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The Cheeseman Breakfast Run

The Breakfast Run
What constitutes a really great breakfast in a restaurant?  Many would be very happy with a plate of good, old-fashioned, traditional bacon and eggs. That, in their minds, would tick all the boxes. But in hunting down the very best breakfasts on offer in eateries of various kinds in our capital city, we must also anticipate other tastes and preferences. There are plenty of folks who would rather opt for a pure and healthy yoghurt, muesli and fruit type of offering. Those of Celtic heritage would put their hands up for a good dollop of oatmeal porridge –‘Dinnae forget the salt, Laddie’!. Others would eschew eggs and bacon and oats and plump for a Continental Breakfast, replete with a selection of croissants, pastries, cold meats, preserved fruits and cheeses - and a selection of fruit juices too.

But does this mean that a restaurant/coffee shop/bistro that doesn’t offer one or the other or all of the above, should be penalised?  Should the quest for breakfast excellence be underpinned by the bedrock on which the foundations of a great breakfast are laid, the crowning glory of English cuisine, the Full English Breakfast, so popular a dish that many places offer it all day long? 

What constitutes a ‘Full English Breakfast’ anyway?  Does it start with kippers and porridge – as taken a nod North of Hadrian’s Wall – and should it then be called a full BRITISH breakfast?  Is it then followed by a selection of lamb’s liver, mince, kidneys, bacon and whatever type of cooked egg you would prefer? Or is the expectation merely for bacon, eggs , tomatoes and toast?

Some would say that bacon and eggs, in whatever form, must be on the menu of any joint wishing to be seriously considered as a good breakfast option.  Even a fresh, hot bacon and egg roll is right up there, in terms of complete breakfast satisfaction. Others would disagree, and be happier with a more continental approach, or with what many consider the healthiest type of breakfast – entirely constructed of raw, unprocessed, cereals, fruits and live yoghurt, sans added sugar!  I remember being somewhat dumbfounded the first time I stayed in Holland with Dutch friends met elsewhere, to be presented with a platter of cold meats, cheeses and a delicious selection of various rolls, pastries and rye bread, for breakfast.  But I ate some anyway, and could fully see the appeal!

Then there is that all important breakfast beverage, coffee, designed to give us all some wake up, get and go, with its high caffeine content!  Tea should also appear on the menu, but that particular beverage better comes into its own around 10 o’ clock in the morning and reappears at four o’ clock in the afternoon.  Coffee seems to be the beverage of choice everywhere at breakfast time, and a credible breakfast joint should offer a good range, underpinned by the ‘three musketeers’ of  any decent Coffee Shop - Filter, Cappuccino and Espresso.  In fact, any restaurant offering breakfast which cannot serve up the genuine article, using freshly ground beans, and freshly brewed, shouldn’t really be in the game, so be warned – freeze dried instant ‘coffee’ from a jar will just never do if you’re in the business of luring people out of their homes for breakfast!

Email clare@wildimaginings.net if you want your restaurant to be part of the BREAKFAST RUN Competition

Click on the Restaurants Below to view their Breakfast Review