"Pranzo Della Nonna" means 'An Afternoon at Grandma's'. This is exactly how this bottomless brunch is meant to make you feel. As though you're with family, enjoying those traditional family recipes, relaxing over drinks, and taking everything slow. That's exactly what Apero tries to replicate in their new bottomless brunch offering.
Apero is a cute Mediterranean brasserie in the basement of the Ampersand Hotel in South Kensington. It's light, modern and minimalist interior, with its bright primary colours, metallics, and tiled flooring, radiates a sophisticated Mediterranean vibe. The team is super friendly and welcoming, and the overall atmosphere feels chilled and relaxed, exactly how they want it to feel for their afternoon at grandma's.
We had our own little private booth which could be closed off by the curtain. It was bright and so cute. The perfect spot for an anniversary or special occasion!
The menu is seasonal and one to be shared.
At the moment, it features homemade focaccia with olive tapenade and oil, burrata with chicory and blood orange, a charcuterie selection, mix grilled vegetables, mixed leaf salad, polenta, fennel sausage & radicchio, a seafood risotto and a tart of the day to finish.
The homemade focaccia was served still warm in its dish. The smell was dreamy. It was only slightly oily and a little salty, with a fab texture and taste. Such a good plain focaccia. The olive tapenade in the oil, which accompanied the fresh bread, was absolutely delicious. We couldn't get enough!
The burrata with chicory and blood orange didn't just look fantastic. The burrata was super creamy and was complimented well by the drops of blood orange. The crunchy, fresh chicory and small slice of bruschetta completed this starter well. It was a fab mix of fresh, zesty and creamy flavours and textures.
The charcuterie selection had a great variety of delicious fresh cold meats, as well as arancini, cheese, cornichons and raw cauliflower. The arancini wasn't really anything special, not overly flavoursome, but the cheese and meat, as well as a delicious sweet onion chutney which was served on the side, definitely made up for it. The cornichons added a fresh, pickled flavour too, whilst the cauliflower just a little crunch and mildness. This was a fab sharer!
Onto the main-style dishes, and the seafood risotto was a fantastic rich, spiced yet creamy dish.
It was a great risotto (texture) with plenty of delicious shellfish and squid. I was really impressed with how much seafood was in this dish - there are so many times when I've had a risotto with too much rice to protein.
The second main-style dish wasn't quite on the same level; we weren't as taken on the polenta, fennel sausage & radicchio - mainly because of the polenta, but I'm not the biggest fan. The polenta was served as a semolina-style dish and didn't taste of much. The fennel sausage however was rich, super tasty and packed with flavour, and alongside the radicchio made this dish better. We ate mainly the parts with the meat, but it was nice to try something different.
To accompany the mains, both the mix grilled vegetables and fresh leaf salad made a great side. The mix grilled vegetables had a good selection of Mediterranean staples, all grilled beautifully and really tasty.
As if we needed any more food, there's a dessert too!
The tart of the day is a sweet option. When we visited it was a delicious, creamy, red cherry-style tart, with a caramelized sugar top. It was an incredible tart, creamy and super tasty. It came with a little vanilla ice cream and really rounded off the brunch so well!
As it's a bottomless brunch, we all know if the menu comes with unlimited drinks. This menu features the option to go limitless on prosecco, mimosas or Aperol Spritz. Yep, you read that right...APEROL SPRITZ. I've not seen that on a bottomless brunch menu elsewhere.
The Aperol Spritz was made perfectly, with its signature taste. The prosecco is a fantastic fizz and beautiful in flavour.
The great thing is you can also mix and match, so you don't have to stick to one drink option! The team was great at checking in on the drinks too, but if we felt like they hadn't popped back in a while and were finished our drinks we just left our empty glasses on the end of the table and they soon noticed.
This has definitely been one of the best bottomless brunches I've been to. So much delicious food, bottomless Aperol Spritz (what more can you want in summer), and friendly, relaxed service. I've been recommending it to everyone since visiting. Such good value for money.
SUMMARY:
- Price: The Panzo Della Nonna bottomless brunch menu is priced at £22.50pp without drinks, or £37.50pp for for bottomless drinks included too.
- Food: SO much food for the price. It's a seasonal menu, and almost everything was fantastic. All very tasty!
- Drinks: Prosecco, mimosas or Aperol Spritz are on the bottomless option. You can mix and match, and it really is bottomless - the team are attentive and always checking in on the drinks.
- Atmosphere: A beautiful, relaxed location with Mediterranean vibes where you really do feel at home.
- Wait: Definitely book. It looked busy when we went, and we can imagine it booking up for this menu.
Have you got a special occasion coming up? Have you done any bottomless brunches recently?
Chloe xx
*This was an invite for the East London Girl team. All views my own.