They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day – so we had high hopes for The Breakfast Club.
The Breakfast Club describe themselves as a ‘caf’ that serves comfort food – lovingly cooked, ethically sourced and served with warmth and hospitality. First founded in Soho by childhood friends Jonathan and Ali in 2005, the Brighton location is one of their rare spots outside of London – a real treat for us here in Brighton and Hove.
Located on Market Street, The Breakfast Club is a glorious yellow-fronted building that promises a cheery reception. And this promise was not broken – we were greeted cheerfully by the friendly and welcoming staff and shown to a comfy booth. The smells coming from the kitchen were delicious – we needed to get in on this action.
The menu is a marvellous composition of cooked breakfast classics, alternatives and treats – pancakes, full English breakfasts, veggie and vegan alternatives, french toast dishes, breakfast burritos, as well avocado and egg toast dishes. A proper feel-good menu.
We knew that we absolutely had to try the pancakes – described on the menu as ‘locally world famous’, these fluffy delicacies have a great reputation. In order to conduct the most thorough research, we went for both sweet and savoury options. It’s a hard life but somebody has to do it.
For the savoury, we had the ‘Bacon, Egg and Cheese McLovin’ – a stack of pancakes with crispy bacon, hash brown, cheese, golden caramelised onions and topped with a beautiful fried egg. It was a delicious combination – the light, sweet, fluffy pancakes worked brilliantly with the rich, savoury flavours of bacon and egg. This also came with maple syrup on the side.
On the sweet side, we had the classic ‘Pancakes and Berries’ – another pancake stack complete with vanilla cream, a variety of berries, lemon and maple syrup. This was quite simply, heaven on a plate. It tasted as beautiful as it looked (and it looked very beautiful.) Let us assure you that the Breakfast Club pancakes deserve their reputation.
We also tried more of a wildcard option, as recommended by our server – the ‘Disco Hash’, a medley of delicious things mixed together to create a party for the mouth: fried potatoes, harissa cheese sauce, pickled onions and red cabbage, spring onion, jalapeños and another beauty of a fried egg. This had a bit of a kick and was a fun alternative to the more traditional breakfast.
As well as their fabulous variety of breakfast dishes, The Breakfast Club serves burgers and Saint Elmo’s Fire wings. We’ll be returning to try more – they are open 8am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 8am to 5pm on Friday to Sunday.
