Little Chef, Axminster, Devon - 11th Jan 09

The Butlers are on there travels again with our yearly pilgrimage to Cornwall.

First stop was the Little Chef at Axminster in Devon which is a previously visited venue, however on this occasion we had Poppy with us which meant that things like having a high chair available came into play!

I went for the Early Starter breakfast and Jo went for the American Style breakfast which is pancakes and crispy bacon.

The early starter was not too bad, it comprised of a sausage, two has browns, beans, toast and a good runny egg. All the components of a good breakfast. What was it lacking, well it was a little greasy, the location was not the best and the Little Chefs are starting to look dated and have seen better days.

Having said that the staff were good, and our waitress even took Poppy's bowl and washed it for us after she had had her Wheatabix !

So overall, not too bad a start to our holiday week, and a well deserved 7.5 out of 10.

Giraffe, The Oracle, Reading

Giraffe opened late in December at The Oracle, Reading and on there first morning of opening i decided to try there breakfast menu!

Well, initial impressions of the menu were good, a fair range of breakfast paraphernalia on the list! However it was clear that the pricing was in the mid to high range, although i think that is to be expected with a chain, similar to Tootsies.

The breakfast i went for hit the 'average' scale, with it lacking sausages and hash browns, however the chef excelled with the eggs which were lovely and runny.

Presentation was good and there was a added bonus of good company, which has not been used as a bonus point, but was suggested and accepted!

Overall a reasonable breakfast, but lacked the true, cooked breakfast list of essentials and because of this it scored 6 out of 10.

Penny Hill Park Hotel, 20th September 2008

Our wedding anniversary was on the 19th Sept, yes i know a year already!

Well to celebrate, we decided to splash out and go to a posh hotel for the night. Now i think we have been lucky in where we have had the opportunity to stay and visit since we have been together, and this hotel has to be high on our list, and thankfully the breakfast did not disappoint!

As usual, with a hotel, this was a buffet style breakfast set up, which is never going to score a 10 out of 10, but it was damn close!

The choice was fantastic, the only item missing, so they miss a bonus point, was marmite!

As well as the usual line up, sausages (choice of two different types), bacon (crispy and streaky bacon!), freshly cooked eggs to order, toast and fried bread, they also had a choice of black pudding and white pudding. Now i am not sure if it want too know what white pudding is, but i enjoyed it!

The location, although not a sea view, it was nice, overlooking the gardens and spa area (which was out of this world!).

So, to the all important score .. a very impressive 8 out of 10.

Hilton Hotel, NEC, Birmingham

Following our disappointing breakfast experience last weekend we were hoping that this breakfast was going to be an improvement, and i am pleased to say it was! The breakfast dining area was nice, clean and good staff. As norm with hotels, it was a buffet style breakfast and the choice was excellent. Fruit, cereal, meats and of course the cooked breakfast range. I decided to start healthy and had some grapefruit first before hitting the main course! Orange juice and coffee was brought to the table and was ok, not a particularly strong coffee, but again that is normal for hotels. The range for the cooked breakfast was good: eggs (fried and scrambled), sausages, tomatoes, beans, mushrooms, hash browns and bacon. The food was warm and apart from the fried eggs did not look as if they had been warmed for too long. The hash browns were the type that had a heavy onion taste which is not my favourite but still with a bonus point for having them on the menu. I have also added another bonus point to the system, a bonus point is now added if Marmite is available! So to the score, well i am going to give them a good 8 out of 10!

Thistle Hotel, Brighton

Oh dear. Well i guess it had to happen, yes, you have guessed, a really bad breakfast!

We stayed at the Thistle Hotel in Brighton and liked the hotel. It looks like a 70's lump of concrete and spoils the sea front view, but if you have a sea view room like we did, it was great, apart from the air conditioning has seen better days and struggled to cope!

The best thing i can say about the breakfast is that the view was very good, apart from that it went down hill.

The food was buffet style, like most hotels, but i would guess that it had been under the heated lights/heaters since about 5am. The beans were well baked, the hash browns, that would usually get a bonus point, were over cooked and far too crispy. The sausage was under cooked and the bacon that you would of thought would be too crispy was just greasy!

We were very jealous over everybody eating there nice cooked breakfasts on the sea front after our poor one!

Two out of ten!

Oakley Court Hotel - Sunday 27th April 2008

We were away from home over the last April weekend, and a stay away from home means an opportunity to have a cooked breakfast!

This breakfast was at the Oakley Court Hotel just outside Windsor, Berkshire.

It was a buffet style breakfast.

On the plus side there was a reasonable choice, hash browns were on the menu, which for me is always a bonus point. Two choices of eggs and proper English sausages. But can you notice from the picture, or what is missing from the list i have already given!

Beans, beans is the answer! How on earth can you have a cooked breakfast without the choice of having baked beans.

I know shocking, but there was no beans in sight. Tomatoes, but no beans!

Ok, so you get the picture. It was never going to get 10 out of 10. The only other down side would be cost, although this was part of the deal and we did not have to pay, but hotel breakfasts are never cheap.

Score: 7 out of 10.

12th Jan 2008 - Part 2 - Drakes Coffee House, Exeter

Following our short 'fuel' stop at the Little Chef we headed for Exeter and met up with the rest of the clan and headed for central Exeter.

Now having visited Exeter on our last trip, we were hoping to have a rough idea where to head, but in the end we ended up having a little wander and finding an independent cafe.

When you are looking the for the ideal cooked breakfast you cannot beat a independent cafe. This one, Drakes Coffee House, was just off the main road in a little alley with just a sign outside. It was small and cosy, probably only able to seat 20 people or so, but it was ideal.

There was a good choice of breakfasts and the one being reviewed here was the 'Brunch'.

So what did we get. Well it was a good range, 2 x fried egg (runny - extra point) hash browns, beans and two sausages and bacon.

All the correct ingredients!

And too the score, well it hits a very good 8 out of 10. Why not ten, well no view, no drink included.

An excellent start to the week with a high scoring breakfast that did not leave you too full up and ready the for the lunchtime Guinness !!

12th Jan 2008 - Part 1 - Little Chef

Ok, so here we go!

We had a trip to Cornwall in January, a full family outing, and of course this included an early start and a breakfast stop. Well in fact, two breakfast stops for us!

We set out at about 6am, heading for Exeter with the plan of meeting up with the Berkshire Butler's to find a suitable breakfast establishment. However along the way, at around 7ish we got a little peckish and decided to squash in a 'small' breakfast to keep us going.

So we stopped at a Little Chef en-route to Exeter. Now i have reviewed Little Chefs before, and they are never going to score high on the breakfast scale so we kept it simple. It was toast and two poached eggs. Healthy eh!

As this is not a true 'cooked breakfast' it does not really deserve a rating, however it would of scored a 5 out of 10. Very average all round!

Onwards to the real breakfast in Exeter!

Wot no breakfasts!

Not true, i have sampled a few breakfasts since our last post, but have been extremely bad at posting them online, so breakfast followers, sorry if you have been starving, waiting for your next breakfast tip ... here they come, i am trying to catch up now!

Sugar Bar/Cafe, Bank Street, Newquay

We had not planned on a breakfast today, but the 'urge' came over me to have a cooked breakfast and having seen the 'A' board outside this cafe/bar we decided to go in. We had visited this location before but since we had it has been 'done' up and now fits in to the 'trendy' bar scene during the summer. No doubt to earn extra money during the summer and to keep the business going during the winter they serve good and offer breakfast in the mornings.

A number of options existed on the menu, i went for the 'full breakfast' which included bacon, tomato, sausages, sautéed potatoes, beans, toasts and if you like them, mushrooms.

This was never going to be a 10 out of 10 breakfast due to the sauteed potatoes - i just don't get it, i like them, but they just don't work with a cooked breakfast.

Having said that, it was a good breakfast. Two sausages, which were really good, nice runny egg, and toast which was warm.

Location was ok, and despite having Sky News playing when we went in, they turned over after us hearing about 'The Wally with the Brolly' !!! and we had the radio playing in the background.

Tea/Coffee was included in the price (£3.99) and overall it was a good breakfast, not the best in the world but good.

8 out of 10.

The Holy Grail ?

For those who have been following this blog from the start they will know that this rating of cooked breakfasts started in a cafe in Newquay many years ago! Well, we are back, and we today visited the location of the famous 10 out of 10 breakfast!

Firstly, we have to point out that the original establishment is no longer there, the cafe, although maintaining its name, has no doubt changed hands and has certainly been refurbished. The 'surfie' look of the original cafe has gone and now it is 'young' and 'trendy'. I actually think it is ok, and although the seats are a little tight it looks good and no doubted was well overdue for a face lift, but for some, it might not be that perfect cafe anymore!

So, to the breakfast. Well there as a number of choices but the three of us went for the 'Number 1' breakfast which included - sausage, egg, beans, hash browns, fried bread and bacon. And, for the first bonus point, a free cup of tea or coffee!

Tea / Coffee was good and the Orange Juice was also fresh.

Breakfast was cooked from fresh and was quick to arrive. Fresh egg, well cooked hash brown, well cooked bacon, and plenty of beans to 'gel' the breakfast together, and the toast was still warm.

It filled you up just right, you did not feel over full or bloated, it was just right.

But did it reach that magical 10 out of 10?

NO! - Why not, well for a number of reasons - too many beans, they swamped the plate, for the £4.75 we paid, a bottomless cup of tea/coffee would of been nice. Although a tomato was included in the bigger breakfast we think it should of been on our plate too (or mushrooms for those that like a mushroom or two!).

Also as a side note, and this did not loose the breakfast points, Sky News was playing on the TV Screens, nice to have some background music/noise - but not Sky News, who cares what politicians are doing when we are doing important things like having a cooked breakfast and planning the rest of our day!!!

The weather was foul and it prevented us being able to sit outside, i think in the past being able to sit outside and watch the world go by added an additional point.

9 out of 10.

Little Chef, Axminster, Devon

As is tradition when setting off for a Butler holiday, a cooked breakfast is required. Well not being one to buck the trend we headed for a breakfast establishment on our way to Cornwall.

We ended up at a Little Chef, more out of hunger than choice!

Little Chef's have a large range of breakfasts, as long as your arrive before 11am, after 11am you have a choice of two, the Olympic Breakfast or the Early Starter. We both went for the 'Early Starter' which was 1 sausage, 2 x hash browns, bacon, baked beans and toast.

Well the service was very quick, the breakfasts arrived before we had really got started with our coffee. Beans, sausage were good, bacon a little under cooked and then the hash browns. Hash browns would normally earn a bonus point from me, and especially with two, but not on this occasion, this was due to the fact that they were fried or dipped in cooking fat as they did not taste very good at all - no bonus point!

Finally, a serving error caused another point to be dropped - we ordered orange juice, it did not arrive!

The view or location could not save the breakfast, so a very average 5 out of 10.

John Lewis, Southampton - Return visit!

When we started this blog i had not thought that we would repeat any of the entries, in terms of locations visited, but - i was wrong!

On this occasion two judges (there can only be two!) visited the John Lewis store in Southampton and tried out there breakfast. (Saturday 10th November 2007). To refresh you memory, on the first visit the breakfast scored 6 out of 10.

Well, i have to report that John Lewis have lost a point!

It was always going to be hard with two judges, but what it came down too was the following:

Sausages undercooked! Although they still offer two sausages as one item, they were not brown and it was as if they had been cooked in the microwave!

The fried bread was a little over cooked making it too crispy.

The bacon was again undercooked and had a lot of fat on it this time.

Still no hash browns!

On the plus side the tea pot was big and allowed for two cups of tea.

Lastly, if you've had a good breakfast, you know it, and you feel as if you enjoyed it, this one just left you feeling bloated and regretted having it!

So, John Lewis have dropped a point!

5 out of 10.

Hilton Hotel, High Street Kensington, London - 27th October 2007

Now, this is an interesting one, in terms of does this breakfast fall into the true cooked breakfast category. Why i hear you ask? Well slow down, and i will tell you!

As per a lot of London hotels, they tend to either do a continental breakfast or a buffet style cooked breakfast. Yes you have to do the hard work and go up to a buffet and make your own decisions on what you want on your plate! To some, that might not be acceptable, however, on this occasion i have let it pass, mainly because it was a good breakfast!!

The breakfast was hot, they had hash browns, and the egg was freshly cooked and runny! Black pudding was available, an optional extra in terms of scoring, but again on this occasion i think it deserved a point!

The coffee was poor, weak, but it was bottomless. The bacon was a bit stringy and not as cooked as we would like it, but it was ok. Location, well it was ok, and only a few 100yds from an Mac show (ok ok, that does not deserve an extra point!)

So, the score, well i am going for an 8 out of 10 ! Yes the highest scoring breakfast so far in this blog!!

A trip to Cornwall is getting close for us, so keep an eye out on this blog, you never know, that 10 out of 10 is out there!!

City Cafe, High Street, Southampton - 17th October 2007

Its been awhile since i have sampled an 'independent' cafe breakfast, so how could i turn down the opportunity of trying a local cooked breakfast! So on a recent day off i did, and it was not too bad, not great either, but ok!

The cafe was fine, thank god for the No Smoking law! Service was good, coffee was not so good - weak and not enough of it! (A bottomless cup of coffee scores extras points, if i have not mentioned it before).

The breakfast itself, well again, it was ok, i forgot to ask for no mushrooms, so they appeared on my plate - now although i cannot dock them a point for mushrooms, just because i don't like them, they must of been out of a can and were still swimming in a bit of the water on the plate - a clear case for docking them a point!

The sausage was also poor, probably one of those processed ones, just not very tasty. Hash browns were also missing.

Toast was good, and the inclusion of the 'gel' for all breakfasts, baked beans, were present. The egg was small but nice and runny.

Cost: £4.00 for the regular cooked breakfast.

Overall - a standard 6 out of 10.