Something was missing from the plate.
I tried my very first “full English” breakfast at a Wetherspoon pub this week. It certainly did the job but there were one or two things that surprised me. At 9am on a Thursday, right after the branch had opened, I expected to walk into an almost empty pub. But instead, there were already seven or eight people inside: a pair of French tourists, a young couple, a father and son, two men in corporate clothes already drinking pints, and a few others sitting alone with coffees.
I grabbed a seat at a large circular table with a comfortable booth seat and ordered the “traditional breakfast”. For £6.09, it comes with a fried egg, bacon, a Lincolnshire sausage, baked beans, two hash browns and a slice of toast. I also added the unlimited refill coffee for £1.85. In city centres up and down the country, where you can struggle to find a latte for under £4 in many coffee shops, the price alone feels like a bargain and honestly, the Lavazza latte itself was better than expected, even better than some big coffee chains’ offerings in my opinion.
The food arrived quickly and I came to understand why Wetherspoon breakfasts have such a loyal following. The meal was simple but did the trick.
It’s not a big portion and it’s definitely not the best cooked breakfast I’ve had, but it’s comforting and cheap. If you want a no-frills breakfast before work, after a night out or while trying to save money, it ticks the right boxes.
Still, one thing felt noticeably absent: there was no tomato and no mushrooms. For many, those are staples of a “traditional English” breakfast, so it felt odd not seeing either on the plate. As it turns out, you only get them with the large breakfast option, which costs £7.69.
Even though the standard version is cheaper, I still expected at least a small tomato or mushroom to justify the “traditional” label. The portion sizes were also smaller than I expected. The hash browns were tiny and lacked much flavour, while the sausage, although actually quite nice, was on the small side too.
Nothing tasted bad, but a lot of it felt bland. The scrambled egg could have done with some seasoning, the bacon had quite a lot of fat on it and overall the breakfast could have benefited from larger portions and a bit more flavour.
That said, it’s hard to complain too much considering the price. Wetherspoons clearly isn’t trying to serve a luxury brunch experience and it doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a cheap, reliable breakfast. And in that sense, it succeeds.
