modest nod towards Spanish cuisine. (The cakes didn't feel hugely Mediterranean either; I might have expected denser, sweeter filo-structured desserts, but then when it comes to cake, i'm not much of a complainer.) The spinach served with brunch was just lovely, I swear it tasted like it was stewed in some sort of animal fat; I guess that's the success of creating a wholesome, sweet vegetable stock. Measures of both food & drink were more than adequate: my large latte was in fact a humdinger of a supersized drink, & the cakes were in essence doorstop wedges, you could probably even stop a truck with them. My only complaint was that I think I picked the sour grape in a wonderful bunch when it came to cakes: my carrot cake was a little dry. Tasting the blueberry tart & the almond & pear sponge proved that this was just a little bad luck, someone caught on an off day. Service was lovely & leisurely, & the place was filled but not crowded, great as an antidote to the high octane Borough market just a few streets away. Cute damp dog also made several adorable advances, wandering over from the bookshop across the square. I love weekends {how is it only Tuesday already?}




* you may have noticed I changed my font colour, plus added a couple of pages. How rad am I? The times they are a changin'..
** thanks to Bee from Bravoe Runway for my blog award!

{all photos by me}
♥