Did Someone Say 'Champagne'? Our Review Of COYA Mayfair's CLÁSICO Brunch

I went to my first bottomless brunch in 2014. 10 years on and London is unwavering in its support of the eggs Benedict cause. These days, you can find all sorts with your OJ and prosecco: Taylor Swift impersonators, tarot card readings and if you look West enough - grains of sand between your toes. There’s a brunch for everyone, whether it’s bordering on whacky, bejewelled with entertainment or levelled up with luxury. My most recent outing focussing on the latter. COYA Mayfair is a Peruvian restaurant and its CLÁSICO brunch (£90) is a fun way to unlock the flavours of Peru with the added bonus of a half a bottle of Champagne to help you wash everything down.

The interiors of COYA Mayfair are smart with an edge of style.

If you want a brunch that goes beyond syrupy yolks and buttermilk pancakes, familiarise yourself with COYA Mayfair. There isn’t an egg in sight at this multi-course Peruvian spread. If I had the power to rewind the clock though, I’d tell myself to ‘go easy on the Para Picar’. After we moped up fresh salsa, lively guacamole and creamy hummus with uneven cuttings of seeded quinoa flatbread, corn tortillas and fat slices of focaccia, a colourful selection of starters made their debut.

If you want details about the COYA menu, it's that it has plenty of pizazz. 

Dishes arrived one by one until the table was lost under the weight of heavy plates. The ceviche mixto, which is COYA’s signature dish, was a refreshing palate cleanser of fresh kingfish, prawns, cubes of sweet potato, cancha, coconut ají amarilio and coriander. We continued our feast with papa rellena, anticuchos de pollo chicken and golden empanadas stuffed with Chilean sea bass, which was as filling as the Para Picar. The sanguche however (a bao bun with buttermilk chicken, pickled onion, ají amarilio and coriander) was the same level of dry as Jimmy Carr's wit. 

Veuve Clicquot flowing into our flutes like the Thames and starters cleared, I'm glad to say the wait for our mains was minimal. The enconcado de bacalao was a comforting bowl of cod and coconut curry but the lomo de res was in a league of its own. This pink slate of tender beef was marinated in ají panca and star anise, topped with finely chopped crispy shallot and chillies that blessed it with a lasting deep flavour. Sides are in plentiful supply but sadly lacked that je ne sais quoi. My personal relationship with yuca frita is a tricky one (something that looks like a chip but isn't a chip will always be a let down), so I won't hold that against COYA, but the Szechwan fried rice could have done with a bit more inspiration and the Ensalada de Col (also known as coleslaw) lacked vibrancy.

COYA brunch is one to savor, from the welcome carbs and dips to the smoking platter finale.

More Champagne (they're very, very generous here), and it was time for dessert. The platter presented was the size of a small basinet. A collection of pastries and sweets shimmered above billowing, angry puffs of smoke, including thick and warm sugary sticks of cinnamon, miniature meringues, Manchego cheesecake with lime gel, and sorbets sharp enough to slap you awake in time for your end-of-service bill. 

The DesignMyNight Digest 

That brunch I mentioned back in 2014 was one for the books. Nobody needs to hear the tales of a 21 year old's first encounter with bottomless booze so I'll spare you the details, but like the years in between, my tastes have moved on. I now crave something more sophisticated and upmarket; and COYA Mayfair is certainly both of these things. The CLÁSICO brunch isn't perfect, some dishes just weren't my thing and others need refining, but the atmosphere has an upbeat energy. Everyone there is on the same page: they just want to have a good time with cold flutes of Champagne and some good grub to soak it all up. 

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