Going out for breakfast is one of my favourite things to do. Mostly because I hate cooking but also because it’s fun and an easy way to get your friends or family together.
It’s always been nice to get away for a few hours and enjoy a meal, especially when everyone is so busy and schedules don’t always allow for it. Recently I was able to get most of my family together for breakfast and it was a crazy - but enjoyable - experience.
After spotting a mouth-watering photo of a breakfast at Portland Street 358, we couldn’t resist heading to the Smithdown Road restaurant. I’d visited before but never for breakfast, and wow was I missing out.
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The tiny restaurant had just barely any empty tables left when we arrived and as a group of eight - six adults and two children - we just about fit through the door. We were quickly told by staff that tables were few and far between on a Sunday morning and that we’d have to wait for one of the tables on the edge of the venue, as we required highchairs and they would block the aisles if we sat anywhere else.
Things seemed a bit erratic and possibly understaffed, but the food more than made up for it. After taking some time to mull it over, we ordered a number of dishes from the menu - but two stood out from the crowd.
Portland Street’s Breakfast Pizza Fries with beans (£8.50) and Simply Syrup Pancakes with Nutella and fresh berries (£11) are among some of the best breakfast dishes I’ve ever had.
The Breakfast Pizza Fries - the dish I’d spotted on Instagram and been determined to try - lived up to the hype. The meal features mini hash browns, bacon, sausage, tomato and melted cheese, topped with a fried egg. It is priced at £7.50 and you can add a side of beans for £1.
The meal is large and definitely big enough to serve two. It’s essentially a melting pot of a full English breakfast and every single bite of it - that I could finish anyway - was absolute perfection.
The pancakes, which are priced at £6 and extras come at an additional cost (£2 for Nutella and £3 for fresh berries), were soft, fluffy and delicious to a point that they’re all I’ve wanted for breakfast ever since. Topped with heaps of berries and drizzles of Nutella, they’re no doubt the best pancakes I’ve ever had.
While the food did take quite a while to come and there was a mishap with the till that meant we waited almost 20 minutes to pay our bill, the food itself was delightful and the staff were helpful where they could be. Sunday mornings at Portland Street 358 might be hectic, but they’re definitely worth it.
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