COYA Mayfair is your one stop shop for delicious food, immaculate vibes, and now the Soul Grandioso brunch. For those that don’t know COYA is a lifestyle group with restaurant locations in Dubai, Paris, Mykonos, Monte Carlo and more. Their aim is to deliver a luxury experience of Latin America across music, art, and of course food.
The award winning brand kicked things off in 2012 at its flagship Mayfair location and through stellar service, food, and event curation has expanded to eight locations. On top of this, their dedication to providing excellence has seen the brand expand over into the realm of music launching their in-house music label COYA Music. The COYA group is no stranger to brunches but launched their new immersive Soul Grandioso brunch at their Mayfair location in October 2022.
What’s On The Menu?
COYA offers an extensive menu that falls into Nikkei cuisine. Nikkei is a style of cooking that is becoming increasingly popular across the globe, but the cuisine has a history that spans back over 100 years. It is not a “fusion” cuisine, in the way fusion has been used as a buzzword within the food world. Nikkei is a distinct cultural cuisine born from a wave of Japanese migration to Peru towards the end of the 19th century.
From this migration, Japanese workers brought with them their traditional cooking techniques and combined them with Peruvian produce to create dishes that felt reminded them of home. As the workers settled and over subsequent generations this led to the cuisine developing into the Nikkei cuisine we know today, which is broadly defined by the use of Peruvian produce with Japanese techniques. The cuisine gets its name from the word “Nikkei” which is a Japanese term used to describe descendants of Japanese immigrants.
The Brunch:
For the Soul Grandioso brunch, you get to experience this in full. The brunch might work a little differently from the way you’re used to. Instead of giving you a whole heap of options and making you choose a couple from the menu, all you have to do is pick your main. Besides that, you will be presented with the entirety of the brunch menu which will have you trying well over ten dishes. Don’t be alarmed, that doesn’t mean any food will be going to waste or that you’ll be struggling for table space.
The meal is served in four sections – it starts with an assortment of starters before moving on to a ceviche platter. There is then a pause in service as performers enter the dining room, but more on the entertainment shortly. The mains are then brought out and finally the dessert platter. Across this offering, you will try COYA favourites as well as be served half a bottle of champagne throughout the brunch.
Entertainment:
As mentioned, alongside the food at the Soul Grandioso brunch you’re also treated to a selection of entertainment. Throughout the brunch, the resident DJs spin a blend of uplifting house with soul, funk and disco – of course, all of it comes from the COYA Music label. Yet on top of the DJ, you have dancers performing in extravagant costumes as well as a talented vocalist who takes on hosting duties and keeps the energy going. You’ll be treated to two performances whilst at your table, and the fun continues after dessert should you choose to stay aroud.
Our Experience:
Is there any meal better than brunch? It’s so versatile in terms of what can be served and it’s one of the few mealtimes that when you mention it brings up thoughts of fun. Maybe it’s the fact we tend to expect it to come with alcohol. But, having been to many a brunch, I wasn’t quite prepared for the Soul Grandioso brunch. The Saturday I visited didn’t get off to the best start, just as the brunch was about to begin there was some torrential rain which meant me getting drenched just as I approached the chic Mayfair branch.
Thankfully from that point onwards there’s not a bad word to be said about my experience. The staff were amazing, from security welcoming you in to the cloakroom and wait staff being attentive and warm – you’ll immediately feel at ease. The interior is just what you’d expect from Mayfair, elegant but without being too over the top.
But the food is what you really want to know about right? The starters were nice with the Taco de Salmón being my favourite of the selection and the quality of the ceviches was undeniable. Surprisingly, out of the ceviche dishes, the one that stayed on my mind throughout the brunch was the Picante de Pepino which has no fish at all and instead has cucumber and green apple taking centre stage. I know it sounds weird for the non-fish cerviche to be the best, but the mix of it being slightly sweet and having a different texture from all the rest really made it stand out.
Opting for the Bife Angosto Picante for my main, on my first bite I thought that was going to be the standout of the meal. The glaze was sublime, and even though the medium sirloin came a touch overdone for my liking it was by far my favourite dish. That was until the dessert platter came out.
Granted I have a bit of a sweet tooth, but I think anyone would have been blown away by it. Firstly, the dessert platter is huge, if you have a table for two it pretty much takes over every bit of space on it. On the platter is a selection of fresh fruit, freshly fried churros with chocolate sauce, a decadent brownie with ice cream, the best crème brûlée you’ll have in a London restaurant, a selection of filled biscuits, and a meringue dish served with a fruit coulis. The selection was sensational and everything was delicious but the best of the best was definitely the crème brûlée which was topped with a biscuit crumb (that I suspect was Biscoff) closely followed by the brownie.
Final Thoughts:
All in all the Soul Grandioso brunch was a fantastic experience. Is it a brunch you’ll go to every weekend? Well realistically no, but for a celebration or just a treat it is the perfect brunch. You’ll come out full after some truly delightful dishes, and whilst you’re there you will be thoroughly entertained. The entertainment really elevated the whole experience and although you get half a bottle of champagne with your brunch, the staff are very generous with what they consider half a bottle. Don’t expect to come out plastered, but you’ll definitely know you’ve had a drink. This is definitely a luxury brunch experience.
The Soul Grandioso brunch runs exclusively at the Mayfair location (for now at least) and only on Saturdays between 12pm & 4pm. There’s an optional after party in the members club that runs from 4pm to 7pm if you don’t want the vibes to end. There are two packages offered for the brunch to choose from – Veuve Clicquot (£90pp) or Dom Perignon (£150 pp). With each package you get the same choices of food and service, the only difference is your choice of champagne for the brunch – and you get half a bottle regardless of which package you choose. You can view the full brunch menu and make your Soul Grandioso brunch booking here.