North Audley Cantine has to be one of my favourite neighbourhood haunts.

Elegant yet effortlessly trendy, with an easy and laid-back ambience, it’s always an attractive destination for dinner, or even for a quick tipple before at Chez Chow – the speakeasy-style bar in the basement inspired by the chef’s pet chow-chow!

And as I discovered this weekend, the contemporary bistro serves up a pretty cracking brunch too…

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It was well into the middle of the afternoon by the time we made our reservation – but even at 3 p.m. on a Saturday, the place was packed!

Were it not for the slight chill, we would have loved to sit on the chic terrace outside people-watching on Mayfair’s busy North Audley Street…  Still, the lively and vibrant setting indoors suited us just as well.

The friends joining me had just hopped off a very delayed flight from Texas, while I’d had a mega workout in the gym right before.

Needless to say that we were all rather ravenous and ready for some serious Saturday indulgence, dished up in the most exquisite  tableware…

We started with the staples. Poached eggs, avocado & toast.

This brunch classic was artfully executed at NAC with lightly poached eggs that revealed major #yolkporn with the smallest cut. It was an altogether perky dish and one that really went to prove why this is one combination that’s *never* getting old in my books!

The truffle mac n cheese was every bit as decadent as it sounds – the rich, earthy scents and flavours of the black truffles sharply cutting through the creaminess of the pasta…

While a side order of crisp, ultra thin-cut fries added nicely to the #CarbsonCarbs situation that we had going on!

The quinoa salad unfortunately was a bit of a let down, especially compared to the previous times that I’ve ordered – and enjoyed  – this dish.

On this most recent visit though, it turned out to be quite a bland affair lacking any punchy flavours – even an extra drizzle of the lemon dressing proving inadequate to rescue it…

So we swiftly moved on to dessert, in the form of ricotta pancakes served with lashings of dulce de leche, diced bananas and a generous dusting of powdered sugar on top.

While they weren’t as fluffy as you’d expect of ricotta pancakes, they were still incredibly soft, light and oh-so-beautiful!

We just couldn’t get enough of the creamy caramel sauce too, calling for an extra helping to suitably soak through the lower levels of the generous pancake stacks…

As you’d imagine, we were pretty full by this point and so reluctantly passed up on the decadent French toast and the milk chocolate cookies – from what I remember, both are just dreamy propositions too.

So I suppose that does give me two reasons to venture back to my friendly neighbourhood hangout, sooner rather than later!