We patrol the soaked high street of the town, it is reminiscent of Marlborough or maybe Tetbury, but looks like the weather above it today: GREY...
A wet and utterly miserable day on a visit to Iron Acton on the edge of the Cotswolds, leads us to stop in the market town of Chipping Sodbury. Yes it’a another breakfast but needs must. We patrol the soaked high street of the town, it is reminiscent of Marlborough or maybe Tetbury, but looks like the weather above it today: GREY. Parking isn't easy because its a busy high street, but be patient and you'll get a spot. Our first port of call was a much larger coffee house up the road, we even went in, but sadly it's too busy, no tables, so back into the wet we went.
A wander down the other end of the road and we notice 'The Coffee Bean' sitting with its Dickensian bay window quietly amongst the other shops, with the odd bedraggled local standing outside hoping for a break in the rain. Taking a quick look through the window we can see a free table amongst the three or four inside the very small cafe, looks very cosy. The rather wet local outside tells us to go in, exclaiming: "it’s great, we use it all the time" and that is enough for us.
You order at the counter and can add what you like to what you want and pay for it with card or cash, it’s simple & hassle free... The feeling of "this could be pretty good" is definitely there.
HIT ME...
We are greated by a very friendly "HIYA" from the ladies behind the counter, a counter brimming with delicious looking cakes and a nice coffee machine. We ask for a table and get the one in the window - perfect. The vibe is cosy, it's small and perhaps not great for a children's buggy or a wheelchair, but it has been well decorated with groovy cushions and pictures and plants in neat glass cases, it is nice, it feels like home. We take a seat and get served immediately with the menu, a simple smart menu, easy to get your head around.
No doubt it will be two full breakfasts and coffee.
You order at the counter and can add what you like to what you want and pay for it with card or cash, it’s simple and hassle free. The feeling of "this could be pretty good" is definitely there.
FEED ME...
So our table is small but it‘s clean, bit tricky to tuck a chair under but a long a comfy bench seat with cushions means you can spread out a little and helps seating a few extra bums if needed. I reckon our drinks order took about 5 minutes and that was also while the staff served take out drinks and other customers, the coffee is smooth it's not bitter and is a warming welcome on a miserable day. Now we were hungry, so the order was for two large breakfasts and OMG were they large! In fact the table could only just manage to take the two plates, but what a plate of food!!
Four huge chunks of hot crunchy whole grain toast, loads of butter, crispy fresh hash browns, rashers of bacon with fat that has been properly rendered down so you can eat it and enjoy its full flavour, a properly cooked tomato that oozes sharp tangy juices into the toast, the mushrooms which, let‘s face it, most places serve up as a slimy side that look terrible and taste worse, well not here, they are nicely seasoned with a touch of herbs and cooked in butter, absolutely delicious. Baked beans in a little ramekin again seasoned with a hint of herbs (thyme maybe) and pepper, a little touch that lifts a normal breakfast to a proper banger of a breakfast.
The chef here knows how they want their own breakfast and that is what you get on this plate, even the sausages are well cooked, we hate a stringy skin on a cooked sausage, these are herby tasty tender and I’d take two more. Please don't serve me solid eggs! Let’s face it, a fried egg is all about that yolk. It's like a sauce to dip into. Our eggs were hot and runny and again absolutly delicious. STUFFED!!!
£30 with drinks including fizzy water, and it was worth every penny...
OUTTA HERE...
What more can we say? We really were blown away with our visit to an otherwise small little cafe in the lowly sister of the more renowned Cotswold towns, a small cafe you may walk past to visit the bigger one up the road. Well let us tell you, should you make that call... it will be the wrong call. We would happily drive to have another breakfast here it was that good.
It cost us around £30 with drinks including fizzy water, and it was worth every penny. The toilets are small but clean and again they might add to tricky access for wheelchair users as there is a step to deal with, but you can't have everything. The staff were attentive polite and show care for what they are doing. Chef... keep making breakfast like that it really was excellent value for money.
HOW WE SCORED IT - OVERALL 7.87...excellent!
Food score 9/10
Service Score 8/10
Comms Score 8/10
Vibe 8/10
Disability Access 5/10
Bog 7/10
Sticky Table 8/10
Value for Money 10/10
What is cost £32:40
What it’s worth - More!
Would we go back ? yes yes yes
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