9 The Square, Staple Hill, Bristol.
It was our Fat Boys Breakfast Club (FBBC) day and I was quite excited (or as Blake says: “Sited”) as I hadn’t had the taste of Bacon for weeks. Jaki always buys streaky Bacon which she cook’s crispy so I’m not so keen and with the current situation ( Energy Crisis, Ukraine and Inflation) everyone is cutting back on their spending so going out for Breakfast regularly, isn’t an option.
I felt a bit like Owen Warner from ‘I’m celebrity’ but without the Six Pack.
So when we arrived at our destination and found it closed I knew how he felt not getting to go to the Beach BBQ!
Poor old Pete whose turn it was to chose a venue had checked on line to ensure the place was open but the note on the door said ‘Closed due to Ill Health’ so I guess this was a last minute thing?
Luckily Pete had a plan ‘B’ so we jumped back in the car and drove up the road toward Staple Hill, a part of Bristol I rarely visit these days.
The Blue Sky Cafe is in a small square just off Broad Street so there was no dedicated parking. Pete dropped us off and drove into Tesco Car park where there were plenty of spaces.
Some years ago (4th February 1996) a colleague, Fleur Lombard lost her life fighting a fire in Leos supermarket which was originally on the site of the Tesco store.
The Cafe is a typical no nonsense, nothing fancy, get what it says on the Tin venue that offers simple but popular food.
The menu was displayed above the counter and had all the usual items ,though they did have a ‘Meat Lovers Breakfast’ (£8.00) which had Three of everything as well as the Large Breakfast (£8) and they both came with Tea or Coffee.
Two very ordinary commercial Sausages, two ordinary slices of Bacon, one Hash Brown and some rather non descript Mushrooms plus a single Plum Tomato (tinned) sat along side two fried eggs ( which in my case were over cooked and hard but the others all had decent eggs with a runny yolk) plus a slice of undercooked Black Pudding.
The tiniest portion of baked beans I’ve ever seen ( you could count the individual beans) and a round of white toast completed the meal.
It had all the ingredients, but they missed a trick.
Serving ‘one’ plum Tomato and a ‘teaspoon’ full of Baked Beans saved next to nothing on cost but gave the impression we were being cheated and why dont people learn how to cook and serve Black Pudding properly?
Those of you that read this blog regularly will know I like my Toast served on a separate plate not piled on top of other ingredients.
Tea was served in a mug with the ‘T bag’ still in and it came with a saucer so we could put the used T bag in the saucer rather than on the table where it leaks and makes a mess that I always end up putting my elbow in.
The milk came separately, in a small jug but the sugar had to be collected from some boxes by the door and it was in sachets. Luckily they had saccharine in a dispenser, so we avoided that litter.
Sauce, stirring sticks and other condiments were in boxes by the door and we had a pile of used Brown sauce sachets by the time we had finished.
The seating was fine but it was all a bit sparse and industrial and I felt a cold draught across my legs which was a bit wearisome.
Service was prompt ( the food came very quickly which in itself is a bit suspicious) but after it was delivered we had no contact with staff ,which is a bit disappointing.
However, by the time we had finished eating we were all full and even Steve polished off all of his ‘All day Breakfast’ (£6) so we had no complaints.
In summary this is a bog standard Cafe serving basic food without any frill’s and that is reflected in the price. So taking that in to account I’d say it was good value though It isn’t somewhere I would take my Girls.
If there wasn’t Avocado and Sour Dough on the menu there would be a riot.
In search of a great Breakfast 