EL&N London — Restaurant in London

The blurb outside EL&N explains it was born in Mayfair (very expensive Monopoly tells me) in 2017 from founder Alexandra Miller’s vision, it’s a carefully designed fusion of bold global flavours, Middle Eastern influences, a modern London vibe, and a clear eye for Instagram-worthy interiors and sweets.

For all of the promises to be more than just a café - an ‘experience’, a ‘vision’, a way of life - for all those things, I can assure you, it is a pretty good café. The display of cakes and patisserie in the window is full of vibrant colours, artful decoration, and enough temptation to have me thinking I might make a second visit just for some dessert.

We visited on a perfect London morning and sat outside to enjoy the sunshine. A word of caution here: while al fresco dining sounds idyllic, in practice, the UK’s more relaxed attitude to smoking and vaping around food service areas can be a bit jarring if you’re more used to the Australian approach, where food and smoke don't share airspace. To their credit, the staff were very understanding and kindly accommodated our request to move inside.

The menu reflects their global twist with nods to British brunch favourites. I ordered the Full EL&N Breakfast - it is an impressive plate loaded with grilled beef bacon, beef sausage, avocado, roasted tomatoes, baked beans, halloumi, mushrooms, hash browns, poached eggs, and sourdough toast.

The absence of pork is a reflection of their Middle Eastern influence, but honestly, I was curious to try beef bacon and beef sausages are much more common than pork ones in Australia. I left very satisfied, and very full.

My companions ordered the Breakfast Bruschetta, which paired sourdough toast with cherry tomatoes, burrata, pickled onions, and crispy quinoa - it looked colourful and flavourful. There was a Smashed Avocado ordered, a brunch staple done well, with the extra lift of leek oil and seeds, topped with poached eggs.

We couldn’t resist trying the Umali, a Croissant Bread & Butter Pudding with cinnamon, pistachio, and saffron, and served with vanilla ice cream. It was the highlight of the visit.

The coffee was solid and everyone enjoyed their food and coffee orders.

At the end of our meal, and this not exclusive to EL&N but common in many UK cafes, so it might be part of the UK cafe culture they’ve embraced - it was hard to get the staff’s attention to pay the bill. After a few failed attempts at getting eye contact or flagging down a staff member, I got up and went to the counter, only to be told to sit back down and they would come to the table.

EL&N is worth a visit if you're in the area and looking for a good brunch or a beautiful slice of cake paired with a good coffee. The design aesthetic, the cultural fusion, and the menu options all have a little bit of flair and extravagance about them - but you’ll be pleased to know they do the...

After deciding between many places on where I could take my mom for her birthday, I spent the last week reading reviews for EL&N - driven past many times & always said to myself "I want to go there" upon reading the reviews which I was shocked to see such a poor rating of 3.9 stars - and with their being more bad reviews then good I was left unsure. Anyway I decided to visit El&N with my mom.... upon arrival we walked in & was able to speak to a member of staff right away, he was so polite and asked us if we wanted to sit inside or outside. We decided outside, he brought us some water with activated charcoal inside to purify it. And some menus. We then decided we wanted to sit inside & without a problem we were taken to a lovely quiet area. After looking at the ready for 10 minutes or so he came over a few times to ask us if we were ready etc, offered us recommendations in case we were stuck and I'm glad that we listened to him. I had the Spanish latte which was served with great presentation And it tasted lovely. My mum had the lucky charms latte, The presentation of that was lovely and it tasted nice. In the end we decided not to have any food.. because we had a meal booked elsewhere. The cakes in the window looked amazing and I would like to try one one day. I don't understand why there are so many negative reviews, it wasn't extremely busy when we came. The place was clean, The menus were clean, The toilets werent terrible I noticed somebody mention the toilets were not good. I did think it was a little bit pricey for two drinks, but it was a special occasion so I wasn't too bothered. Instead of waiting to call someone over for that bill I decided to pay when leaving, I didn't know there was service charge. But I was prepared to pay it and I'm glad I did because the service we got was great. I forgot the guys name who was a waiter he was so friendly, he was a young looking guy. Well spoken. And even offered to take some pictures of me and my mum. Overall we enjoyed it and my mum loved it. I hope when I come back the service is just as good....

We were seated very quickly and the staff were very kind. Our orders were taken just as quickly and we did not have to wait long before we were served our karak chai first which, I already had a preferred cafe for in London but I think now EL&N have taken the top spot for me as the sweetness and frothy consistency was perfect!

Then we tried 3 cakes which were all delightful. The classic dulche de leche takes the top spot as it is very light and is not as heavy as maybe the other cakes and so is a perfect accompaniment with the karak chai. Second ranked would be the strawberry diplomat cake which had an interesting texture, layers of pastry with crème in between topped with strawberries and a strawberry compote, and at the bottom was a layer of vanilla sponge. Not too heavy but not as light as the dulche de leche cake so I was unable to finish that unfortunately (perhaps too much cake for the day!).

Third would be the pistachio and rose cake, the burst of flavours is divine but admittedly it is quite heavy so I definitely recommend this and the strawberry cake to share as compared to the dulche de leche as they can get a bit much. The karak chai does do wonders with them though so I still recommend trying all of them!

The cafe was busy (and rightly so) when I went yet the atmosphere was still very nice and the staff are very attentive. I have also bought the strawberry tart from their Selfridges section in the food hall and would like to add that that is a must try with a nice english breakfast tea!

Thank you for a pleasant experience, I’ll definitely be coming back to try out some of your brunch french toast options which sound...