Stereo on and cooking bacon, never came back to tell us why

[venta]

Saturday was planned to be the sort of busy day with weird timings where you're never quite sure where the meals are going to fit in. The only sensible way to take on a day like that is to start with a really hoofing breakfast.

My reaction would usually be to cook one, or to head up to the pizza restaurant which (slightly unexpectedly) does decent eggs Benedict of a Saturday morning. ChrisC insisted we should head to The Walpole, a small, scarlet-painted greasy spoon at the other side of Ealing. We've been meaning to investigate rumours of its greatness for some time but... well...

Your average greasy spoon fry-up seems to be made from window bacon, fried until it's a shrapnel risk. And the sort of cheap sausages which have a strange cylindrical skin and about 20% pork content. Add a frilly fried egg and some tinned tomatoes and you've got a breakfast concept that has sadly lost its way. So: I'm rarely excited about the idea of a fry-up. I will, if presented with one, eat it. Of course.

Apparently, according to everyone everywhere, the reason that fry-ups of even inferior quality are exciting is that they contain bacon. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike bacon. I'm not some kind of dangerous heretic, y'know. It's great in things, I just wouldn't choose to eat it by the rasher unless it was really special bacon. If I'm going to have a breakfast butty I'd rather it had sausages in. Or eggs. Or both.

However, on Saturday morning I resigned myself to a fry-up. I was pleased to note that the Walpole had an individual-bits menu, so you can pick and choose... and then I got quite excited. I ordered hand-carved ham, bubble and squeak, and two fried eggs and when it arrived it was fantastic. I think of bubble and squeak as a fried dish, but this tasted almost like it had been cooked in the oven with stock. The eggs were not in the least frilly, the yolks were runny, and the ham was big, chunky slices. I hoovered it up without stopping and then banged on about how brilliant it was for the rest of the day.

The fry-up ChrisC ordered (apart from being somewhat on the immense side) actually looked quite appealing too, with quality sausage and bacon, and a huge pile of other stuff. And it had bubble and squeak (though there was some muttering about whether a green vegetable had any place in a fry-up).

So maybe I can get over my increasing fry-up antipathy. To be honest, the place had won me over as soon as I realised that the tables are covered with thick brown paper and on each (among the sauces and sugar) is a glass full of crayons. I drew trailing vines across the corner of the table while waiting for my food to arrive, and we played Boxes afterwards while I finished my mug of tea.

The Walpole also serves evening meals at weekends, making it the only greasy spoon I've ever been in which has a wine list. I wonder if one can order wine with breakfast? They don't serve it by the glass, but I am tempted - just once - to go and order a half bottle of red with my breakfast. Just... because.

Comments

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

I'm quite picky about fry-ups, but I like them a lot if they have the right things in. In my case this means I do want mushrooms, do want baked beans and don't want tomatoes. Fried bread and black pudding are each welcome if they're good examples of the art and not otherwise.

(Aside: I'm pretty sure there might be giants, but I'm not going to shoot for the kudo because I can't for the life of me remember the title...)

[venta.livejournal.com]

I think the daft thing is I do like fry-ups when they're good. I've just met bad sufficiently often that I've sort of tricked myself into thinking I don't like them, and thus decline if offered.

keris demonstrates her hunter-gatherer skills whenever we're up in Whitby for the goth weekend, and brings back excellent fry-up components. A recent addition has been (triangular!) white pudding, which is fantastic.

(There are indeed giants.)

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Ooh, now I want to try (tri?) triangular white pudding!

[venta.livejournal.com]

At various times we've had round, triangular or square black pudding. If you play your cards right, you can make your breakfast look like an episode of Playschool :)

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

While I'm normally fairly robust with foods, I can't cope with black pudding since seeing the Goodies in my formative years...

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

First time Hot Cha went away, a floating island was his home. Then the phone rang off the hook and Hot Cha had to come back home.

My favourite fry-up things: sausage, scrambled egg, hash browns. Bacon and beans are allowed if the bacon is really crispy, in which case beans are required to soften it up.

[venta.livejournal.com]

You get the crispy-fried kudo.

I like my bacon rather rare, I don't understand the whole crispy thing. Although I agree that hash browns are a pretty good component. I like eggs in all forms, but would go for poached for preference.

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

I'm fat-phobic. If my bacon is non-crispy, I have to waste valuable eating time cutting all the fat off. Then it sits on the side of the plate and puts me off.

[triskellian]

Did you leave the bathtub running over while you went out to eat that?

(I feel roughly the same about bacon. And I wish all breakfast emporia did pick 'n' mix, to save me having to negotiate various swaps with my breakfast companions.)

[triskellian]

Wow, there was some serious caching going on around here. My browser claimed there were no comments, or I'd not even have bothered with the TMBG reference.)

[venta.livejournal.com]

That's Web 2.0 for you :)

[lnr]

I'm with you on typical fry-ups often being disappointing. Ditto hotel breakfasts, which as well as the fry-up section should also include (for my preference) a really good cold buffet with meats, cheeses, fruits and boiled eggs, should offer alternate hot breakfast options (porridge, kippers, eggs benedict etc) and should have a good selection of cereals, pastries, breads and jam - and should have fruit juice available in proper glasses not just thimbles. I take coffee with mine, but tea is also necessary.

A good fried breakfast has to have a proper sausage or two, a decent egg poached or fried (scrambled goes with other optional hot breakfasts - but must not be made with milk, or in a microwave), and bacon which hasn't been incinerated. Grilled tomatoes (not tinned) and fried or grilled mushrooms are good. Black pudding gets you bonus points. Beans are OK but I can take them or leave them, ditto fried bread. Hash browns, fried potatoes or haggis optional extras. But the really good sausage is the killer ingredient.

[hendybear.livejournal.com]

Oh god, you have no idea the level of irrational jealousy you have just provoked in me.. It has been 6 onths since my last proper greasy spoon fry up, and probably another six months before I see one again.

I am drooling the keyboard. Even the bit's you dislike sound so dam good.

I love you, but for the love of god no more reviews of fry ups. You will make me cry.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Next time you're in the country I'll take you out for breakfast ;)

Did your bits and bobs arrive with Sabrina OK and in one piece?

[hendybear.livejournal.com]

They did indeed, thank you so much for the last minute rescue!

Oh and where is my bill?

[venta.livejournal.com]

No worries :)

I wasn't going to bother with the bill, since I rudely missed your birthday this year! (And what says 'happy birthday' better than Lemsip and Picallili?)

[davefish.livejournal.com]

More triangles required.

[cardinalsin.livejournal.com]

Awww, jealous. frax and I used to go to the Walpole of a Saturday morning for brunch. I like the fact you can draw on their tablecloths.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I dislike the fact that I can't draw on their tablecloths. I enjoyed scribbling a bit, though :)