Breakfast nomination #10, TriBeCa in Brunstfield

Breakfast nomination #10, TriBeCa in Brunstfield 

Nominated by Kerr Henderson 

Originally reviewed on April 3rd, 2016 

His score: 5/6 

My score: thank fuck there's a good American restaurant out there to beat the shit out of Bruno's 7-7 pish

He ate: Original Brooklyn breakfast (pancakes w/ sugar and maple syrup) (£7.95) with 2 added scoops of ice cream (£2.50) and a banoffee pie snow blizzard milkshake (£4.50) 
I ate: Manhattan Grand Slam breakfast (full cooked breakfast) (£9.75) and a Summer Cooler smoothie (£3.75) 
Total cost: £28.45

The saddest man to ever
drink a milkshake

Our pros: really friendly and attentive service; very bright and well decorated restaurant; lots of choice on the menu for brunch; brunch served until 5pm; lots of American-themed food across all menu and drink options, and it felt like a more authentic American-themed restaurant than past places we'd been to *cough cough*. 
Our Cons: a tiny bit crammed where we were sat and the full cooked breakfast seemed a little overpriced for what it was. 

Our experience: When we first walked in it seemed like every single table was taken and we started cursing ourselves for not seeing if we could book a table in advance - which has so often been our downfall in the past. 
We stood for a couple of minutes wondering if anyone was going to approach us but eventually someone did and they were very polite and explained to us that they would just wipe down a nearby free table then seat us, and that even though they did actually have extra seats downstairs, he didn't want us to be seated down there by ourselves with no others customers in there yet. 
I wouldn't have minded that though, being the anti-social bastard I am I would've quite happily had us have an entire room to ourselves to munch breakfast in. 

My favourite picture of Gary, possibly ever

Despite a small squeeze to get into our table with two other sets of customers on either side of us (with me trying not to accidentally sit on their breakfasts as I squashed past them with my big posterior), we felt quite content when we sat down and took in our surroundings. 

There's a lot of New York themed décor on the walls - photos of famous NY landmarks; subway signs; red rick walls with painted information on them and even half a taxi cab stuck to the wall that I stupidly failed to get a picture of before leaving! 

I wouldn't go as far to say that this place was strictly an authentic American diner, as I don't think that's what it's trying to be, but it is certainly an authentic American themed restaurant and we loved the sheer volume of options for brunch (and other meals) that ranged from seemingly average UK breakfasts to proper American style food, such as sweet pancakes and French Toast etc. 
They also had a huge range of milkshakes, smoothies and hot drinks and though I usually have tea with my breakfast, I had to opt for a cold smoothie due to the humidity (or my hot flashes...) making me feel like I would burst into flames if I let a hot drink touch my lips.

 During our visit the music in the background seemed to have a late 90s/early 00's feel so we found ourselves listening to a lot of Will Smith (Men In Black), Robbie Williams (Rock DJ) and Justin Timberlake (Rock Your Body) which was certainly an interesting experience and actually fit quite well with the surroundings. 

It seemed like the staff were all happy and enjoying their jobs. Every member of staff that dealt with us was polite and friendly without being overbearing, and genuinely seemed happy to help us. 

The only minor gripe I had was that I felt my full cooked breakfast was quite a bit on the expensive side, also my bacon was a bit too salty and crispy for my liking but other than that, Gary and I both agreed that our food was nice, the environment was lovely and the service was great compared to past experiences so perhaps the price was justified in terms of the entire experience. 

Also, my breakfast came on a huge plate and I had difficulty finishing it so the portion sizes for both of us were more than adequate, and the staff gave us a good handful of complimentary Jelly Beans with our bill which we found the room to scoff, despite the odd flavours making our experience a little more like food Russian Roulette (seriously, one of the Jelly Beans was spicy, ugh). 

I would strongly advise anyone looking for an American-themed meal, particularly breakfast, to choose this place over Bruno's 7-7 Diner (which is by High Riggs/Lauriston Place). TriBeCa offers a huge range of choice, quality food, a warm and welcoming environment and a great level of customer service, and I guarantee you will find none of that at Bruno's unless you catch them on a rare day where they decide to actually take some pride in their work. 

TriBeCa made a pleasant change from some of our past experiences and we both left feeling happy and content with our experience so we would both 100% go back, especially to try out their lunch and dinner menu. There are so many options, I feel there is something for everyone at TriBeCa. 

Also, from Mon-Fri, 8am-11am they offer a bagel with one topping and unlimited coffee refills for just £3.95. And if you're a student, you can get 50% off your bill on Tuesdays between 5pm and 10pm - so definitely well worth checking out if you've got a student ID. 

What’s next: the Waiting Room in Morningside, nominated by my mum.

Breakfast Nomination #9 - Marie Délices in Morningside

 Nomination #9 - Marie Délices in Morningside

Nominated by Kerr Henderson

Originally reviewed on March 20th, 2016

"Bonjour, bonjour!!!"

His score: 4.4/6
My score: omg, stop with the French already

He ate: le Marie Délices gourmand (basically a savoury gallette type thing with a choice of two ingredients and then a sweet crepe for after with one ingredient, and a choice of either a large coffee, tea or hot chocolate). Gary chose to have an egg and bacon galette, then a butter and sugar crepe, with a hot chocolate (£7.90)
I ate: the same option but instead having salmon and egg in my galette (£8.50)
Total cost: £16.40

Our pros: lovely interior; very bright, friendly service; tasty food; very peaceful and quiet, and reasonably good value for money
Our Cons: staff were friendly but dealt with us so quickly we had no chance to ask for anything extra; there was far too much French going on the whole time we were there (merci, merci! bonjour!! au revoir!!!!); the website for the place offers very little useful information; portions are a little stingy; and the place felt a little...not wanky, but that it specifically attracted wanky people.


Our experience: "Let's do a brunch this Sunday," I say to Gary every week. 
"Ok," he dutifully replies. 
"Actually, let's just have a lie-in on Sunday," I inevitably say every Saturday night. 
"Ok," Gary replies, relieved. 
But this week I finally had enough and said "Let's just get it over and done with!". 

Gary and I actually originally went to review this place in early January right before we went to London but the website for the place was next to useless as it has a section that says "our menu" that literally just says something along the lines of 'we sell crepes' but with no information on what kind of crepes, or if they even serve anything else. 
Also, there is 0 information on if they do brunch, and if so at what hours which is *extremely* unhelpful for us when we're trying to plan a review. 
So, Gary and I originally went around midday back in January and sat down, only to realise they stop serving brunch at 11:30am - information that was on the front of their menu, along with a list of everything they actually serve food-wise (perhaps useful information to put on your website, no?). 
We ate there that day but as it wasn't for breakfast, we didn't review it and decided we'd go back at a later date. 

Ok, so 11:30am in not particularly early, especially when the place you're reviewing is literally a 15 minute walk away from your front door but still as I've said in many reviews prior, I'm lazy and I like sleep so it took us over two months to return and today, mainly due to pure chance, we found ourselves strangely awake at 9:30am on this beautifully sunny first day of Spring so we just decided to go for it. 

The waitress who served us was incredibly bright and bubbly but spent most of our visit enthusiastically throwing French phrases at us at every opportunity, which felt more for the benefit of other patrons who may enjoy going here to practise their French and feel like they're in France for a bit. 
However, for me who did standard grade German and about two minutes of intermediate 2 Spanish, and Gary who hasn't done French since he was in high school in the late 1840s, we were a little out of our depth and uncomfortable. 

Service was polite but the waitress never stopped to breathe or ask us if we wanted/needed anything else. She simply cleared away old plates/put down new plates and garbled "merci merci!!" before scuttling off to the kitchen again. 


The food was very tasty but the portions were pretty minuscule even with having essentially two courses; savoury then sweet, we still left feeling a little empty after. 
Also, the hot chocolates were far from flavoursome so we probably should've just gone with our usual teas instead. 

We left to a lot of enthusiastic "AU REVOIR!! MERCI MERCI!!!!" as the door closed behind us and felt that this place was not really for us. Sure, if you want to pick up a tasty crepe and maybe practise some French while you're at it then on you go but ultimately this place smacked of the kind of location semi-snobby people might go to feel cultured and sophisticated and perhaps arrogantly show off their handling of the French language, but then again what else would you expect in South Morningside? 

Tasty food, small portions, way too much French so probably won't return. 

What’s next: (which at this rate we will get to in 6-8 months) in the Killer Restaurant nominated by Daniel (Fawcett). Though as this place doesn't actually seem to have breakfast on their menu (yet?), we may need to skip ahead to the next nomination after that which is TriBeCa in Morningside, again nominated by Kerr.

Breakfast Nomination #8, Bijou Bistro on Leith Links

 Breakfast nomination #8, Bijou Bistro on Leith Links

Nominated by Megan McFarlane

Originally reviewed on January 10th, 2016 

His score: 3.5/6
My score: where's my Eggs Royale

He ate: the veggie breakfast and a pot of tea included in the price (£7.50)
I ate: the Bijou breakfast (full cooked breakfast) (£8.50) also with a pot of tea included in the price
Total cost: £16

Our pros: nice and warm compared to the bitterly cold rain outside; very good prices, especially with the tea included with breakfast; reasonable service; mostly quiet interior and a nice view of Leith Links from our window seat. 
Our Cons: my original order was declined as they'd run out of Hollandaise sauce; service was not rude but a little brusque perhaps in the sense that there was little warmth coming from the main guy serving us, who may or may not have been the owner; the food was a little greasy and stodgy, sitting in our stomachs for hours afterwards, and there was nothing even slightly that stood out about this place or seemed particularly bistro-like. 

Our experience: It was a bitterly cold day and the streets were flooded with puddles but we still dutifully dragged ourselves out of my cosy, sheltered room in order to bring you all the first breakfast review of the year. 

Bijou Bistro was nominated by Megan some months back and I’d imagined something possibly exotic or with a foreign twist to it, however this place turned out to pretty much be your standard café. 
Perhaps the ‘bistro’ part was in relation to other meals you could order from the menu for lunch or dinner, as the breakfast menu was extremely regular and if anything, was limited in comparison to other places we’d been to. 

We wandered in the front door, scouring the small café for a free two seater table but found all of them to be occupied or reserved, however a very tall bald man quickly stood up from his seat by the window and gestured us into it. 
He wasn't just a conscientious customer offering us his table but presumably the owner who had either been trying to entice customers in by sitting in the window pretending to be an enthusiastic customer or just having a little rest until we had arrived. 

We happily sat down and Gary quickly began stroking the nearby radiator to regain some feeling in his fingers as even the short journey crossing Leith Links had quickly made us shivery and numb. 

We had grudgingly pulled ourselves up and off the 16 as it got to the bottom of Leith Walk and crossed the street towards Leith Links, only briefly interrupted by a charming man who cut in front of us and noisily gobbed so ferociously on the road that I wouldn’t have been able to keep my breakfast down had I already eaten it. 

We were handed our menus at the 'bistro' and had a quick scan to see what was on offer, but it transpired that it was your typical breakfast menu with a veggie or meat full cooked breakfast, breakfast rolls, a few egg-related things or variations of Eggs Benedict. Nothing standing out and the options pretty limited. 

 I decided to have Eggs Royale as I like my salmon but when we went to order we were simply told (after the owner shouted to the kitchen for confirmation) that they were out of Hollandaise. It was only 1pm and there was no clear explanation for why they were ‘out’ and no substitution was offered in place of the sauce, so effectively three breakfast options on the menu were already struck off by the fact they were ‘out’ of Hollandaise (Eggs Benedict, Eggs Royale and Eggs Florentine) only really leaving the full cooked breakfasts or breakfast rolls as options. 
I decided instead to get the Bijou Breakfast (typical full cooked breakfast) while Gary got the veggie breakfast. 

Honestly, I understand that places run out of ingredients but when they’ve only been open from 10am (three hours at this point) and they’re already run out of something which is a key ingredient in three of their breakfast options, which they will still be serving for another hour and a half, I just find it hard to believe there wasn’t some kind of workaround where they could’ve substituted the sauce or maybe made it without Hollandaise and discounted the meal at the end. 
Also, when he told me they were out of Hollandaise, he just kind of looked at me like “so, pick something else then” without saying anything. I don’t think there was even a vague apology or anything so I was put off by that. 

When the food came out, Gary and I peered down at our plates and noted there was probably a teaspoon worth of beans on each of our plates if we were lucky. There was plenty food there on the plate granted, but the tiny portion of beans almost seemed insulting as I could've counted them all on two hands. 

In terms of the actual breakfasts, the fried eggs were a bit squished up and the yolks weren't runny; the black pudding was more on the fatty/greasy side than ones we’ve had in the past, and even the potato scones felt a little fatty as they’d fried them in oil too. 

I wish I had something more exciting to say about this place. I enjoyed sitting in the window and looking at the rain falling heavily outside (until I realised we would have to go out in it again soon, and my God, did we get absolutely drenched on the way to Ocean Terminal) while Gary and I discussed Ted Talks, a friend’s recent addition to the family (congratulation Willie and Lisa!) and possible things to do in London when we travel there in a week. 

It was cosy by the radiator but the cramped nature of the café and the layout felt like we were almost sat by the kitchen with all the staff there while we were chatting to each other. 
Every now and again laughter would erupt from the kitchen as we heard staff members impersonating Jar-Jar Binks and we even heard a Chewie wail at one point so, suffice to say, the experience didn’t feel very personal. 
Also, I always feel self-conscious enough photographing our food and each other during our breakfasts in case someone points, laughing at us for being those sad people who can’t eat a meal without Instragramming it first, so the close proximity to the staff just made me feel even more aware of how silly I’d look photographing everything (hence why Gary's image is absent from this review - he'd just snuck a picture of me when I was buttering my toast). 

The trouble is that I expected something a little more unique about this place but ultimately it fell flat. It wasn’t a bad place by any stretch of the imagination but I wouldn’t hurry to go back. 
Everything felt average; the food, the service, the décor and the breakfast options. The only big plus was the prices. We managed to get two large cups of tea each included within the price of our breakfasts so ultimately, £16 for what we got is a pretty damn good deal compared to past breakfasts where we’ve been charged closer to £30 for the same type of meal. 

Maybe we’ve been spoiled with more elaborate breakfasts/cafes in the past but nothing stuck out about this place that would make us particularly recommend or mention it to anyone. Also, we’ve been sat still feeling breakfast in our stomachs six hours later so that’s definitely leaving a bad taste in my mouth. 

What’s next: Marie Délices in South Morningside, nominated by Kerr (who has been waiting, no exaggeration, about 6 months for this one).

Breakfast Nomination #7 - the Tower Restaurant in the National Museum of Scotland

Nomination  #7 - the Tower Restaurant in the National Museum of Scotland 

Nominated by Claire Wheelan

Originally reviewed on November 15th, 2015 

"They're going to throw us out, 'cos we're SCUM!"

His score: 4.8/6
My score: fancy but overpriced

He ate: ham hock with fried eggs and toast (£8.95) and a hot chocolate (£4.50!!!)
I ate: French toast with Ayrshire bacon and maple syrup (£8.50), also with a hot chocolate (£4.50!!!)
Total cost: £26.45

Our pros: nice views (probably would be better on a nicer day, obviously); friendly staff; really nice décor with a bright and clean atmosphere; offered different things on the menu from the norm such as granola, porridge, ham hock etc; our food was delayed but only because the chef was unhappy with how the dishes had turned out so he remade them so they were to his high standards and this was explained by the waitress; you can book online before you go to ensure you have a table; and lastly, the place was extremely fancy but the staff made us feel very welcome despite us both walking in drenched by the rain and in our check flannel shirts and fingerless gloves like a pair of hobos. 
Our Cons: hot chocolate and teas were priced as £3.95 on the online menu but were actually £4.50 in the restaurant; there didn't seem to be English breakfast tea on offer at all so we settled for a hot chocolate that was sickly sweet with bitter cocoa sprinkled on top and I'm genuinely shocked at the fact it cost nearly £5 as I wouldn't pay that even for the best hot chocolate out there, let alone for one that was a few sickly, lukewarm mouthfuls; strange edible flowers sprinkled all over both our meals, so were presumably for decoration but tasted bitter and earthy so we had to pick them off so as not to spoil our food; staff were friendly but a tad overbearing and felt like they were almost scared (perhaps used to more intense and rude customers with it being quite a fancy place) when asking us if we were ok and clearing dishes etc; my food was very sickly (perhaps too early in the day for maple syrup) and made me feel unwell after, also portions were small for the price and although the food was definitely cooked well and of high quality, it felt more as though we were paying for the service and fancy surroundings more than the quantity and quality of the food we were getting.

Our experience:  We think we would go back here for other meals, and if I were to go back for "brunch" (as they call it on the menu) then I would order something different. 

My food was a bit sickly sweet and I was put off by the fact they don't seem to offer regular English Breakfast tea. 

It was refreshing to see a few new things on the menu as I mentioned earlier, but they fact they had no traditional breakfasts on offer (i.e. full Scottish) was a bit odd. 

There were mostly variations of Eggs Benedict or French Toast so as much as it was nice to see granola and porridge on the menu, it would've been nice to have some traditional café breakfast-type foods too. 

You get a nice view of the castle from your seats and on better days you can sit on the small terrace outside. We would love to go back here on a sunny/warm day and enjoy the outside seating. Unfortunately today, it was just rain and mist on offer on the Edinburgh skyline. 

I would recommend this place to anyone looking for a fancy experience - we had our coats taken to be hung up, napkins placed on our (uncomfortable working class) laps and drank our (free) tap water out of big wine glasses. We did feel a little bit like fish out of water at times, but the staff were very friendly and not snobby despite how fancy the place clearly was. 

What’s next: Our next nomination is Bijou Bistro on Leith Links, nominated by Megan McFarlane.

Breakfast Nomination #6 - the Ship on the Shore, on the Shore (obviously)

Nomination  #6 - the Ship on the Shore, on the Shore

Nominated by our supervisor, Strevs

Originally reviewed on November 8th, 2015 

His score: 5/6
My score: might not go back for breakfast but I'd definitely go back for other meals

He ate: the Ship's Classic Breakfast (essentially a full cooked breakfast) (£9) and an English Breakfast tea (£2.50).
I ate: the Ship's Eggs 'Royale' (eggs Benedict with salmon) (£9) and also a tea (£2.50).
Total cost: £23

Our pros: good, attentive customer service; nice, cosy interior; quite a fancy selection of food but not so fancy you wouldn't know what you were ordering; fresh food and everything seemed to be locally sourced, especially the salmon which was probably the best salmon I've ever had - smoky and delicious; breakfast felt quite light which can sometimes be rare when you're having a cooked breakfast as it usually winds up sitting in your stomach all day, also the restaurant was in a nice area, though a little out the way, so it was nice to go for a walk along the waterfront after breakfast. 
Our Cons: my poached eggs were completely flavourless and I felt like all I could taste was the water they'd been boiled in; Gary's fried egg was overcooked and also flavourless and the breakfast felt expensive for the portions we got but it has to be noted that the quality of most parts of the meal were pretty high i.e. Gary's bacon was perfectly cooked and had no fat on it and he also said the sausages were great and he even enjoyed the black pudding which he doesn't normally even like, it was just that when you look at the portion you get for paying £9 it could feel a little like you're getting ripped off. 

Our experience: It took us 3 months, but we finally did it! 

During the past 3 months, Gary and I have been going to other breakfast spots (because we were too lazy to go to Leith to do this nomination and there was confusing information on the website for this place saying the serve breakfast until 11:30am but served FOOD from 12pm-10pm) and it felt like we'd been cursed because I cannot name one place we've been to since our last nomination that gave us quality breakfast or even good service.
One of the worst places we visited back in October was Bruno's 7-7 Diner in High Riggs. We got rude, slow service and the food was disgusting and shockingly over-priced. I'm not over-exaggerating when I say that we felt literally robbed when we were given the bill for the slop that we barely ate and had waited over 40 minutes to even receive it. We nearly walked out, and I wish we had because it really ruined our day and leaves a bad taste in our mouths even now.
We were chastised by an employee during our visit to Bruno's then insulted after leaving a review for the place online so we were in desperate need to go to a place that served nice food and gave service that was something even just slightly above 'appalling' to make up for the experience.
So hopefully now we've done *this* nomination, we will have broken the curse! 

The service was lovely here and compared to that shithole (Bruno's Diner) that we went to last Sunday, it wouldn't be hard to beat. 
The waitresses that served us were attentive and nice but not overbearing - they gave us space but made sure they checked back on us at regular intervals. 
At one point I stupidly knocked my knife onto the floor and the waitress quickly came over and offered me another one straight away even though I was just being a clumsy oaf. 

Initially the place seemed perhaps overly-fancy, there was actually cutlery on the table that neither of us knew what to do with but thankfully the waitress promptly removed them after we ordered - either cos she knew we weren't going to need them or she could sense we were uncultured swine who wouldn't know what to do with them even if she had left them behind. 

The biggest let down for me just had to be my poached eggs because they tasted of nothing but the water they'd been boiled in, and I think my muffins could've done with being more toasted as they got soggy quick under the mountain of Hollandaise sauce they were delivered with. 
But the salmon was delicious so perhaps they were just having an off day eggs-wise. 

Gary and I agreed we might not go back for breakfast, or if we did we'd maybe order something different, but we would definitely go back for lunch or dinner because the food quality was high and it felt welcoming despite seeming quite fancy on the surface. 

If you were feeling particularly fancy one day, you could order a champagne breakfast for £22 - that gives you a glass of champagne, any breakfast on the menu, a tea or coffee and a basket of toast is included. 

What’s next: Our next nomination is the Tower Restaurant in the National Museum on Chamber Street, nominated by Claire Wheelan. Hopefully it won't take us 3 months to go do that one... I also hope we've broken "the curse" now as I swear we've had nothing but shit food and service everywhere since we went to Patisserie Valerie (obviously I mean outside of this breakfast challenge)!

Breakfast Nomination #5 - Patisserie Valerie on North Bridge

Nomination #5 - Patisserie Valerie on North Bridge

Nominated by My oldest, deary friend Ashley

Originally reviewed on August 2nd, 2015 

"I like my eggs to have a bit of randomness about them."

His score: 5.6/6
My score: tasty tasty

He ate: a blueberry muffin (£2.20), a full Scottish Breakfast (£7.95) and an English Breakfast tea (£2.75)
I ate: a pain au chocolat (£2.50), eggs Royale (essentially eggs Benedict with salmon) (£8.50) and also a tea (£2.75)
Total cost: £26.65

Our pros: friendly service despite busyness; really tasty food that tasted fresh and well cooked; they offer sit in or takeaway service; really pleasant atmosphere and I loved the décor (lots of framed vintage prints and gold framed mirrors); it was really nice ordering a sweet treat with breakfast and they have a huge selection of amazingly tasty things, I had trouble resisting the urge to order them all. 
Our Cons: really huge tea serving set for some reason so it took up quite a lot of the table; quite a long wait between getting the bill and the waitress collecting the payment; some quite high prices on things that was a little off-putting, and the service started off a little flustered due to the masses in the café though that did calm quite rapidly once we were seated. 

Our experience: Firstly, this is our most delayed review ever as it's already been over 24 hours since we even ate this breakfast but hey, I get lazy sometimes! Anyway, here it is. 

I think after a string of not so spectacular places, Patisserie Valerie definitely stood out. 
If I'm honest, I was a little put off initially as we arrived during the lunch rush and we were told there'd be a wait. I'm fine with waiting, however during this wait I was looking around at what sort of things were on offer and all I could see in the pastry case was about 75 different types of tarts (as it transpires, all the delicious cakes get put in the window to lure in greedy people such as myself) and they had packaged items in the take away fridge that were ridiculously expensive e.g. a cup of fruit salad for nearly £5. 

However, when we looked through the menus during our wait that the waitress who greeted us at the door had handed us, the prices for the breakfast items we planned to get were pretty much in line with or even cheaper than other cafés we'd been to previously so that was fine.

It was a really nice change taking advantage of the fact this place was a Patisserie and ordering ourselves something sweet before we got our breakfast. My pain au chocolat was toasted lightly so when it got to the table it was warm and the chocolate was deliciously gooey. 
Gary really enjoyed his blueberry muffin as well saying that the blueberries were very full and tasty, and didn't all congregate in the middle of the muffin as is prone to happen with other blueberry muffins. 

For the prices, we were both satisfied with our portions. I think mine seemed expensive initially but as it contains salmon, it's not really that surprising. 
Gary's breakfast had very full portions and tasted very good, though he said it could have done with some sauce, which we were not offered. Also he felt he was given too many mushrooms but that's just madness - how can you have TOO MANY mushrooms!? I would've helped him out no problem if he'd offered, sheesh!

Everything was beautifully presented though Gary felt the poached eggs were "too perfect", hence the random egg quote preceding our review. I personally thought they looked amazingly cylindrical so I was happy. 
The biggest let down was that when we were given the bill, our waitress (who had been very polite and friendly despite the lunch rush) said "There's no rush, just pay when you're ready" only, we were ready to pay right away but she disappeared to the other side of the café and was chatting to colleagues for over 10 minutes. I'm not the kind of person who is comfortable flagging down the staff or gesturing them over from 20 feet away because to me, it feels rude and I also thought that she would check back on us considering we had asked for the bill. 
Eventually Gary nodded her over and we paid. 

We still left a tip because despite that wait at the end, I couldn't fault the rest of her service. I'd definitely go back here - the food was delicious and I'd be keen to go back even to just get a cake and a tea.

My friend Ashley - who nominated this place, has bought us many different cakes at various points in her career with Patisserie Valerie and they're all so amazingly gooey and tasty and mmmm, I need to go back and eat some cake. 

A very nice treat after a bit of a breakfast hiatus; would definitely recommend. 

What’s next: Our next nomination is the Ship on the Shore, on the Shore (of course) nominated by our supervisor Strevs.

Breakfast Nomination #4 - the Southern on Clerk Street

Nomination #3 - the Southern on Clerk Street

Nominated by Simon Messer, an old college of mine

Originally reviewed on July 5th, 2015

"Is that a sympathy sausage?"

His score: 3.5/6
My score: just ok in terms of breakfast but would definitely go back for dinner or lunch

He ate: "blueberry pancakes" with maple syrup and crème fraîche (£5) with a pot of English breakfast tea (£2.50).
I ate: the Southern Breakfast (essentially a big, full cooked breakfast with all the usuals) (£8) and also a tea (£2.50)
Total cost: £18

Our pros: friendly service upon arrival; nice layout; reasonable prices; orange juice comes with full cooked breakfast; complimentary bourbon with tea, and mostly decent food.
Our Cons: extremely quiet waiter who served us after we sat down; bitter tasting tea; not a huge selection on the breakfast menu, and Gary was very disappointed as his pancakes were cold when served and he expected/would've preferred them to be hot.

Our experience: All in all a reasonably pleasant experience but nothing extraordinary and for some reason our breakfast was briefly interrupted by a couple slow-dancing and singing along to "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" on their way out the door after their own breakfast. Ok then.

I personally feel like this place was lacking a little in terms of breakfast but I have to highlight that the menu for lunch and dinner was actually huge and had many varied choices. I've also heard a lot of good things about this place so I would be quick to return for a meal other than breakfast.

When we arrived the waitress who greeted us was friendly and funny but we didn't really see her again after we sat down as we then got served by a waiter who talked so quietly I needed Gary to translate for me.

He whispered something about whether we needed sugar when he delivered our tea, though I felt like the sugar should've just come with the tea - what is with places rationing sugar like it's WW2 again!? Though when he did bring the sugar, it came in quite a cute little tin - though one that had a design probably literally from WW2 era.

The tea tasted a little bitter to me - even with the sugar! And for some reason none of the hot drinks seemed to appear on the menu for the place so I didn't know what prices/options there were and I really don't like when you don't know what your options are or how much they cost - what's the point in having menus otherwise?

My breakfast was tasty enough and filling, but nothing special compared to most cooked breakfasts you would get elsewhere.

Gary was let down that his breakfast was cold so it was obvious the pancakes weren't freshly made and also that the "blueberry pancakes" as advertised were actually just cold pancakes with blueberries sprinkled on top as an afterthought as opposed to something akin to a blueberry muffin with blueberries immersed and cooked within the batter. A little bit of false advertising there I think, hmm!

He did say the crème fraîche was really tasty though and I donated a sausage and black pudding to Gary so his breakfast wasn't so piddly, hence the "sympathy sausage" quote.

I will say that this place had an exciting looking menu for other meals and lots of choice for alcoholic beverages if you were to go back later in the day.
They also did snacky things while you waited for your food so if you wanted to order a wee bowl of spicy popcorn or olives for about £2 each then you could have something to nibble on waiting for your main meal.

Gary and I agreed we'd go back in a heartbeat for other meals but in terms of breakfast, this place fell a little flat and it would've been nice if the waiter who served us could've spoken above a whisper as my wizened old ears couldn't pick up a fucking word he said!

Still, this place was miles above McDonald's and I didn't feel like vomiting all over myself after so that was nice change from the last nomination to say the least.

What’s next: Our next nomination is Patisserie Valerie, nominated by my oldest and dearest friend Ashley.