Best value!
Joe’s Café 24 Upper Hamilton Road
£3.75 (incl. tea)
Our rule for eating in ethnic restaurants is only eat where people know about the cuisine. Chinese restaurants filled with Chinese people get our vote. Joe’s Café is full of builders – a very good sign, one that’s backed up with good food and great prices. Despite the low cost Joe offers bread and butter (or more accurately bread and spread) to eat while the brekkie is cooking. Now that’s old school. The main event arrives swiftly, and is traditional but good. Hot, hot beans, perfect, slightly crispy egg, lovely tomatoes and well-cooked bacon with that all important build-up that comes from a well-used griddle. The tea is massive and comes with the option of being in a mug or a cup – a sophisticated touch that probably comes from Joe’s daughter, who has also seemingly added bunting, decorative jam jars and Cath Kidston catalogues. All of which is at odds with the builders and only made us love Joe’s Café even more.
Mange Tout 81 Trafalgar Street
£9.25
How dare they! How dare the French come over here and make an English breakfast that is one of the best in Brighton? Fair play to them, Mange Tout have taken a British staple and given it real Gallic flair. For a start the service is charming. Not just sweet, the way some people say that – proper birds-from-trees charming. And the food – that’s equally disarming. A big chunky Toulouse sausage is the centrepiece and it’s the best sausage we had. The bacon was exceptional too – thick, strong flavoured, salty: überbacon. Eggs come however you want them. We tried fried and they were spot on or thereabouts. There was just one piece of toast, under the eggs, but despite being airy and ciabatta-esque we didn’t feel short changed. The tomatoes were big, juicy, fresh and cooked right through. The only downside is it’s over a tenner with a cup of tea.
Mushroom swap out? Yes, offered whatever we wanted.
Mushroom swap out? Spinach offered but we bargained up to tomatoes. We’re not continental enough for spinach in a fry-up.
Harry’s
Market Diner
The clue is in the name here – Harry’s English Restaurant, how could it be anything other than good? What stood out was the strict ethics that Harry’s stick to. Tea was included in the price, item swaps were offered without constraints, coffee gets a free refill and you pay at the end of the meal. It doesn’t sound much but it led to a nice feeling that our custom was valued. It’s good full English etiquette. Food wise, the bacon came in big slabs and was tasty not dry, the eggs had a good runny yolk and the toast was thick, grainy and accompanied by plenty of butter. Perhaps the best element was the tomatoes, which were fresh tasting, soft, juicy and not overwhelmed with flavours. Despite being flagged up as pork and sage, the sausage was surprisingly underwhelming. Overall it was a lovely experience, even though it was busy when we reviewed. Manners cost nothing.
The Market Diner was the breakfast you recommended most, but we reckon that not many of you have actually eaten it in the cold light of day. You only need to look at the elements to know that this full English (at least in the Gut Buster form we ate it) is made for the end of a night in the pub. Egg, sausage, tomatoes, beans, mushrooms, tea – yeah, all well and good. But burger? Chips? Really this is the perfect mash up of meals when you need to soak up the booze. Burger and chips and a fry-up – get in! Tackled in the Star Wars Cantina Bar-like environment of the small hours this works great but it’s a bit old school for when you have your full senses. You don’t need to be thinking too much about the damage fried bread is doing to you. All in all the Market Diner is real, a place to be celebrated. But maybe after nightfall.
41 Church Road
£6.90 (incl. tea)
Mushroom swap out? Yes, and with a smile.
www.brightonsource.co.uk/FOOD
19 Circus Street
£5.90 (incl. tea)
Mushroom swap out? Yeah, but we swapped them back for deep fried mushrooms. Not sure why.
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