Weekends are special for all sorts of reasons, and not just the fact that you’re out of the office for a blissful 48 hours.
The two greatest reasons must be the fact that you have the opportunity for a lie-in and also that you get to take as long as you want over your breakfast, without having to try and eat your toast whilst simultaneously putting on your coat and shoving your packed lunch in your bag.
Here are a few of my favourite places for a leisurely brunch – this doesn’t include the various great greasy spoons across Bristol as they don’t serve the same purpose of lazing around in my opinion (incidentally, if you are looking for a banging fry up, I’d recommend Totterdown Canteen, George’s in Bedminster, Old Market Cafe or Top Nosh in Kingswood).
You can skip to particular areas if that’s helpful!
- Central
- Bedminster & Totterdown
- East Bristol
- Gloucester Road & Stokes Croft
- Clifton & Redland
- Local chains
Central
Open Daily on Park Row for breakfast and lunch, this tranquil cafe serves up a brunch menu taking inspiration from across the globe, including huevos rancheros, French toast, cornbread with poached eggs, or whipped feta on sourdough with chorizo, charred broccoli and salsa. There’s plenty of choice for vegans, vegetarians and gluten free folks too.
Take a seat in one of their cosy booths and watch the bustling action of Nelson Street while you tuck into some American classics. Brunch is available daily, although weekday and weekend menus differ slightly, but you can enjoy popular dishes such as the breakfast burger, chicken ‘n’ waffles, steak ‘n’ eggs or American Breakfast with pancakes, bacon, eggs and sausages every day. You can also add bottomless Prosecco to your meal for an extra £19.95 per person (1.5hr table time) any day of the week.
One of the newer additions to the city, opening in autumn 2023, The Granary is housed in the spectacular Bristol byzantine-style building on Welsh Back and has been brought back to life by the team behind the Harbour House (just a stone’s throw away on The Grove) and Coal Kitchen in Cabot Circus. It’s a stylish and ambitious joint but doesn’t feel too posh for breakfast, although the dishes are a bit fancier than your average city centre spot. As well as lighter bites including pastries or five grain granola, there’s also buckwheat waffles with eggs and your choice of ham, smoked trout, pastrami or spinach; omelette with dal; baked eggs or full cooked breakfasts. They’ve taken a lot of the menu into consideration for different diets too, with plenty of plantbased and gluten free options.
Bedminster & Totterdown
It took a while for folks to warm to this cafe on East Street which is all about food nostalgia, with some pleasing retro decor too. I’ve been a fan from the start and mostly visit for dinner, but the brunch menu (available Friday – Sunday, 10 – 3) is worthy of a visit in itself and is great value if you ask me, with options including homemade spaghetti hoops on toast for £4.50 (grated cheddar on top for an additional £1), rarebit for £6 or their mega breakfast bap with square sausage, black pudding and a tattie scone for £8. I’m also keen to try the Anglesey eggs!
The popular brunch menu at this North Street restaurant is available until 3pm Wednesday to Saturday, and until 11:30am on Sundays. No wonder it’s always packed when I try to get in – portions are generous and the quality is first rate, with options including their full breakfasts, potato cakes with poached eggs, spiced tempeh scramble or American-style pancakes.
Wholesome Aussie-inspired munch, available from Wednesday to Sunday. I’m usually dismissive of how filling smoothies or poke bowls can be, but each time I’ve eaten here I’ve been stuffed all day! Breakfast bowls such as banana pancakes or pea & courgette fritters are served until 11:30, smoothie bowls are available all day, and poke bowls or broth bowls are served 11:30 – 15:30.
You could be forgiven for thinking of this as just a late night bar, what with all the metal, low lighting and industrial minimalism going on, however the food is also a big draw, with brunch available at weekends. The cooked breakfasts are massive, with other brunch options including buttermilk pancakes, grilled sandwiches, steak & eggs or my choice for a hangover: the Dirty Beans Skillet (eggs with BBQ beef brisket, bloody mary tomatoes, mixed beans, BBQ sauce and toast).
Another very popular choice among locals, I’d suggest booking ahead if you want to guarantee a table in this teeny Totterdown cafe! Brunch is served all day Friday to Monday, although a few breakfast dishes are only available until midday, such as French toast, kimchi fried rice or sauerkraut and ricotta pancakes. However, for the whole day you can take your pick from a range of toasties, cooked breakfasts, Turkish eggs or pepper & potato hash with eggs, crispy kale and feta.
East Bristol
Probably the prettiest place in town to eat, this cafe is absolutely chocca with plants and quirky decor, and it makes me smile every time I go in. Brunch and breakfast options are available until 4pm from Tuesday to Sunday, and I’d recommend booking, or getting there early or later at weekends as this place tends to fill up! Another worldwide menu this one, with options including Belgian waffles, Japanese pancake, arepas, tostadas, Turkish eggs or grilled morcilla and chorizo with fried eggs and peppers. Or keep it classic with a hefty full English breakfast.
Treat yourself to a Latin American style brunch in Easton. They’re open daily from 8:30am and do a full breakfast with chorizo, avocado and Colombian frijoles instead of baked beans, as well as huevos rancheros, arepas, and more filling brunch dishes such as pulled pork or banana blossom rice bowls, or their ‘Bandeja Paisa’ sharing platter with eggs, rice, roasted tomato, charred sweetcorn, frijoles, patacones and pulled pork or banana blossom.
A short but sweet brunch menu from this cosy cafe in St George, housed in a former church. The on-site bakery provides fresh bread as well as pastries, cakes and doughnuts if you fancy something sweet. Overnight oats and a choice of flatbreads are available, but the most popular option is their ‘freckled eggs’ with cavelo nero kimchi, crispy onions, sliced radish, gochujang hollandaise and either chorizo or oyster mushrooms.
Bringing some banging brunch to Staple Hill, you can choose from a more comprehensive breakfast menu daily from 8 – 11:30am, or a reduced brunch menu from 12 – 4pm. The breakfast menu has the usual suspects: Full English, breakfast baps, Eggs Benedict/Florentine/Avocado/Royale and a selection of pastries or sweet crumpets. The brunch menu gives you the choices of poached eggs with your choice of accompaniment, ciabatta sandwiches, or gammon with egg and chips.
Gloucester Road & Stokes Croft
A stalwart on the Bristol breakfast scene, and with very good reason! The Bristolian cooked breakfasts are enough to fill you up for most of the day, otherwise if you’re after something lighter you can have poached eggs on toast, or tostadas with your choice of either crispy halloumi, free range smoked bacon or aubergine fritters.
The minute I saw The Nectar House posting about extra pots of hash browns and Espresso Martinis with your brunch, I knew they were my kind of people. I’ve now had a couple of stonking breakfasts there, and rate their cooked breakfast but need to give a special mention to their classic stack – a cheese and onion sourdough toastie topped with smashed avocado, crispy kale, poached eggs, hollandaise and toasted seeds. SO GOOD. I had it before going to a wine fair, and let me tell you, that chonky breakfast did some heavy lifting that day.
This Hungarian restaurant on the Horfield end of Gloucester Road not only does some tasty Hungarian specialities throughout the day, but has made a name for itself also doing some top notch breakfasts. Big cooked breakfasts, poached eggs, pancakes – it’s all here, along with some delicious Hungarian cakes and pastries that I’d recommend buying to take home for later. Make sure you come back in the evenings too!
Clifton & Redland
This cafe on Queens Road in Clifton already has a cult-like following despite only opening in summer 2022. The brunch menu is available daily (until 3:30 on weekdays, or 4pm on weeekends), with options including three-bean shakshuka, truffled eggs or granola. Bottomless brunch is also available from 2 – 3pm daily for £35pp, inlcuding 90 minutes of Prosecco, Bucks Fizz, Aperol spritz or Bloody Mary along with one of the brunch options for £35pp.
One of the breakfast OGs in Bristol, and as much as they may not be the most trendy place in this list, they’ve stuck around for a reason and are still busy every time I walk past. Breakfast is served until noon on weekdays, and brunch is until 3pm on weeekends. I’d recommend going for their Full Monty breakfast (veggie & vegan versions available) or one of the sturdy breakfast bagels. There are plenty of seats indoors, but this place really comes into its own on warmer days when you can sit outside on Boyce’s Avenue and enjoy the hubbub of Clifton Village moving around you.
A light and airy cafe on Regent Street in Clifton, with some very Instagram-friendly dishes which also manage to taste as good as they look. There’s plenty to choose from, with lots of vegan options too, but highlights include smoothie bowls, smashed avocado on toast and fluffy pancake stacks.
Tucked away in Redland, and a popular go-to for coffee and brunch. The style and menu is inspired by Aussie brunch spots, and you can tell the place is owned by sporty people (Bristol Bears players no less), because there’s plenty of protein! Brunch options include feta & eggs on toast, salmon scramble, pulled pork on toast or French toast.
Owned by locals Oddkin Coffee Roasters, this coffee shop on Whiteladies Road is another place I see popping up on my Instagram feed all the time, especially for their very photogenic hotcakes and loaded crumpets.
Another Hungarian cafe on the list, this time on Alma Vale Road in Clifton. Their breakfast menu is available all day, with options including the Budapest Breakfast (scrambled eggs with pork sausages, Hungarian mustard, toast and Hungarian lecho – a type of tomato and veg stew) or the Hungarian Rustic Breakfast (scrambled eggs cooked with cheese, Hungarian paprika sausage, streaky bacon, potato, Hungarian lecho and toast).
Local chains
These cafes have a few locations around the city, but still offer top quality and plenty of choice.
FED
Cafe counters don’t get much sexier than those at FED! Their cafes in Cotham, Gloucester Road and Fishponds do a range of bakes, cakes, salads, savoury tarts and toasties. For breakfast you can choose from hefty filled rolls, smoothie bowls, poached eggs on toast and topped flatbreads.
You’ve probably seen the weekend queues for their Stokes Croft cafe but they also have a branch in Fishponds! The menu is full of brunch favourites, from breakfast bagels and cooked breakfasts through to pancakes, baked egg skillets and smashed avocado on toast. Definitely worthy of the hype, although I hate queuing so tend to go midweek, or when they first open on the weekend.
This popular local bakery now has outlets in Bristol Beacon, Redfield and Bedminster, where they also do a busy trade in brunch and lunch (note that hours and menus vary between the branches, so check the website for the latest info). Tuck into one of their tasty cakes or pastries with a cuppa, or fill up on a toastie, granola or shakshuka.
Pinkmans
While their Park Street cafe and bakery is being refurbished after a fire, they’re still going strong at their other location on Gloucester Road, Old Market and outside Clifton Down Shopping Centre. Stop by for freshly-baked bread, pastries, sourdoughnuts, cake and seasonal brunch dishes.
Spicer + Cole
Bringing an air of industrial chic to Bristol’s high streets, you can find their cafes on Welsh Back near Queen Sqaure, Clifton Village, Finzels Reach (closed weekends) and in the RWA on Queens Road. Hours and menus vary, but you can rely on great coffee from local roasters Extract Coffee, alongside a lush selection of cake, pastries and hefty sandwiches, plus a range of brunch dishes at weekends.
Boston Tea Party
It seems like every week there’s a new BTP opening somewhere across the UK, but this successful chain started life on Park Street in 1995! Visit their original branch as well as other cafes on Stokes Croft, Whiteladies Road, Gloucester Road and in Cheswick Village for a varied brunch menu which includes cooked breakfasts, filled muffins, pancakes, and veggie or salt beef hash. Lots of vegan and veggie options too!
Enjoy your weekends, and let me know your recommendations! Other posts you may enjoy…
A Life Less Organised 
This wwas lovely to read