When you talk about brunch spots in Herts, one name keeps coming up - Hatch in St. Albans. When you talk about food with friends people are often more flippant about dinners and lunches. But for some reason, when you find a good brunch place, you get maniacal about it. In fact, we still rave about the brunch place in South London were C and I met all those years ago! But now, to Hatch in St Albans....let's wrestle with the parking and have a spot of brunch!
We settled in and grabbed a cup of coffee to start. We generally don't review coffee places that much, not because we don't drink a ton of the stuff or try another places, I (J) do, but the world of reviewing coffee seems mysterious to me as a relative layman. Nonetheless, this was a really good, smooth, coffee - one of the best I've had for a while (on a side note Tiki's in Hemel is probably my favourite at the minute).
As for the food I went for a Dirty Reuben, and C the sweetcorn fritters. We also got some hash brown bites on the side (do it do it do it). With the coffees and service charge, that came to £29.
The Dirty Reuben is Salt beef and emmental toasted sandwich topped with a fried egg cooked in caper butter, with crispy capers and shallots. Dirty, it really is. Were it not called 'dirty' on the menu you could well think that it was a bit on the greasy side, but with a name like that you can't say you weren't warned. It was so filling that it carried me through to dinner comfortably, and we had breakfast at around 9am!
The salt beef was really thick and juicy, it's not as good as what you'd get on Brick Lane, but that's an unfair comparison - for a Reuben it's a good effort. The crispy shallots added a really nice crunch to the taste too. It doesn't look that big when it arrives, but by the end you really feel like you've been in a really tasty battle of wills to finish it!
The sweetcorn fritters were piled high with a poached egg, avocado and rocket; and C -being the gorgeous greedy guts that she is- added on some bacon just to ensure she wasn't being too virtuous. The fritters themselves were sweet, juicy and not too stodgy but certainly filling. As a whole dish it delivered everything you'd need; creamy avocado, peppery rocket and drippy, dippy egg and that salty bacon alongside a really fresh crisp yet fluffy fritter. It was a fab (usually vegetarian) breakfast dish.
I chastised C for ordering the hash brown bites on the side. To be fair I really had to rein her in from also adding on a side of maple syrup waffles (it's like dining out with a 5 year old sometimes!) But I'm so glad we go the hash brown bites. They are gloriously crisp and fluffy with just the right amount of salt. They are small enough that you can eat them like popcorn at a movie theatre, and when we go back I know for sure I'm ordering a portion for myself!
Hatch launched inn 2015 as a take away and pop up outfit, who then found their permanent home on Holywell Hill two years later. They are a mainstay of the St Albans foodie scene, constantly offering uncomplicated but exciting food that is always delivered to the highest quality with beautiful presentation. It is without doubt the best brunch place we have been to in and out of London and will become a regular haunt of ours in the many many years we intend to live in Herts
Service:
Great prompt service in the restaurant
Price & Value:
Reasonably priced food and coffee. For £30 for two we were very full.
Quality:
The salt beef was thick and generous - everything was as good as we hoped.
Overall:
EXCELLENT- This is a killer brunch spot. Come hungry and prepared for a battle with some tasty filling food.
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