La Brioche

22 Musa Yaradua St,. Victoria Island, Lagos

0818 842 1861

NOSA: I've been to La Brioche two times. The first was more of an attempt than a visit. I drove in and the security guy asked if I wanted to buy bread or go to the salon. Casually walked back to my car and drove out. Wasn't about to eat at a cafe-cum-salon. Not me, mate. 

FOLLY: That's funny but maybe the owner has two business ventures, or people confuse the location with another salon down the street?

NOSA: Anyway, I decided to give them another chance last Sunday. I think our original plan got nixed or something. 

NOSA: God, I hate the space sooooo much. I get what they're going for and I acknowledge the "cute" they've achieved, but I still hate it so much. It feels so tiny and claustrophobic. If I trip and fall over, I might smash up with my fall. 

FOLLY: I'm claustrophobic and I don't know what Nosa means by this space is claustrophobic. Sure, there are a lot of things in a small space but my heart wasn't racing with the usual "am I going to get trapped in here" feels I get when I'm in a stairwell or a tiny room with no light, or worst, an elevator. 

NOSA: All they need is a little more space. If they had Crust n Cream's space and replicated this, it would be so clutch.

FOLLY: They can grow with the space. If they feel their client base gets too big for this location they should, by all means, expand but until then I think they'll do just fine here. 

NOSA: The brioche wasn't the freshest. Funny, because you'd think that's their thing from the name. 

FOLLY: At least a day old, maybe the cook doesn't bake on the sabbath. 

NOSA: The croissant was a lot better, though.

FOLLY: Flaky, but not warm. I would have appreciated if they'd heated this up for 10 seconds as I love warm croissants. That's probably on me, though, as I guess I could have asked. 

The orange juice was a nice little jug for N800, unlike those other places that serve you a small glass for N1200. Sadly, it was bitter so I added white sugar to make it drinkable. 

NOSA: The mains, were what really won me over. I hated the space and my brioche wasn't the best, but our mains changed all that. 

I got The Monroe while Folly got their buttermilk pancakes.

FOLLY: With maple syrup (or so I thought), berry compote, and fresh strawberries. 

NOSA: The Monroe is breakfast sandwich with scrambled eggs, bacon, and caramelized onions in a croissant and all tied in by dijon mustard.

FOLLY: I didn't try Nosa's sandwich and I can't remember why. It was either he didn't share or there was cheese in it. 

NOSA: The whole thing just worked. I can't really put it in words, but it just worked. The mustard tied it all in so well and in a way I never expected. I wanted like two more when I was done. It was that good. 

FOLLY: I'm not a fan of mustard but Nosa is right, the dijon mustard was really good. I'd be damned if they told me this came out of a jar and wasn't homemade in their kitchen. 

NOSA: For a city without a lot of breakfast sandwiches, The Monroe is what we deserve. 

FOLLY: On my pancakes, I liked them. They were very thick and cakey, much unlike anything I'm used to but it was nice. 

I was expecting the thing in the middle ramekin to be maple syrup but it was some weird vanilla or sugar syrup that I didn't like. I much preferred eating the pancakes with just the berry compote and the strawberries. 

POSTSCRIPT

NOSA: This is such a slept on brunch spot. We slept on it too, but no more. If you can, give it a shot this weekend if your regular jaunts aren't clicking.

FOLLY: We didn't get to try dessert, although we had planned to. So, maybe we'll do another review of La brioche and just do dessert on that occassion. 

VERDICT

DAMAGE

Croissant - N600

Brioche roll - N400

Orange Juice - N800

The Monroe - N2450

Buttermilk Pancakes - N2050

PARKING

It's a tiny space so don't expect much from the parking situation