Y'all know I'm serious about brunch. Since becoming a late twenties something, I've stepped up my brunch game and will enjoy delicious eggs and SO much avocado almost every weekend. I live in South West London so that's my usual haunt and one of my favourites is Tota in Tooting Broadway.
It's about 2 minutes walk from the Underground station and has a large inside area, laid out diner style with a long dining bar, and a little outside terrace for summery mornings. It's always bustling, but not in that ridiculous way you'll get with places like The Breakfast Club or Mud in Tooting. You might have to wait 5 minutes if you're unlucky but you'll never have to queue.
Service is quick and filter coffee is bottomless. This latter point is a huge draw – the partner is a prolific coffee slurper and we'll easily knock up £10 in coffee spend at other brunch places where they charge by the cup.
The brunch menu is relatively large with all the usual suspects; fry ups, pancakes, waffles, french toast and all the varieties of eggs benedict you could want! Dishes are between £6-9 and so it's less expensive than its trendier brunch neighbours (Mud, M1lk, Driftwood, etc.) and are good. The menu isn't experimental and doesn't push breakfast boundaries (unlike said trendy neighbours) but is solid and if you're after simply a jolly good brunch, it's the place to go.
Try their eggs benedict (£8.5) and swap the ham for BACON (because duh). They won't charge you extra and it's delicious. The Huevos Rancheros is also a winner, blending the right notes of smoke, spice and slutty slutty egg.
There's a full lunch and dinner menu too, which admittedly I haven't tried but looks great. Most week nights there's some sort of 'deal', like a Tuesday half price steak (£9!) and ribs (£7!!) night, and happy hour on cocktails is 5-7.
If I was asked to sell Tota even more, I'd mention that when I returned from 3 weeks in Brazil where the closest I came to a fried egg was sunbathing topless on Copacobana, Tota was the first place I came to eat. Reliable, quality, friendly and inexpensive – do visit.
http://www.tota-restaurant.co.uk/
102 Tooting High Street
Tooting Broadway
London
SW17 0RR
