Homeground, Windermere

AS a far from early riser given half the chance, I've always been rather a fan of brunch. The portmanteau word which is a combination of breakfast and lunch is credited as having been popularised in the early 1900s by a New York journalist called Frank O'Malley, although other sources believe the concept of brunch was created by us Brits.

Whatever, it's a good word and a good idea: bacon and eggs (and possibly Bucks Fizz) at lunchtime. I'm sold.

So I was delighted when a friend introduced me this week to a cafe in Windermere which is devoted entirely to the brunch concept.

Homeground in the centre of Windermere is an easy-to-miss eaterie which certainly doesn't shout about itself - but it's clearly very popular. Run by a young couple, it is a celebration of all things brunchy in a vaguely rustic setting.

Bucks Fizz may not feature, but scrumptious brunch food does.

A trio of us went to try it out, settling ourselves at one end of a large refectory table in the middle of the room (there are outside tables but it was too hot and too noisy that day for our liking). Carafes of water are left out for customers to help themselves, which is a good touch.

The cafe is something of a celebration of sourdough, the bread featuring prominently in practically every dish. I chose eggs Benny - a pulled pork take on the classic eggs Benedict, with poached eggs, spinach and hollandaise sauce. The Benny version came with pulled ham hock and on a sourdough ciabatta, for £8.50.

My husband went all gaucho and chose huevos rancheros, a classic South American spicy dish of black eye and haricot beans in a tomato sauce, with baked eggs. It cost £8 in its basic form or £9.50 with the addition of chorizo, which Gordon went for.

My friend Sally chose taleggio and chorizo grilled cheese with almonds for £8.50, a sort of posh cheese toastie on the ubiquitous sourdough bread.

This came with an accompaniment of pickled red cabbage, jalapeños and a lime aioli. Coffee for us girls and a bottle of Windermere pale ale for my husband rounded off the order. Oh, and a luscious looking slice of blueberry and elderflower cake, which we took home for later.

Our food when it came was hearty and lovely.

The sourdough involved in all the dishes was of course fresh as a daisy, crunchy and gorgeous. My eggs Benny had a veritable mound of pulled pork, which I failed to wade my way through. The eggs were perfectly poached and the hollandaise the right side of tangy.

Sally's posh cheese toastie was another symphony of sourdough, packed with molten taleggio cheese and excellent chorizo.

But it was the huevos rancheros that really stood out as the dish of the day. A cast iron pan full of spicy beans, chorizo and baked eggs, topped with rocket and accompanied by two slices of (you've guessed it) sourdough toast and a huge mound of smashed avocado which looked every inch like a dollop of mushy peas.

It had me giggling at the probably apocryphal tale of metropolitan Labour MP Peter Mandelson who, when visiting a northern chip shop during campaigning, saw a vat of mushy peas and asked the chippy owner for "some of that guacamole".

I'm not a fan of avocados, so I don't like guacamole (I'm far more a mushy peas type of girl), but Gordon is and does - and while this wasn't strictly guacamole, he absolutely adored the avocado, which had a lime tang running through it.

Service was very friendly indeed, courtesy of some charming and very good-looking young people, who all looked bursting with health and energy.

I'm putting that down to a diet of sourdough bread, possibly. Gordon's elderflower and blueberry cake was packed into a box for him and we shared it later that afternoon at home. Gosh, it was good.

We were delighted to have been introduced to Homeground. This is an unassuming coffee shop doing brunch fabulously well. If brunch is your bag, you'll love it. We did.

LOUISE ALLONBY

Food 5

Service 4

Atmosphere 3.5

Value 4

Pros

Generous, quality food

Lovely staff

Open all week

Cons

Challenging acoustics

You really need to like sourdough