Jamie’s Italian – Gatwick Airport

Jamie’s Italian – Gatwick Airport

I'm jetting off to warmer climes for a few days, but took the opportunity to road test another of the UK fast growing chain restaurants - Jamie's Italian. I thought it might be a bit unfair to judge the whole chain on its airport offering, but having looked at the website, this is the only branch that actually offers breakfast.


The full Monty is £9.75 and for that you get a very healthy portion of 2 sausages, sweetcure bacon, two eggs (any style), black pudding, tomato, beans, mushroom, fried potato and onion. Having got up early to get the airport that sounded like just the ticket!

The presentation of the food in a symmetrical pattern was obviously very considered, even if it was a little unnecessary. The bacon and sausages were well cooked and good quality, without being award winning. My poached eggs were perfectly cooked, the golden yolks spilling all over the plate. 

On the other hand, the potato and onion combo seemed a bit out of place and unnecessary.  The mushrooms lacked flavour, perhaps portobello rather than chestnut would have given it a bit more oomph.  

Another thing to note was the "King" brown sauce (a Jme product) was sweet and tangy, due the inclusion of black treacle in the ingredients.

The coffee was good, if a little overpriced, it was a shame it didn't arrive until I was have way through my fry up.

Must dash, I'm off to Lisbon. If I find a decent fry up over there of course I will let you know!

The verdict
A sizeable fry up, with all the vital ingredients, recommended if you are off on hols. Maybe they should expand the menu in all locations....

    

Bistro Union – Clapham

Bistro Union - Clapham

Abbeville road runs parallel to the East side of Clapham common and is home to an abundance of cafes, bistros and restaurants, hidden away from busy Clapham high street. This area is apparently known as “Abbeville village” (a name that I’m sure was coined by estate agents rather than locals) but with its upmarket butchers and bakers, I can see why it has stuck. And it is here we find Bistro Union; self-proclaimed “quintessentially British bistro”, I thought this would be the perfect place to get a good breakfast.

We didn’t get off to the best of starts unfortunately. It was about midday when we arrived and the restaurant was about a quarter full, however, after a bit of umming and erring we were offered a seat at the bar. A bit odd really as whilst I’m sure some of the tables were reserved for lunch, others remained empty for the whole time we were there. The bar wasn’t so bad though, as we found the first of the restaurant's little ‘quirky’ features; a small drawer under each place at the bar, with cutlery and napkin inside. Another nice little touch and in keeping with the idea of a ‘local’ restaurant is the 25 little drawers above the bar, where you can store your bottle of your favourite tipple, so you can have some whenever you pop in (much more useful if you are coming for dinner rather than breakfast).

We didn’t get off to the best of starts unfortunately. It was about midday when we arrived and the restaurant was about a quarter full, however, after a bit of umming and erring we were offered a seat at the bar. A bit odd really as whilst I’m sure some of the tables were reserved for lunch, others remained empty for the whole time we were there. The bar wasn’t so bad though, as we found the first of the restaurant's little ‘quirky’ features; a small drawer under each place at the bar, with cutlery and napkin inside. Another nice little touch and in keeping with the idea of a ‘local’ restaurant is the 25 little drawers above the bar, where you can store your bottle of your favourite tipple, so you can have some whenever you pop in (much more useful if you are coming for dinner rather than breakfast).

Brunch is served until 3pm on a Saturday and 4pm on a Sunday; The fry up is £10, but I decided to go for the juicy brunch pack which is a fry up, a coffee and a fresh orange juice for £12 (you could go one step further and have the boozy brunch, which swaps out the OJ for a bloody Mary, £15).

The coffee and Orange juice were both great, the latter served in a half pint dimple glass (very British) with a slice of blood orange. So far so good.

Then arrived the main event; in an incredibly hot frying pan were two chipolata sausages wrapped in bacon, a fried egg, black pudding, tomato and mushrooms. And on the side beans and toast. The presentation was certainly different but it made it bit tricky to eat, one because you are very aware of not touching the sides and being scolded and two because it kept the food extremely hot to the point that the tomato and black pudding were too hot to enjoy. Once you puncture the golden yolk of the egg, it continues to cook which is a real shame. There were some good things though, outside of the frying pan the homemade baked beans were great and the fresh bread toast was good too.

The verdict
A fry up that ended up being style over substance, but still an interesting place if you want something a bit quirky.

Rating:

Bill's - Richmond

Bill’s – Richmond

Summer is here! Well not quite, but it was a lovely day for a stroll around Richmond and Kew gardens, but not before a fry up to set me up for the day. We headed to Bill’s, which is just off Richmond Bridge. Bill’s is a chain of restaurants with the tagline breakfast to bedtime and it seems to have grown exponentially over the past few years, there are now over 30 of them UK wide and 15 in London.

All of those branches have a similar style, which to me is a bit of a hybrid of the Leon restaurant chain and Jamie’s Italian’s. There are 5 litre cans of oil olive stacked up in every nook and cranny and elsewhere produce like cloudy lemonade and posh chocs line the walls, all available to buy. It all feels a bit cramped to me, in fact as we were dining, a ,large display of dried chillies fell over and spread chill seeds all over the restaurant, because someone brushed past it by accident.

The Service was certainly brisk, we were handed menus and asked to order drinks before we had even sat down, but there was a good selection and the flat white I had was as it should be.

On to the good stuff then; for £8.95 you get Cumberland sausage, fried free range eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, smoked streaky bacon, baked beans & toast. It was presented rather strangely in the plate, which most of the breakfast hidden under the eggs and had a subtle Mediterranean feel. The tomato was drizzled with a little bit of pesto and the toast had olive oil on it rather than butter.

The streaky bacon was served crispy (as it should be) and was packed with flavour, but the sausage was a bit if a surprise. On the menu it mentioned Cumberland sausage which tends to be long and served in a coil. What I got on the other hand was two mini sausages, which were rather herby (traditional Cumberland tend to be dominated by a peppery flavour, rather than herbs). They were quite nice however and probably complemented the rest of the plate better than a Cumberland. The toast was white sourdough, which again was a bit of a surprise as the waitress had asked it wanted brown or white toast and I had asked for brown. I often find sourdough to be too crisp and dry for a fry up and this was the case here. The fried eggs were good, but one of them was slightly overcooked, so the yolk didn’t ooze all over the plate, as I would have liked.

The verdict
Bill’s didn’t deliver what was ‘billed’ on the menu, but it was still a good plate of food, with a Mediterranean feel.

Rating: 

Riding House café – Oxford Circus

The Riding House café – Oxford Circus

The riding house café is one of the West End worst kept breakfast secrets. You will find it on most of the lists for “top brunches in London”, so I thought it was high time that I tested it out!
Located north of busy Oxford street, on the corner of Great Titchfield street and Little Titchfield street, don’t expect a safe haven from the crowds because when we arrived at about 11am on Saturday, it was packed! In fact, we booked a table a couple of weeks in advance (for 6), in order to get in.

The décor is interesting; a mix of classic French brasserie and modern distressed panelling. Rickety old chairs sit alongside plush dining chairs (I was pleased we had a table with the comfy looking sort!). It is heavily stylized, everything has been thought about. Even the Dyson hand dryer in the toilets is cased in a beaten metal, to keep the theme running throughout. The service was good; relaxed and not rushed, despite it being very busy. The coffee was strong and hot, the way it should be. 

The breakfast menu is extensive, from Kedgeree to pancakes, but the most importantly incudes “The full and proper breakfast” (£10.50). And what that means is two fried eggs, on white toast, a sausage, streaky bacon, black pudding, mushroom, tomato and baked beans. Nicely presented, on a plate that was basically a ceramic frying pan, all the ingredients are there to make this a top fry-up. And in parts it was, the black pudding was delicious, slightly laced with chilli, it was just a shame there was so little of it on the plate. The bacon and eggs were fine, without being outstanding. It was great to have a breakfast with beans on, but why I only got a thimble full is beyond me. The sausage wasn’t really up to scratch; it was quite dry as if it had been sitting about for a while and tasted rather bland.

The verdict
A stylized brasserie, serving a comprehensive fry-up but lacks top quality ingredients.

Rating: