It was the morning after the night before (at a friends’ milestone birthday bash), so we were feeling a little deflated and in need of sustenance! Thankfully, The Man is a dab-hand at coming up with the perfect solution to anything and booked us a table at Platta Café/Bar/Bistro in Stanley Common for brunch. There is parking at the front and rear of the venue, though we ended up on the road outside as all spaces were taken – Platta is clearly popular.
Inside, Platta is an open-plan space and uses natural tones for the décor: think Moss- and Fern- greens and dark brown tables, complimented by pendant lights in gold and silver. Large windows at the front allow plenty of natural light to flood in as well.
Everything is cooked fresh to order, so do be prepared to wait for your food…not easy when you’re seated smack-bang-wallop next to the delicious Scones, Cakes and Brookies (cookie/brownie fusion)! Yes, we did also bring some sweet treats home with us for later, but you didn’t really need to wonder that, did you?!
First thing on the agenda was to rehydrate, so we ordered a couple of Hot Chocolates (£2.95) - without all the trimmings – to quench our thirsts and give us a bit of a sugar lift. I have to say, the chocolate powder that Platta uses is very nice and pleasingly rich, without being cloying. Once we’d got our blood sugar levels up a bit we could concentrate on the menu, and gave it some serious attention. I ordered the Smoked Salmon and Scrambled Eggs on toast (£9), adding some Avocado for an extra £1.50; I also opted for Granary Bloomer bread instead of white. The Man Bird had his usual Full English, choosing to ‘go large’ on the Platta breakfast which gives you Black Pudding and an extra Egg; the Platta Brekkie is £10.95, the larger option £13.50.
I knew that I wouldn’t like the Platta Breakfast as it has Lincolnshire Sausage on it – bleurgh! However, the smoked Bacon slices were lovely and thick, with a deep flavour to them, and the homemade Hash Browns were the bomb; crisp outers and soft, tasty inners. The Baked Beans were contained in a separate bowl on the plate, so no chance of them ‘contaminating’ the other items! A fresh Tomato half had been grilled to perfection, though I wasn’t fortunate enough to have it passed over to me… but I did get the baby button Mushrooms, which I soon chomped through. Both fried, free range Eggs had soft yolks and no residual oil on them, which meant that their rich taste could really shine on the taste buds. The one thing that threw us both was the fact that the bread – on both our breakfasts – was wholemeal; we’d been expecting something more textural, as it was described as ‘granary’. It was still tasty and fresh, but just not what we’d envisaged.
Platta clearly like to throw curve balls, too, with their presentation, and I have said in the past that assumption is the mother of all what-sits! I had been expecting my toasted bread to be ready-laden with the Avocado, Scrambled Egg and Smoked Salmon, but instead, the trio of bread slices was bare and on one side of the plate, with the other elements arranged on the other half. I busied myself with spreading butter on one slice and having a slice of plain toast before I began assembling my feast; I put the other two slices side by side and piled the Salmon, Scrambled Egg and Avo on top of them.
You can’t beat nice, softly scrambled eggs and the ones I was tucking into were lovely and buttery. Silky Salmon caressed my palate, satisfying my hunger beautifully with its hefty protein content, ably assisted by the eggs. Chef had seasoned the smashed Avocado to give a bit of oomph to its otherwise plain creaminess, so my taste buds were more than entertained with the layers of flavour in my choice of breakfast dish.
We ordered another round of Hot Chocolates when the lovely young lass came to check we were enjoying our food; rushing was definitely not on our list of things to do on this particular day! Platta is popular with all ages but there were plenty of young children in with their mums on this occasion, and it was nice to see them tucking in to some tasty treats; I’m a massive advocate of children dining out from an early age, as you know.
Our table was booked out at 1pm, and each table was quickly cleaned down as soon as it was vacated, so you definitely need to reserve a table at Platta, rather than just rock up! Hot Wings given to this Stanley Common eatery.
Ring the team on 0115 930 7925 or visit the website www.plattabistro.com for menu details and online booking. Platta is open 7 days a week: Monday-Thursday 9am-4pm, Friday and Saturday 9am-10.30pm, and Sunday 10am-2pm. Opening hours may vary on Bank Holiday, so double check with the team.
