Food and Drink: Bites BRUNCH

If you know which side your bread is buttered, drink a toast to brunch, that delicious elision of breakfast and lunch. Americans are always keen to "do brunch", so book early if you want to celebrate Independence Day tomorrow.

Bluebird, 350 King's Road, London SW3 (0171-559 1000). Brunch Sat, Sun 11am-4pm. Conran packs 'em in at the landmark Chelsea garage that houses the restaurant above his over-priced food shop. Weekend brunches under the skylights are uplifting. From only pounds 3.75 for croissant, Danish and jam, to around pounds 6 for waffles or Caesar salad. Sunday lunch is pounds 17.50.

Honest Cabbage, 99 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 (0171-234 0080). Brunch Sat, Sun noon-4pm.

This good-hearted former pub is now like an English brasserie. At weekends it has a neighbourly air. Great value brunch dishes include soup; eggs Benedict, Florentine or Christophe (with smoked salmon); fish cakes, sausage and mash; steak, egg and chips. Nothing costs more than pounds 10 - which is also the price of a jug of Bloody Mary or Pimms.

Mash, 40 Chorlton Street, Manchester (0161-661 6161). Brunch Sat noon- 5pm. Manchester's micro-brewery has a fancy brunch menu though should the breakfast pizza with black pudding, sausage, egg, tomato, mushrooms and cheese be recommended after a heavy Friday night? Safer alternatives, from pounds 5.50 for French toast, might be Caesar salad, eggs Florentine or Benedict, Welsh rarebit, or shoulder of lamb with salsa-verde mash and salad.

Montana, 125-129 Dawes Road, London SW6 (0171-385 9500). Brunch Sat, Sun noon-4pm.

In Fulham, London's own mid-West where the freer-ranging Sloanes roam, this was the first of the growing Montana group which now includes Dakota in Notting Hill, Idaho in Highgate and Richmond's Canyon, winner of Time Out magazine's brunch award. Expect great breads; roast chicken burrito; crab and sweetcorn cake; eggs the Benedict, Florentine or smoked salmon way; or a full breakfast - they haven't forgotten this is Fulham not Phoenix.

River Station, The Grove, Bristol (0117 9144434). Brunch Sat 10.30am- 2.30pm, Sun noon-2.30pm.

Bristol's former river-police station has been turned into an arresting glass and steel restaurant that's won awards for its architecture. Their modern British cooking is also some of the best of its type. Brunch proved so popular it has moved from the downstairs cafe, with the better view, to the upstairs restaurant on Saturdays, and on Sundays shares space with a more family-oriented lunch.

The White House, 2 Botley Road, Oxford (01865 242823). Brunch Sun noon- 3pm. Relatively student-free in summer, this bar and restaurant earns high marks for its Sunday session, with brunch served indoors or in the walled garden under shade-giving trees. Prices start at pounds 2.95 for bagels and come in at just under pounds 10 for calf's liver and bacon. Live jazz from1- 4pm.