The egg represents perfection in food to me. It forms the basis for so many wonderful foods but by itself is even better. The white, with its gentle flavour is always comforting but a runny yolk with its rich silkiness is probably my favourite food of all. As a kid, my favourite meal veered between boiled eggs with soldiers or fried eggs and bacon. As I’ve got older the fried egg stands secure as the greatest of all although it’s a thin line between eggy magnificence and disaster. A broken or solid yolk ruins everything.
One of the egg’s most triumphant settings is in a Full English breakfast. Eggs accompanied by some or all of a list of partners including bacon, sausage, black pudding, tomatoes, mushrooms, baked beans, fried potatoes and fried bread, although I can’t see why you would want the eggs to be anything other than fried. To finish things off you can’t beat a round of toast with marmalade and plenty of hot tea. Memorable Full English breakfasts include a wonderful plate of food at a café in the middle of Ware eaten while waiting for a business appointment, a huge meal complete with hot mugs of tea at Gutbusters in Brighton at 3 a.m. after a night of clubbing and a truly woeful attempt at Beijing airport at 6 in the morning.
One of the egg’s most triumphant settings is in a Full English breakfast. Eggs accompanied by some or all of a list of partners including bacon, sausage, black pudding, tomatoes, mushrooms, baked beans, fried potatoes and fried bread, although I can’t see why you would want the eggs to be anything other than fried. To finish things off you can’t beat a round of toast with marmalade and plenty of hot tea. Memorable Full English breakfasts include a wonderful plate of food at a café in the middle of Ware eaten while waiting for a business appointment, a huge meal complete with hot mugs of tea at Gutbusters in Brighton at 3 a.m. after a night of clubbing and a truly woeful attempt at Beijing airport at 6 in the morning.
 | Beijing airport's interesting definition of a Full English breakfast. But not as scary as the French style. |
Our own personal standard is pretty high. A Full English breakfast is an integral part of our Christmas Day ritual with eggs, bacon and sausages from the English Pork Pie Company in Buffalo, tomatoes, mushrooms, Heinz baked beans, buttered toast and tea. Worcester sauce is a perfect accompaniment with tomato ketchup and brown sauce available but not always used.
This post is intended to grow steadily as I get to sample the delights of fried breakfasts round the globe.
This post is intended to grow steadily as I get to sample the delights of fried breakfasts round the globe.
Charades, Hereford
Charades is a very comfortable guest house on Southbank Road in Hereford, an easy stroll away from the city centre. I and my family have stayed there a number of times and it remains a reasonably priced choice when considering a visit to the area.
The Full English breakfast is described as 2 rashers of grilled bacon, 2 oven-baked sausages, mushrooms, local free range eggs, slow-roasted tomatoes with fresh rosemary and baked beans. This came with as much sliced white toast as you could eat with marmalade available in small plastic individual servings. The bacon tasted good but tended towards the overcooked and the sausages were decent. There was little evidence of rosemary on the tomatoes. Eggs were satisfactory but the broken yolk on one was disappointing. The availability of Lea & Perrins was a definite plus. This provided a decent start to a day that would involve a long drive to Cumbria but fell short of being particularly notable.
The Full English breakfast is described as 2 rashers of grilled bacon, 2 oven-baked sausages, mushrooms, local free range eggs, slow-roasted tomatoes with fresh rosemary and baked beans. This came with as much sliced white toast as you could eat with marmalade available in small plastic individual servings. The bacon tasted good but tended towards the overcooked and the sausages were decent. There was little evidence of rosemary on the tomatoes. Eggs were satisfactory but the broken yolk on one was disappointing. The availability of Lea & Perrins was a definite plus. This provided a decent start to a day that would involve a long drive to Cumbria but fell short of being particularly notable.
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L'Enclume, Cartmel
Simon Rogan has consistently developed his grown his footprint at Cartmel with L'Enclume the epicentre of a genuine culinary destination. The ability to book rooms at L’Enclume and stay overnight makes the whole experience much more relaxing. Breakfast is included in the cost of accommodation and it is served in the same conservatory area where lunch & dinner are eaten.
Breakfast consists of eggs, cooked as you want them, bacon, sausage, black pudding, tomato and mushrooms. The bacon had a good smoky flavour to it and the sausages were nicely herby. The eggs suffered a bit from having yolks that were a bit too solid. The toast made from crusty bread was excellent and it came with choice of homemade strawberry jam or marmalade. Overall the breakfast was good relying on good quality ingredients. However, it still seemed something of a comedown after the exceptional standard of the L’Enclume lunch menu. It would be very interesting to see the kitchen apply their skills to develop a more innovative full English.
Breakfast consists of eggs, cooked as you want them, bacon, sausage, black pudding, tomato and mushrooms. The bacon had a good smoky flavour to it and the sausages were nicely herby. The eggs suffered a bit from having yolks that were a bit too solid. The toast made from crusty bread was excellent and it came with choice of homemade strawberry jam or marmalade. Overall the breakfast was good relying on good quality ingredients. However, it still seemed something of a comedown after the exceptional standard of the L’Enclume lunch menu. It would be very interesting to see the kitchen apply their skills to develop a more innovative full English.
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Moss Farm Bed & Breakfast
I’ve tended to stay at the airport hotels on the last day of a trip when flying out of Manchester simply because it ensures that getting to early morning flights is easier. However, I decided on this trip to check a little bit further afield because the M56 makes the airport easy to reach. Moss Farm is in Lower Peover, although well away from the centre of the village. It is a wonderfully peaceful setting disturbed only by the birds on the feeders, the gabble of geese or calls for help from the sheep in the front paddock who regularly get their heads stuck in the fence surrounding it. The room I was given was wonderfully comfortable and the family running the guest house were very welcoming. My plan is to use Moss Farm as a regular stop-off.
Breakfast was generous with two fried eggs, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms and baked beans. Orange juice and a pot of hot tea partnered it. The eggs were an excellent focal point with a spot-on combination of perfectly soft yolk and thoroughly cooked white. I love the generous portion of tomato and mushroom but could have done with more beans but this is fairly minor. All in all this was a very palatable breakfast. It was a shame I had to leave too early on my last morning before flying to have it again because the breakfasts on offer at the airport fell well short.
Fado, Philadelphia
Fado in Philadelphia is part of a chain of “Irish pubs” in twelve states over the United States. Part of the attraction for the expat is that they screen football on a Saturday morning. The pub, sensing that it has a captive audience to take advantage of, offers a breakfast menu including the Full Irish breakfast. We’ve eaten there a couple of times in the past and the 2011 version was a great find especially considering that the bacon was proper bacon as any British person would understand it. American bacon is very moreish in flavour but is never going to come close to its British equivalent.
We returned with high hopes on the Sunday of an FA Cup weekend. The late game was Huddersfield v Wigan so it seemed to have the prospect of a giantkilling in store. However, a swiftly rearranged fixture between Liverpool and a weakened Swansea team put paid to that and the football on offer was a one-sided yawn-fest. Even when the game finished the staff were very resistant to letting us see the remains of the FA Cup game preferring instead to put away the big screen and show Australian A-league football on the remaining screens.
We returned with high hopes on the Sunday of an FA Cup weekend. The late game was Huddersfield v Wigan so it seemed to have the prospect of a giantkilling in store. However, a swiftly rearranged fixture between Liverpool and a weakened Swansea team put paid to that and the football on offer was a one-sided yawn-fest. Even when the game finished the staff were very resistant to letting us see the remains of the FA Cup game preferring instead to put away the big screen and show Australian A-league football on the remaining screens.
Unfortunately, the breakfast was just as disappointing. The Full Irish had been tweaked so now it was consisted of two eggs, Irish sausages, rashers, black and white pudding, mushrooms, tomatoes and Cheddar chive Guinness bread. It wasn’t all bad. The eggs were great and the bacon was excellent. White pudding is something I only get to eat occasionally and its spicy contribution was very welcome. However, the mushrooms were unforgivably cold. The bread was cold too and completely lacking in character. However, the biggest letdown of all was the sausages that just felt horribly greasy in the mouth without tasting good enough to help you overlook that. Two sausages was definitely at least one too many. The availability of tea was good but there was an art to using the teapots without everything pouring over the table instead of into the cup. Ultimately, this experience meant that next time we’ll be looking to watch our football somewhere else in Philadelphia.
The Dandelion, Philadelphia
Visiting the Dandelion on a weekend lunchtime meant that it was possible to sample their version of the Full English breakfast. This was listed as including two eggs any style, Cumberland sausage, black pudding tomato, mushroom, smoked bacon, fried bread and baked beans. The best bits were the lovely sunny-side up eggs with their sprinkle of salt on the yolks, the baked beans that tasted like Heinz and the superb spicy Cumberland sausage. The black pudding also had good flavour but the chunk of Portobello mushroom was a sullen presence that wasn’t needed. Unfortunately the kitchen sent up a buttered chunk of toast with the plate rather than the much anticipated fried bread. But the biggest disappointment was the bacon. With US-based suppliers who sell excellent British back bacon why opt for a style that is so similar to bacon you can get anywhere in the US albeit a bit more thick-cut? Overall the Full English was good but it could easily have been even better.
