World Food Brunch at Giraffe Manchester Trafford Centre

Brunch has got to be the best meal of the day, right? Not only because it’s your breakfast and lunch all in one (double the deliciousness, right?) but because there are so many options. Hot, cold, spicy, mild, healthy, hearty. There’s tons of different options and so to celebrate my love of brunches, I decided to visit Giraffe Manchester at the Trafford Centre, to see how their world food offering would serve up brunch…

We arrived at the Trafford Centre on a payday Saturday – risky business, if you’ve ever been before! – but turning up at around 10am we were met with lots of parking spaces, lovely quiet walks around the shops and a relatively chilled Giraffe restaurant. Evidentially, the key to doing brunch at the Trafford Centre is to go early and avoid the rest of Manchester getting their shop on.

Sitting down in Giraffe (in the main food court area – which is actually officially the largest food court area in Europe!), we started off with a fresh smoothie each. I chose a ‘Mango Mama’ smoothie full of mango, strawberry, banana, orange, apple juice. Jonathan chose the Ginger Blast smoothie, containing ginger, pineapple, apple juice, elderflower cordial and banana – both £3.85. It was a relatively healthy to start to what – for me at least – was not so much a healthy end!

We ordered our food off the breakfast menu and Jonathan made an unusual choice for him and opted for the Avocado Smash (£6.95). He was served up a generous portion of mashed avocado, poached egg, chilli, parsley and roasted vine cherry tomatoes served on artisan sourdough toast. I, on the other hand, opted for a classic fry up; the ‘big brunch’ (£8.50) – and big it was! It comes as standard with smoky bacon, Cumberland sausage, baked beans, fried or scrambled eggs, potatoes and artisan sourdough toast. However the staff were more than happy to oblige switching out items and I got to choose some mushroom and sweetcorn fritters to try instead of the sausage.

Both of our big brunches were totally delicious and had we not had to drive to the Trafford Centre, I am sure we would have enjoyed washing them down with a cocktail or two from Giraffe’s extensive list. Instead, tea and coffee did the trick, and we will definitely be back to try a wider selection of Giraffe’s menu. Their breakfast menu especially is impressive, with some breakfasts and hot drinks available for just £5, and other options coming from around the world such as from Mexico (Huevos Ranchero), Turkey (Breakfast Pide) and Iran (Spiced Masala Eggs). Their wide range of food is really impressive… And has only spurred me on to try more brunches from around the world!