Sunday brunch at home: curating the perfect delivery spread

Build a table, do not order a dish

A good brunch is not one big plate, it is 5 small things that work together. Ordering online suits that better than a restaurant does: nothing says everything has to come from one kitchen.

The rule of three textures

A table that works always has three textures: something soft, something crisp, something fresh. Two soft dishes and nothing else, and the table feels heavy before you are halfway through.

An example, for 4 people

• fritters and bread, from a bakery that opens early,
• an omelette or prepared eggs, from the closest kitchen so they arrive hot,
• fried plantain, which handles 20 minutes on the road well,
• a fruit salad, ordered last and delivered with everything else,
• bissap or ginger juice, bottled rather than poured.

The trick that changes everything: the same hour

Order from different kitchens, but schedule the same delivery time. Everything lands within about 10 minutes of itself and you are not reheating whatever came first. It is the feature people use least and gain most from.

What to make yourself

Coffee, every time. No coffee survives a journey in a cup, and a pot at home costs less than 3 brunches.