For a British multi-story, multi-concept restaurant including a bakery, gastro grill, and rooftop, glo London sells itself short with its overpriced and underwhelming food. Shelling out 218 RMB will get you a three-course brunch, but 178 RMB will suffice for a two-course meal. While these are pricy offers, they are better values than the à la carte items, which include pancakes for 88 RMB or steak and eggs for 248 RMB. Unfortunately, the set menu does not include beverages, so you should either lower your expectations or be willing to spend an extra 20 RMB for an orange juice.

The first course offered different types of yogurt smoothies, a nice starter for a heavy three-course brunch. The Banana Booster, with muesli, banana, and honey was a nice balance between the yogurt and banana – not too thick or milky. The Revitaliser with orange juice, kiwi, and blueberries, did not exactly reinvigorate me as its misleading name would suggest, but the combination of fruity flavors was very pleasant. Again, it had a nice consistency without overwhelmingly thick yogurt or overly liquidy juice.

The second course had few exciting options; besides the Banana and Walnut Pancakes, they also offered yogurt, fruit salad, and a chef’s salad, all upwards of 78 RMB à la carte – a huge ripoff. The Yogurt Parfait was essentially the same as the yogurt smoothies, but with thicker milk and diced fruits--in other words, a huge disappointment. I imagine parfaits as containing thick, creamy yogurt layered with copious amounts of fruit, but this was the complete opposite. Served in something similar to a margarita glass, the small portions further lowered my expectations for the rest of the meal. Fortunately, the Banana Walnut Pancakes provided some solace. The pancakes were fluffy, yet a bit dryer than my liking (unless they were doused in syrup). The syrup was mild and complimented the buttery pancakes quite well. However, there definitely could have been more bananas and walnuts to balance the topping to pancake ratio.

The third and final course offers brunch classics such as eggs benedict, steak and eggs, and breakfast platters starting at 118 RMB à la carte. I tried the glo Big Breakfast, which was composed of two grilled homemade sausages, grilled cured bacon, grilled tomato, baked beans, hash browns, grilled mushrooms, two eggs, and toast. First off, the plate was "garnished" with ketchup in all four corners, which ended up spoiling both my tomato and my toast. Getting ketchup on my tomato was like putting applesauce on an apple – redundant and pointless. As for the toast, which I had planned to put butter and jam on, the ketchup had ruined it too. That being said, the grape jelly tasted artificial, so I suppose the ketchup contaminating the toast was a blessing in disguise. As for the rest of the platter, the sausage had flavorful pork filling, yet the outer layer was extremely filmy and chewy. The ham and bacon were very dry, so they remained relatively untouched on my plate. The eggs were fine (but then again, if the kitchen cannot cook an egg properly then the entire establishment as a restaurant should be called into question). Overall, I would not return. For the price, I certainly was not expecting such lackluster food and such typical and boring options. In any city, brunch is a very saturated field and should most certainly provide more unique options to entice eaters, but glo London does not deliver on that front. The entire concept of glo London seems intriguing with its different restaurant styles for every floor; however, I do not think it is worth returning to after such a poor impression.

Address

1 Wulumuqi Lu 乌鲁木齐路1号 Subway: Metro Line 1/7 - Changshu Road Phone: (021) 64666585 Website:http://www.glolondon.com/This article was written by Tatiana Bautista. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Tatiana Bautista