I’ve mentioned on this blog before just how much importance I place on having a good breakfast; in fact I went so far as to write a post about The Perfect Eggs Benedict not too long ago.
Up until recently I had a weekend Breakfast Club with a friend, until he selfishly decided to make food for complete strangers a priority and open his own bakery (The wonderful East Bristol Bakery in fact – if you’ve not been I strongly suggest you pay it a visit). I’ve missed my weekend routine of taking turns with a friend to make some extravagant and experimental breakfast concoctions, so I’m very excited to be reinstating Breakfast Club with my friend Cat (along with whoever else amongst our friends can be bothered to get up before 11am on a Sunday).
Cat recently bought me The Breakfast Bible by Seb Emina and Malcolm Eggs (!!) for my birthday – to say that I was chuffed would be an understatement, and I’m currently leafing through it excitedly trying to think of what I’ll make for us this weekend. With that in mind, I’ve decided to put forward a brief introduction to my top breakfast tips (both for you to make, or places in Bristol to hunt a good one down), ahead of me posting about our Breakfast Club successes on sister site Saucy Pans.
For the proactive among you…My Top 3 Breakfasts Recipes
- Huevos Rancheros – Quick, simple, tasty and reasonably healthy (also vegetarian, one for the meat dodgers!). All you need to do for this breakfast is knock up a basic spicy tomato sauce, make a well in the middle once it is at a thick enough consistency and then crack an egg or two in to the well. Once the eggs have cooked, serve with either a small amount of rice, grilled plantain or a toasted tortilla. This is a top one for making your own, so make the sauce as spicy or as tame as you like, maybe add some chorizo to jazz it up a bit – you can really go to town creatively with this dish. Good basic recipe Here.
- Pancakes/Waffles – Again this is a good one to customise, but I love pancakes as an occasional weekend treat, especially with some candied bacon and maple syrup.Yumtastic. Tasty recipe for blueberry pancakes located Here, yo.
- The Might Bacon Sarnie – The deserved king of breakfasts, nay, of snacks in general. Note the 2 main variations: Hungover version is on cheap white bread with butter & brown sauce; with the Posh version often found on sourdough with some exotic accompaniments such as avocado, black pepper, or maybe harissa tomato sauce (Poco introduced me to this combo earlier this year, amazing).
Best Bristol Breakfasts
Credit: Alex Poulter
- Poco – Some great options for brunch alongside the aforementioned harissa bacon sandwich, including Moroccan Eggs (also with harissa) and Moorish Eggs (with chorizo). Very calm and relaxing atmosphere too, a perfect way to see in your weekend.
- Boston Tea Party – They’re constantly updating their already impressive menu, but my favourite would have to be their baked eggs with chorizo, potatoes in spicy tomato sauce & yoghurt. Hubba Hubba.
- The Lounges – Another local chain with a great selection, the best value being their mighty Lounge Breakfast which is a bit of a beast, including a sausage pattie, hash browns and black pudding. These places, like BTP, tend to be quite busy, so either get there early or avoid if you want to munch in peace!
- Windmill Hill City Farm – A bit of an unusual setting, but the food at the cafe here is cheap and very cheerful. Recommendations would be the Full English, or their yummy Gypsy Toast. Afterwards you can go and wave at the pygmy goats. Lovely.
- Cafe Maitreya – An award-winning vegetarian cafe/restaurant, the photo at the top of the post is of their mighty Big Breakfast which alongside the usual veggie breakfast fare you’ll also find spinach and grilled Halloumi – yes, yes, yes. Their Granola Sundae is also superb – tasty, healthy and looks gorgeous.
Ones still to try:
- Mud Dock (for the view of the harbour alone)
- Thali Cafe (because I need to try Chai Toast at least once in my life)
- The Gallimaufry (Eggs Benedict with ham hock, you say?)
- Grillstock (their breakfast bap comes with pulled pork, cheese and egg, oh my).
Let me know your top tips for breakfasts – whether it be recipes, routines or places to visit – I’ll be reposting the Breakfast Club adventures soon!
More tips from me…
A Life Less Organised 
Excellent stuff, thanks for the info!!! Must get to The Lounges, sounds like my sort of place!
Hi – I’m very much looking forward to reading your latest post – about being called a big girl!!! I think – but every time I try to access it I receive a page not found message – is there a technical problem? Adrian
Ah that was a ranty post written in a haste on my phone yesterday and accidentally posted – I need to go over and edit before making public, think it’s a bit too reactionary and rambling at the moment 🙂
Oh ok – but write from the heart, >>>say what you feel! 🙂 That said, I rarely blast posts out fast. I’ve found that I almost invariably think of other things to say, or of other ways of putting things, and so I usually delay for a few hours, or overnight, after a post is ready to go.
Posted. *face in hands*
Thanks for liking my post about street food in Jakarta!
A harissa bacon sandwich? So, that’s for the non-pious citizens of North Africa, right:)? Have you tried merguez, speaking of the Maghreb?
The picture of the English breakfast looks nice, but as a USAmerican, it’s not efficient enough at that time of day. Unless I’m abroad, then it’s all good…
I have tried merguez – I think those sausages also feature in Poco’s Moroccan breakfast, so tasty! Thanks for the comment 🙂
Thank you for reminding me of some of the best dishes I won’t be able to get my hands on!! . Reading this was like torture, they just don’t get breakfast in Mexico the same as back in the UK. Although, huevos rancheros is alright (chilaquiles is pretty popular here – and good too (chicken, green or red salsa, cream, and toasted tortillas)), I would murder for a decent bacon sarnie!!
Thanks for following me! You clearly have a nice breakfast taste 😉
Breakfast is my favorite meal, so thanks for sharing! Everything looks delicious
Hi there, I’m from Bristol too (well, I live here now, anyway). My suggestions are the to give the Mud Dock a miss – I’ve tried both the place above the bike shop and the new(ish) Deli on Cumberland Rd and been disapointed – expensive, not great service and small portions at the Deli.
I love the crepe shack on the bridge near Arnolfini – great service, cheap and lovely food and coffee. Also Arnolfini itself does lovely food (as long as you can get a seat as it does get a bit crowded.) The creamy mushrooms on toast with bacon is good.
And the best bacon sarnie in Bristol is from Brunel’s Buttery on the harbour. Thick, soft tasty bread and crispy, good quality bacon. Also, their vege sausages are good. Mmm…
Thanks for the advice re: Mud Dock, I’ve heard similar things from others actually. Brunel’s Buttery is amazing, no wonder they always have queues outside!
lately, my friends and i have been having sausage parties. as unwholesome as it sounds, we basically get out a big hand-cranked meat grinder, buy ourselves a 2 kgs of pork lard, and grind it up with 6 kgs of meat. we each invent a blend of spices for our 2 kgs of meat, so we end up with three or four varieties of sausage. then, we fill the casings and spend an hour or so twisting them off. when we are finished, we bag some up and cook the rest.
if you start early enough, by the time the sausage hits the pan, it is brunch time. add in some toasted english muffins, scrambled eggs, and a basic salad, and you have one of the best ways to spend a saturday morning. and you get a goodie bag to take home, too. 😉
That sounds like a great idea – do you need to buy a proper sausage machine though or can you stuff the casings easily enough without one? What would your top tip for a mix be? 🙂
you can find the hand-crankers for pretty cheap, although they can be a little heavy and a bit of an arm workout. it is pretty darn tough to do it without.
my favorite is pork sausage seasoned with cinnamon, cumin, coriander, chili powder, paprika, black pepper, salt, minced garlic and onion, and a little bit of habenero. as soon as they hit the pan, they make a room smell like heaven.
Hmm..well I’ll keep it in mind that it could be a worthwhile investment – your mix sounds amazing, I love spicy sausages!
kofta or cevapi are always great options, too! as long as you have a grill, you can make either of those without the use of casings.
Get yourself to Souk Kitchen! They do a breakfast tagine and several other incredible dishes.
oh, you make me sooo hungry!
Haha, all the more reason to check out these places 🙂
Top suggestions! Need to try a couple of those. I’d add Rubicon 2 on Cotham hill to that list, amazing breakfasts and all for a reasonable price too.
Ah I live just around the corner from Rubicon on Chandos Rd – lovely breakfasts there indeed!