Brunch at NOP Restaurant

Brunch is a concept that found its way to Finland at the turn of the first decade of 21st century. And within no time there were queues to some of the nicest bars and restaurants in the Turku and Helsinki center on Sunday mornings, a phenomenon which I thought I would never see in a country that relishes hangover on Sundays! I love brunches. No need to cook yourself, just drag yourself to a restaurant and pay and then fill up your plate as many times as you like! Usually brunches in Finland are like a classier version of a hotel breakfast; a buffet. But depending on the style of the restaurant, of course. 

In the Eastern European countries the brunch culture hasn't been noted that much... yet. But little by little the habit is sneaking itself from the shores of Helsinki into Tallinn. And finally about a month ago I noticed that one of my ultimate favourite restaurants here, the aforementioned NOP, has started to serve brunch!

Obviously I took the first opportunity and reserved a table from there when I had a friend from Finland visiting. Actually the brunch there wasn't that different from the regular menu. It was the regular menu but the breakfast one. That's fine, though, since I haven't tried the breakfast menu yet. I ordered a sandwich topped with two poached eggs, avocado and smoked salmon with a little side salad and also some glutein-free pancakes soaked in raspberry sauce and berries. Oh the bliss! My friend got some smoothie with spinach and mango in it, very interesting combination but actually really good, and also some scrambled eggs with halloumi cheese. Such a nice change for a hangover day-menu: instead of the regular pizza and burgers a healthy, stomach-friendly options.

The best part of the morning was the NOP's chai latte! I love chai latte and ever since having tasted the one in Urban House in Bratislava I thought nothing could beat it! But I have now found a competitor to Urban House's chai latte. It was actually so good that I ordered a second one once the first had been consumed. 

NOP is never a disappointments, it's healthy, it's fresh and it's absolutely tasty every time! But I do hope that they will in the future widen their brunch from the breakfast menu into a buffet-kind of a brunch. There's nothing wrong with their breakfast menu, it has a wide selection of nicely priced and tasty options but especially on Sundays, when you could just eat and eat and eat, a buffet option might be a little bit nicer than a menu. With buffet you pay a set price and eat until you drop.