Cafe Carringtons

http://www.cafecarringtons.com
Pre-cooked bacon, sausage, mushrooms and tomatoes greet you in this downstairs cafe. For a £5 you get to choose 6 breakfast items (including prebuttered toast!). £2.50 for ok bean to cup coffee.
Was impressed by the quick service, very nice sausage, decent thick bread toast, large bacon portion.
The atmosphere was a bit lacking, but overall, good value, and good breakfast.

Seefud

+ Buffet style with fresh eggs and toast. A good format for a quick breakfast. Nice sausage.

- Nothing really special enough to make up for the fact that you're eating breakfast in a basement.

• Food         3
• Value        4
• Service      2
• Ambience     2
• Coffee       2

Troby

• Food         3                
• Value        4      
• Service      3.5      
• Ambience     2  
• Coffee       3      

Frankie and Bennys

http://www.frankieandbennys.com
Mixed reviews here. A large and well valued looking menu (all breakfasts £5), but toast is extra. Quite good refillable coffee for £1.75.

Seefud

+ Finally some black pudding!

- Where to start? Bring the damn cuttlery BEFORE you bring the food you idiots. It's not rocket science! The toast was so cold and hard it wouldn't melt the butter. Oh, and maybe next time you could actually cook the tomato?! I'm not saying it was underdone. I'm saying it was salad!

• Food          2
• Value         3
• Service      3
• Ambience 2
• Coffee       2

Troby
I like it quite a lot! - the coffee refills were good, and toast was nice and crumby. A varied menu with pancakes and bacon availble. I'm not a fan of the chains, but this was pretty good.

• Food &nbsp      4
• Value      4.5
• Service      3
• Ambience      3
• Coffee      3.5

Carluccios

ihttp://www.carluccios.com/restaurants/cambridge
An Italian breakfast anyone? No - not a euphemism, but pancetta instead of bacon, and incinerated Italian bread instead of toast. Plus decent coffee. Also a fresh juice for a £10er. A nice alternative to a greasy fry up. Still greasy, but different flavours. Some traditionalists might miss the full set of English breakfast ingredients.

Seefud

+ Crispy pancetta made a nice change from English bacon. Mushrooms and eggs were good. Nice enough place.

- No sausage or beans so can't really qualify as a proper cooked breakfast. Toast was rock hard.

• Food          4
• Value         4
• Service      4
• Ambience 3.5
• Coffee       4

Troby

• Food                 4 – Crispy pancetta was excellent. Slight bread security issues, but toasted Italian bread was tasty and turned out to be enough. Good mushrooms. The scrambled was was really good, and sticks in my memory.
• Value                 4 – Fresh OJ, plus coffee for 9.95
• Service              3.5 – Waitress wasn’t charming. Food came soonish – coffee very quick
• Ambience          3.5 – not great scenery.
• Coffee                4 – fine, got an extra shot in my block coffee.

Joy Sandwich shop, Hills Rd

A busy sandwich shop at lunchtimes - and a good place for a nice bacon roll for a good price. We enjoyed the breakfast being cooked only a few meters away, meaning breakfast was nice and hot and quick. Comes with a decent coffee too. For £5.95 I think

Enough to make anyone smile

Seefud
+ Quick service, good sausages and eggs, freshly crisped bacon. Good toast. Overall no weak link in the food and outstanding value for money.

- Not the most relaxing place to sit and breakfast.

• Food          4.5
• Value         5
• Service      4
• Ambience 3
• Coffee       3.5

Troby

• Food quality      3.5 – pretty good if I remember. Sausage was fine. Bacon good. Beans loose I think. Let down by soggy prebuttered toast.
• Value                    5 - £5.95 (I think) plus decent coffee – 2 eggs as well I think.
• Service                 4 – prompt
• Ambience           3 interesting view of road, but hard to get ambience in such a small place
• Coffee                 3.5 strong enuf, from machine

Coast - King's Parade / Trinity Street

https://www.facebook.com/COAST.FISH
A slightly up market fish chip shop normally, was recommended by Fosty. Nice if you can get a seat in the window.

Troby

• Food quality       4 – bacon was “streaky Mediterranean” and rubbery -  a good grilling may have crisped it. Nice sausage, turgid beans (good)
• Value                  5 - £6.95 plus decent coffee
• Service               3.5 – took slightly longer than would have liked, but all ingredients felt fresh cooked.
• Ambience           3.5 quiet, but nice view of king parade
• Coffee                3.5 slightly burned taste, but strong enuf.

Seefud
+ Nice location and good service. Okay sausage but bit herby for breakfast. Pretty nicely cooked shrooms and good toast.

- Bacon was a bit rubbery with a fake smoke flavour. Cheap hashbrowns but at least they weren't used as a substitute for toast.

• Food        3
• Value       4.5
• Service     4
• Ambience 4
• Coffee      3

Pastries
I concur with the above. It's worth popping in if you can get a window seat. The weird bacon is fine if it's crisped but last time I was here they'd abandoned it in favour of a more orthodox rasher.

Earl of Derby

http://www.theearlofderby.co.uk
Pub breakfast - large quantities, nice rapid service. has a feeling of being in London. Unlimited refills of weak coffee. Probably quite popular with the builders around the station area. Good value and quantity.

Troby

• Food quality      2.5
• Value                 5
• Service              4
• Ambience          3
• Coffee               2

Seefud
+ Self-service unlimited coffee available on arrival. Food arrived quickly but get your own cuttlery. Huge plate of food and great value for money.

- Quality was adequate all round but nothing special, including the coffee. Sausage could have done with an upgrade. Bacon wasn't remotely crispy or browned. It could have been steamed for all I know. Beans had been cooking for a long time.

• Food        3
• Value       5
• Service     3
• Ambience 2
• Coffee      3

Kevlar (guest)
The beans were a bit soupy but apart from that, that hit the spot today.

Speed is fairly important (Derby gets a 5) and might be a critical factor.  I don't really expect much "service" for breakfast apart from just taking the order and bringing the plates so my Service rating is heavily weighted towards Speed.

• Food quality      4
• Value                 5
• Service              4
• Ambience          3
• Coffee               2
• Total                  18

Fosty (guest)

“Wetherspoons-esque value and amazing speed. Whole mushrooms. Rubbish coffee but good refills”

Paco (guest)
"It was alright. Nothing great, nothing tremendously bad. For the price, better than a McDonalds breakfast."

I will be keeping my distance with the sausages though.

• Food quality      2
• Value                 5
• Service              5
• Ambience          2
• Coffee               1

 

John Lewis Brasserie

www.johnlewis.com
Posh feeling, with few other breakfast diners, and those who were there we the types likely to be resplendant in corduroy finery rather than a flouro tabard.

Seefud
+ Nice quiet, posh feeling location with a view of rooftops. Service was fast and polite; I think only the egg was cooked fresh.

- Only the egg was cooked fresh. They provided deep fried potato slices (a poor imitation of proper sauté potatoes) instead of toast. Wrong wrong wrong WRONG! The sausage was a bit dried up and the mushrooms, whilst looking like nice big field shrooms, were a bit rubbery and tasted odd. Coffee was adequate but totally forgettable. Not cheap at £10.60 for breakfast plus coffee. Almost enough to bring it down to a 2.5, but the ambience was quite delightful…

• Food        2
• Value       2
• Service     5
• Ambience 4
• Coffee      4

Troby
I’d give the JL brek 4/5 considering ambience, but 3/5 when considering price as well.

Sausage was nice, but small, and only one of ‘im.