Restaurant Review: Brunch at Mercante, Sheraton Grand London Park Lane

Style Points: 3/5
Price: ££
Overall: 4/5

Mercante is a hidden gem located inside of the Sheraton Grand London Park Lane , an unpretentious but elegant authentic Mediterranean restaurant in contrast with the grandiose of a west end hotel.

Entering Mercante feels like you have been invited into an Italian home. The restaurant boasts bright yellow leather seating and booths, wooden square tables, black and white photography decked across the walls, large curved lamps and a map of Italy beautifully displayed on the wall closest to the kitchen. I also couldn't get enough of the detailed mosaic tile flooring print.

What's on the menu?

When we arrived, we were first given squares of warm focaccia, it was soft and tasted freshly baked with a crunchy crust. The olive oil is already a staple on the table and is housed in a cute oil can which you can pour to your preference.

As it was a Sunday morning after a Saturday night out, I was craving eggs and a cup of mint tea. I ordered scrambled eggs with Tuscan sausage which was very satisfying. The sausage was naturally salty in the way that chorizo is but was really tasty, it also had a chewy harder texture much like chorizo but was lighter in colour. My eggs were soft and fluffy and the sourdough bread tasted lovely but was really difficult to cut through, I think a serrated knife is probably more appropriate for this.

My guests ordered the poached eggs and avocado to accompany his coffee fix. His also came with sourdough so he had a similar problem but said the eggs were cooked to perfection and served with avocado and tomatoes. He would have preferred the avocado smashed rather than sliced but this is a personal preference, we're all very precious about avocado aren't we?

Brunch at Mercante Sheraton Hotel review

Lunch menu Mercante Sheraton Hotel review

My main was roast chicken and rosti served sizzling with peppers in a rustic dish. It was full of flavour, lots of tomato and red and green peppers. The chicken slipped off the bone. The small chunks of rosti made it really easy to eat and it didn't feel like a huge Sunday roast although it had the ingredients of one.

My guest ordered the mussel linguine which is served al dente, nice and fresh. The sauce had a spicy kick to it and the mussels were a little tricky to eat but were cooked well and tasted flavoursome.

I was quite full but we really wanted to taste some of their choices of gelato and sorbet from the menu. My guest had a scoop of almond and ricotta (you could taste the ricotta coming through slightly more than the almond), a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of vanilla which were dreamily smooth.

Similarly, my banana and pineapple sorbet was gorgeous and not too sweet or too sharp. I'm going to need to have that again! I had the sorbet on the side of fluffy pancakes which were slightly harder at the edge, served with chopped strawberries and drizzled with a strawberry coulis. As I'm starting to realise is Italian custom, I was encouraged to eat all of my delicious food and how could I resist?

Dessert Menu Mercante Sheraton Hotel review

Can I afford to dine here again?

We ate our way through a 3 course brunch or maybe I should call it lunch! We opted for this as Mercante offer a fabulous Prosecco Brunch where 2 courses cost £15 and 3 courses are priced a £30. This is a bargain, considering Mercante is housed in the Sheraton Grand London Park Lane!

Overall?

Mercante serves great quality food made with the best seasonal produce, for a fresh, authentic Italian taste. But it's not all about the food, and staff at Mercante were friendly and helpful to the extent that I felt comfortable enough to have a very relaxed Sunday meal before heading back into the bustling city.