THIS month you can enjoy Bottomless Brunch events at Tibits’s Bankside branch. Diners can enjoy vegan-friendly menus that vary between events, sit in the sunlit Garden Room and listen to live sets by emerging local musicians.
You may already be familiar with the Swiss restaurant – founded in Zürich in 2000 by veggie brothers Christian, Daniel and Reto Frei – but you’ll be getting a different experience to the usual Tibits deal, where you pay according to the weight of your food. Here, the flat rate of £35 buys you “bottomless” alcohol: you can have as much of Freedom Brewery’s vegan lager, Dodd’s vegan G&T and/or tibits’s own mocktails as you’d like, though you’re restricted to one plate of food, which makes dessert a little tricky. But even the most capacious belly will surely be sated by one strategically high-piled platter.
As ever with Tibits, the food is high-quality, though the hot and cold food is so bountiful – even for vegans – that it’s impossible to fit everything onto one plate. On offer in May were potato-quinoa burger and raw vegetable pad thai; I was a particular fan of the rich tomato risotto and Boston broad beans, both of which dishes were bursting with flavour. Pizza dough was another scrumptious indulgence, though beware the gluten-free bread – it rewards neither the tastebuds nor the teeth. You can also help yourself to tibits’s customary toppings of fried onion and pumpkin seeds as well as an assortment of sauces. The June event saw maple pancakes, samphire salad and piquant chakalaka bulgur on the menu.
The Garden Room is particularly pleasant when the sun is out; there’s even a roofless, flowery annexe large enough for two, which proves a cosy spot for couples who fancy a bit of seclusion. You can bet the music will be gentle, unobtrusive and possibly banal, which is appropriate – the focus here should be on food and conversation. Hattie Whitehead and Howard Rose will be taking to the stage on 8 July.
by Franco Ramazani
Tibits Bankside, 124 Southwark Street SE1 0SW
Tel: 0207 2028 370
info@tibits.co.uk
The final Bottomless Brunches at Tibits Bankside will take place on July 29 and August 19. Tickets to the forthcoming Sunday brunches can be purchased here.