After a glowing review of The Thatch last week, it seemed it was going to be a tough task finding a breakfast that could better it! Anyway, week two is here and our foody is heading to The Little Chef.
"I have to admit, at 10am this morning I wished I was going back to The Thatch for my breakfast! Never mind, I've got a job to do! I decided to venture out of the town centre for a look at a national chain, The Little Chef. As a child I used to love stopping at these service stations, but it has been a long time since I've experienced 'the little white man' restaurant. I've heard very mixed reviews about the food here - not that I'm going to be swayed by the opinion of others (like you probably won't be swayed by mine!), but on arrival I wasn't sure if I should wait to be seated or just go and find a table, it wasn't exactly a friendly welcome.
I provisionally forgot the lack of service with a smile and took a look at the menu. Prices as you would expect for a service station and not doing anything to dispel 'the little thief' that I've heard banded about in the past. However similar prices to that of The Thatch last week so i won't be marking it down on that. For consistency I ordered a similar selection, a full English with one change to the set menu. However I was tempted by the good range of options on the menu, with a variety of breakfasts including traditional and Olympic. The waitress was now much more helpful and friendly when taking the order, maybe I am being harsh on my first impression...
Talking of first impressions, the cleanliness of the place looked ghastly - food all over the floor and looked as though it hasn't had a hoover in days. The toilets followed suit, very dirty - considering it was only 10am!
It wasn't busy at all and therefore only waited 10 minutes for the food to arrive which was wonderful as I was very hungry. First impressions: good portion size, however the oil splashes and the accompanying hair on the plate did put me off slightly...I also ordered an extra sausage which didn't arrive - no idea if this was the chef or the waitress, either way it annoys me!
Anyway, hair removed, plate wiped, on with the eating! Two lovely eggs (oh no I am already comparing to the best poached eggs I've ever eaten last weekend!) that were perfectly done. My beans were cold - luckily I like cold beans, however I imagine most people don't...I went for the Olympic breakfast, which was sort of the middle of the three choices. Good portion size, swamped with a colossal amount of potatoes. But definitely enough to fill you up! Tick!
I guess you know what you are getting at a service station, it's going to be frozen / cheap produce. For £8 (Only £1.50 cheaper than The Thatch) I feel the quality is really lacking, if you're going to be charging this much for a breakfast then you certainly need to back it up with a quality breakfast like at the Thatch last week. Maybe if I had ate this the week before i would have enjoyed it more, but unfortunately it's such a drop down. Frozen sausages that had hard lumpy bits in particularly put me off. To be fair, it was presented nicely enough (again if you forget the oil splashes).
All in all, a very average breakfast and service to go with it. Cleanliness terrible. Quality poor. Price - expensive for what you get. Looking forward to next week."
