I always have fond memories of brunch in college. You’d get up on the weekend and head out for some eggs to recover from a long night out. I still really want to love brunch. However, brunch is definitely en vogue so going is always problematic. The biggest problem is that a lot of places don’t take bookings. I’m not gonna wait an hour on a weekend to get something that may or may not be better than I can do at home. There are places that do take bookings, but then the next problem comes up: Any place that takes bookings that is likely to be any good is going to fill up in advance. I’ve heard about some of the wonderful brunch places in San Francisco. Have I been? No, because you have to book at least a month in advance. And unless I have someone coming to visit, there is a very small probability of booking with that amount of lead time. So when you wake up and it’s your birthday and you randomly decide to go to brunch, you have a small number of possibilities. I did find The Cavalier, and it did tick the “trying to be British” box, so I figured we should give it a try as there definitely was bookings available.
I didn’t realize until I got there that it’s part of the Marlowe group. My brunch experience at Marlowe was reading a lot of fantastic sounding things on the menu and then being severely disappointed when everything arrived. I was really hoping that The Cavalier would turn out to be different. We arrived and while there were plenty of tables ready, we had to wait to be seated at the small one on the banquette toward the front window. They decorated the walls with a lot of animal heads to feel like maybe an old British hunting lodge, but the coloring seemed really off to me. I was also puzzled at the seating, as it definitely felt more French bistro style than British pub style with the small round tables. The bar is definitely not like anything I’ve seen in a British pub either and definitely leans more to the French influence. I guess looking like it belongs somewhere in Europe is close enough for Americans.
I decided to get a bloody Mary because it was brunch, and my husband ordered the Pimm’s cup. What could be more British really? One thing I have to say is that most restaurants in the U.S. do make a much better bloody Mary than I got in the majority of places in London, so that’s always a bonus. This one was pretty good, but it needed a bit of something to really make it amazing. The Pimm’s cup was, well, not a Pimm’s cup. While the thought of ginger beer instead of lemon-lime soda sounded good, it did make it a bit sickly. And using Pimm’s and gin really just diluted the Pimm’s flavor. Perhaps just double down on the Pimm’s and forget the other booze? I know that standard recipe is a 1:3 ratio of Pimm’s to mixer, but more Pimm’s is really required to make it great.
Foodwise, we decided to split three dishes. Of course the scotched duck egg stood out at us, so we really wanted to get that starter. While we both really wanted the lamb and sweet potato hash, we definitely thought we should try other things on the menu, so we also ordered the breakfast sandwich. Weirdly, even though the duck egg was starter, all the dishes did come out together. Which was just annoying as the tiny round bistro style tables were definitely not conducive to fitting three full sized plates, two cocktail glasses and two sharing plates. But somehow we managed.
The duck egg was served with sauce gribiche and the sausage was made out of shrimp and duck meat. It was cooked really well, but honestly, the sausage didn’t really have enough flavor and the sauce seemed a bit out of left field. A nice grain mustard or some brown sauce would have really been a better pairing. So it was a nice scotched egg, just not as good as it sounded on the menu.
Next we dug into the sandwich. The potatoes on the plate were absolutely fantastic, I could have definitely eaten quite a few more of them. The sandwich though, was really nothing great. I make better ones at home, and the bacon was kinda tough and chewy so it was really hard to eat. Again, it was something that read better than it ate. Finally, we dug into the lamb and sweet potato hash. It didn’t feel that hash like to me, but the lamb was really tasty and gamey and did pair well with the sweet potato. It was definitely the best thing we ate (so I guess it was good that we had it last).
The Cavalier does definitely suffer from Marlowe syndrome, where the menu reads extremely well, but everything is just okay and it feels like they are playing it way too safe with the food. Everything just needs a good punch of flavor and excitement. I can see where they were going with the British influence on the menu, but they did seem to play it a bit safe and didn’t really hit full Britain with their dishes. (The English breakfast didn’t even have baked beans which is just unheard of!) It’s really difficult because I really do want to like it from the menu, but they really just don’t deliver.
Score: 3/5
Recommendation: Maybe something I didn’t try?
The Cavalier
360 Jessie Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
