The Man Bird and I had (yet again) been abandoned by The Chick, so we decided to have a mooch down to Belper and have a spot of breakfast-a-deux. Cafe G on King Street was already open, nice and early, so that’s where we went.
It doesn’t look particularly big from the outside, but it goes back a fair old way, so there’s plenty of tables and seats to sit at. A lovely young lady came and took our drinks order and told us that the chef was stuck in traffic from Derby, meaning there would be a slight delay in food being served. I don’t know about you dear reader but one thing I don’t do at the weekend is rush about, so it was no problem to sip my tea and slowly come to life.
There is a really large selection of food on offer and I was tempted to have Eggs Benedict; then I spotted the Mediterranean Breakfast and decided to have that instead. This gem is in the Mezze style beloved of Mediterranean cuisines and comprises Cheesy toast, 2 fried Eggs, a Ragu of Caramelized Onion, Peppers, Tomatoes and Mushrooms, a Coleslaw-based Turkish salad, Olives, and Feta cheese.
His Nibs had (surprise, surprise) the Full G breakfast; 3 rashers of Bacon, 2 Sausages, Black Pudding, Fried bread, 2 Hash Browns, 2 Eggs (done your way), Mushrooms, Tomatoes (fresh or tinned, your choice), Baked Beans, and 2 slices of toast and butter.
When our food arrived it was all piping hot and a proper plate-full! Neither of us managed to finish all the food on our plates, something that hardly ever happens; it wasn’t for lack of trying either, but our bellies were saying no, so that was that.
My Mezze style breakfast was a great mix of hot and cold elements and there were plenty of flavours and textures in there too. I loved the vegetable Ragu; it had a rich tomatoey flavour and some great seasoning going on that had a nice little kick to it in the mouth. The Cheesy toast was marvellous with its thick layer of two cheeses nicely gooey, and when I dipped it into my egg yolk that two flavours made a superb combination. Nice big chunks of Feta went well with the Black Olives and creamy Coleslaw, and fresh garden salad provided a nice crunch.
The Man Bird was more than happy with his meat-feast of a breakfast; the bacon was nice and thick and so were the Sausages. I nicked his Black Pudding because he can’t stomach it and can confirm that it was nice quality variety that kept its texture whilst being cooked and its flavour was good too.
There were plenty of fried Mushrooms for me to pilfer too, which I did whilst The Boy was chowing on the crispy Hash Browns. The fried bread was exactly how your mum would’ve done it at home with a nice, crispy outside and plenty of oil to soak into the bread (otherwise it’s just pan-fried toast isn’t it ?). His Nibs used one of the toast slices to pop the beans on, but couldn’t finish the other slice.
All the food was delicious and cooked fresh to order; there’s nothing worse than pre-done bacon and sausage that are kept in warming ovens, they dry out and go hard which is never going to taste great. The kitchen at Cafe G is open plan so you can see the food being cooked as well, and Chef was being kept very busy with the steady stream of diners coming in.
The young servers kept coming over to check everything was ok and cleared plates away very efficiently at each table, always with a smile.
If you haven’t been to Cafe G before and find yourself in Belper, it’s well worth going in and sampling the food. The special of the day was authentic Turkish Chicken Skewers served with a choice of Chips, Rice or Greek Salad, with Tzatziki sauce which I could’ve sorely been tempted to try had it been later in the day. Hot Wings awarded here, not only for the freshly cooked-to-order food, but also for the friendly service from the girls and warm welcome from the Chef himself.
