Brother Marcus – a garden café serving all day brunch, Caravan Coffee and cocktails – has just opened in the heart of Balham. The indoor/outdoor café, bar and event location is the brainchild of three school friends Alex Large, Arthur Campbell and Tasos Gaitanos.
Alex, Arthur and Tasos first bonded over a shared passion for food, the hospitality industry and the dream of one day opening their own place. Over the next few years, they lived and breathed the industry, gaining experience in everything from coffee to street food.
With just three days and a small budget to turn the venue around, Alex, Arthur and Tasos opened Brother Marcus. Making pretty much everything themselves; they built the distressed wooden tables, shelves, benches and bar in their back garden, changed and restrung all the lighting, affixed and created the signage, potted all the plants, painted walls, built their website, created a portfolio of photography, finalised the menus – and finally opened their doors.
With a retractable glass façade, light spills throughout creating a warm and relaxed atmosphere seating 35 guests inside and 28 outside. The colour palette is a composition of stone grey, creamy vanilla, hues of honey and caramel from the natural wood and vibrant greens from the potted foliage lining the walls.
Purchasable artwork from London-based artists adorn the walls leading guests to the sunlit herb garden, as morning transcends into evening the fire grill lights up as meats and vegetables are prepared for their selection of big boy sandwiches.
Focused on seasonal, organic and the highest quality produce, Brother Marcus is passionate about every ingredient used from the St Ives eggs to Cypriot Halloumi. Their brunch is available daily, featuring dishes such as Sister Special with avocado, spinach, poached eggs, bacon and sourdough; the Brother Special poached eggs, asparagus, smoke salmon, avocado and spinach and The Step Sister with courgette, beets & feta fritter, avocado, spinach & poached egg.
Big on their drinks, especially when it comes to coffee, Brother Marcus uses Caravan quality green coffee with true mindfulness to social and environmental impact, a natural synergy with the ethos found at Brother Marcus.
