No.8 Bar Bruno. Soho, London
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| Very little on the outside to indicate what happens inside. |
The Fry up
If what you want from a cafe is consistency and clear eyed efficiency then don't come here, as confusion reigns supreme among its staff. On (recent) previous trips I have simply bowled up to the counter and successfully asked for a 'Full English'. On this occasion I was shown a list of items that I could choose from. I was understandably thrown and ended up blurting out an unthought-through list of madness. Yet hungry and hungover I made the best of it. The list method is rubbish. It doesn't give you the joy of looking at their interpretation of the great dish but instead leaves you with a sort of 'Sophie's Choice' about what to omit. It leaves one scornful towards what you chose and wistful about what you didn't. I ended up with Egg, Fried Bread, Sausage, Beans, Bacon and a Tea. I even forgot to order toast and had to ask for a round once I'd started eating! The whole lot came to about £6 and I enjoyed it. I decided, which I sometimes do, to use the long fork to make a kind of mini kebab by skewering a little bit of everything on the plate. It's a great technique.
Roland felt the sausage was not good quality but I felt it had some charm. It had good girth and seemed to be at least one step up from some of the previous rusk-heavy offerings. Egg on fried bread is hard to bugger up and in my fluster I had forgotten about tomatoes and mushrooms which would have improved things. The beans however were really nice, they had gone with a high quality brand and it worked nicely to get some fibre among my fry-heavy plate. Apart from the staff having almost no idea about what anyone has ordered, and if they have brought you your tea or not, another big confusion among the staff is whether they have a customer toilet. or not When they decide they don't it's a real draw back. They often don't. Isn't this illegal or some such? It seems only fair that they help to solve a problem they've helped create.
Overall the food was about 7/10 but more importantly it's an amazing place and gossipping there on a sunny Saturday gets a 10. Go.
Needless to say afterwards I was a full English!
P.S. HP Sauce was not used at any point during this meal.
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| That seat in the window on the right is the best booth. Amazing people watching. |
Sir,
ReplyDeleteIt was with much glee that I happened upon your latest instalment this very morning. Overall a grand piece, with a true beginning, middle and end. However, I felt akin to Ringo, George, Paul and John, deciphering the direction of 'Beatles for Sale' as I struggled with your 'difficult' forth paragraph.
I was also most uncomfortable with your big brand baiting toward the latter half. Perhaps being at the business end of a hangover had left you somewhat delusional and this error may be excused.
All in all I was left satisfied.
Hey hey. The 4th paragraph is a little muscular but reflects the congestion of the flu that i had at the time of writing. I dont think i set up the idea that there isnt a toilet well enough. As for the HP baiting: it wasnt intended as a shot across the bows more of a lighthearted attempt not to keep an elephant in the room. Thanks for listening.
ReplyDeleteThere's far too many beans. They're almost spilling over the side of the plate. It appears that Roland has too many as well so this can't be passed off as an individual error. Surely the concept of Breakfast Item Weighting (BIW) is one not too difficult to grasp? You wouldn't ever produce a plate of 9 sausages and a tinned tomato would you (unless perhaps if you were on the Atkins diet or returning from a long holiday in a Muslim country)? I appreciate you needed the fibre, but this volume means you have to eat half the beans before anything else in order to balance the plate. In these difficult economic times they could also reduce their bean overheads by reducing portion size.
ReplyDeleteA common, point losing mistake, in many a cafe.
Whenever I go to SoHo I have to go to Bruno's to have a BBB (The Flagship Breakfast). Great food great location... and then on for a pint at the Toucan
ReplyDelete