Best brunch spots in Cambridge

Unless you go to Pembroke and have the daily opportunity for waffles and copious other brunch options, you might be suffering from a brunch dry spell. And no one wants that.

Here’s a run-down of the very best poached eggs and avocados Cambridge has to offer to cure your week 7 soul.

Old Bicycle Shop

If you walk slightly further than you would normally down St Andrews street you come to Old Bicycle Shop. It’s recognisable in that there’s a very long bench outside for hipsters and their hipster dogs to sit outside and look unassuming, and there’s a bike stuck vertically into the wall outside. It’s a great place to sit and work, with a huge skylight. If you sit outside (risky at this point in term) they even provide hot water bottles and blankets, which is amaze.

Aside from the obvious eggs Benedict and Royale, they serve an amazing shakshouka and their sweet potato pancakes with apricot, brazil nuts and yogurt are insane (and yes, we are aware of how basic that sentence makes us). The coffees are also very good (what’s brunch without coffee?) – with the lattes being pretty much the size of a pint. So needed at this point in term.

so much basicness

Urban Shed 

If you want to beat the crowds that gather from about half 12 and guarantee that you won’t get a seat, go for breakfast which is served until 11am (if you’re an arts student, don’t forget to set an alarm). When a friend and I went the other day, we even managed to get a table to ourselves, each, leading to the comment that we had “broken up”.

With the Team First App you get a ‘breakfast in a box’ and a coffee for £4.95 that includes basically everything you could actually need/eat for breakfast and more. If you’re vegetarian they also make a big effort and properly replace what you’re not getting with a meat option.

Surveying the kingdom from Six

Six Cambridge 

Brunch is actually not the main feature here, but it is still surprisingly good. Six has opened this term as the restaurant below the Varsity rooftop bar, and the views are worth coming for, if only for the fact that for the duration of brunch you can feel like you’re above everyone else.

For reasons as yet unknown (mostly because we cba – it’s week 7) their menu has a distinctly Australian twist. This includes an Australian delicacy called ‘Turkish eggs’ (yes, the appropriation is real), that your Turkish author would highly recommend. For the less adventurous/more basic there is, of course, the classic smashed avocado on toast, which is both delicious and Instagram worthy.

Espresso Library

If you manage the trek across Parkers Piece in these freezing cold winds  before lunchtime, you will be greeted with brunch options galore. Four out of seven of the options include avocado, and if that doesn’t tempt you I don’t know what will. Their smoky chickpeas on sourdough are delicious, and a friend claims he has never had better porridge. You heard it here first.

Warning though – the place is overrun with insta hashtags, vscocam filters and hipster beanies.

Much Cambridge. Such filter.

Copper Kettle

For the ultimate people watching opportunities, you can’t really get better than Kings Parade. The location also works for those who want to be seen and envied by all those who still care about their work (for the second time, it’s week 7).

There’s lots of light, the glorious facade of King’s and the amusement of watching tourists battle the crowds to take selfies with the chapel. They also have the perfect full English breakfast to cure that Cindies hangover. What’s not to like?

Fitzbillies

We have to end with this Cambridge classic. After all, classics earn their reputation for a reason and Fitzbillies does a great brunch to go with their famous Chelsea buns. Their eggs benedict is particularly delicious, while their grilled cheese’s and smoked salmon croissants to go let you have the perfect brunch even if you don’t have time to sit down.

Now go forth, embrace your basic side, and enjoy brunch.