There was a time when a B&B would just serve a traditional full breakfast and it suited everyone. Nowadays, with the increase in quality of establishments, foods available and the competition in the market, other things are expected as the norm too.
Sometimes we wonder if the humble full breakfast has had its day. Some days we have no-one at all order one and instead our guests opt for alternate options.
Just when we think we should cut right back on our butcher’s order of sausages and bacon, you can bet your life we end up with order after order of the full breakfast. We can go from no-one ordering, to all twelve ordering which makes buying stock a difficult guessing game.
Our full breakfast is pretty healthy. Alongside using great ingredients, and as mentioned, sausages made only a five minute walk away at our local butchers, we only fry the eggs. Mushrooms and tomatoes are slow roasted. Bacon is grilled.
Perhaps our problem is that we offer too much choice! Someone can stay a week and have something different every day. As well as the regular menu which offers such favourites as Eggs Benedict, Eggs Royale and Julian’s secret family recipe for making Smoked Salmon & Scrambled Eggs taste divine, you’ve also got Boiled Eggs and Soldiers, Porridge with Cream and Syrup, and Kippers.
Then there’s the poached eggs on toast. Why oh why can so few B&Bs cook a proper poached egg? I’m so fed up of watching the likes of Four in a Bed and seeing these wretched poaching saucepans being used. That’s not poaching. Poaching is gently simmering in water, not steaming. Luckily for our guests, Julian has had lots of practice over the years and cooks perfect poached eggs. Though as it’s a natural and free-range product, all eggs do vary – if the chicken has been drinking too much / little water, got too warm etc it can all affect the thickness of the egg white when it’s put in the water. It greatly helps that our eggs from Exe Valley Eggs are so fresh though.
On top of all these cooked options, we also offer a selection of lighter options as some people don’t want to eat as much or would like to watch their weight or cholesterol levels.
There’s plenty on our sideboard so I suppose some people don’t need a cooked option too. Once you’ve had the selection of various cereals, including my homemade granola, a wide variety of nuts, seeds and dried fruits, fresh fruit salad, chopped fresh fruit, homemade yogurts, smoothies and so on, I’d be full too.
It could be we offer too many other tempting hot options, or it could be that there are so many other things to have beforehand. And we haven’t even mentioned the hand cut white or granary toast with the ever popular Auntie Val’s jams in all sorts of lovely flavours like Strawberry and Vanilla, Lemon and Elderflower, Rhubarb and Ginger and of course Traditional English Marmalade.
We go in waves though as I’ve said. Just as we wonder why no-one is ordering a full breakfast and consider not doing it anymore, in come a boat load of orders for full cooked breakfast all at once and hey presto everyone orders it day after day.
We also think there’s a bit of telepathy going on! Why do two lots of guests who don’t hear or see each other’s breakfasts order exactly the same thing? Sometimes most of the people in the room do!
Whatever the reason, the ups and downs of full breakfast ordering is no doubt here to stay. That’s what makes every day so different and keep us interested. And whatever you enjoy yourself for breakfast, we hope you’re enjoying one of our award winning breakfasts at The 25 Boutique B&B very soon!