Munchy's - Norwich

**Now Closed**

Queens Road

Norwich

NR1 3AA

Munchy's is located on Queens Road by St Stephens roundabout.

As much effort went into the sign as it had the food.

As you enter order your food at the counter on the left, better still leave and go eat somewhere else.

The seats are comfortable but the tables are much too high so you will feel like you have shrunk.

The coffee and biscuit were nice

The toast was ok.

The cooked breakfast was bad, very bad!

The egg was the root to all evil and underneath those lukewarm beans was where the sea of egg snot lurked.

It is a freezing cold Friday morning and the city is going to be rammed with Christmas shoppers but im in the mood for a fry up, not a cafe bar fry up but something more greasy spoon like. I walked past "Moonlight Cafe" on Magdalen Street but again couldn't quite bring myself to go in. The Slug & lettuce was never gonna do fried bread so I decided to try Munchy's on Queens Road...

Upon entering - The place is a fair size with plenty of tables and a counter on the left. Everything seemed clean but I had an immediate feeling I had made a bad choice but decided to persevere anyway. I dithered at the table wondering if somebody would come and take my order, nobody did so I headed to the counter. 5/10

Service - When I ordered I was given a tray with cutlery and a mug of coffee by the lady at the counter. I took a seat before realising there was no ketchup and sat down again. Oh bugger.. No sugar on the table, up to the counter and back again. The toast arrived shortly after that followed by the fry up. 4/10

Contents - 2 sausages, 3 bacon, 1 fried egg, grilled tomato, mushrooms, beans, french fries, toast & butter, coffee and a biscuit. 7/10

Presentation - As soon as it arrived the lack of quality was evident, the person who had cooked it clearly couldn't give a shit and couldn't even fry an egg. 4/10

The food - Luke warm mega economy sausages that tasted a bit like chewing on foam were moored up at the edge of the massive ocean of slightly warm beans, these covered the secret weapon that was going to destroy everything, the egg. The egg was completely uncooked and snotty on top, the snotty mess seemed to leak everywhere. The bacon was undercooked and dripping with old cooking oil. The mushrooms were so deep in their own oil the only saving grace was that the raw egg white couldn't get a look in. Average tomato slices and cold french fries finished off this nightmare on a plate. 2/10

Value for money - I wasted £6 1/10

Veggie option - It clearly states on the sign outside "We cater for vegetarians and children"

Overall - The place looks reasonable from outside and is clean inside. The staff seem fairly friendly and it is in a prime location near the bus station. Why the hell they are serving such dire food is beyond me!? Im sure that most establishments have pride in what they are serving the customer. The person who cooked that unforgivable fried egg must have decided it was ok when it was plopped onto the plate. I have said it before and I will say it again, cheap ingredients and terrible fried eggs are never going to please customers or make a cafe stand out from the crowd. By far my worst experience so far. The biscuit was nice though! 4/10

- Special feature - Breakfast in Paris

I love December, not so much for Christmas but our annual visit to another city, this year was the turn of Paris. I didn't think there was much of a chance of finding a decent fry up but did come across some delicious alternatives and great places to eat.

The cheapest (approx 4 euros) and fairly common breakfast eaten by Parisians, pain au chocolat and a coffee.

On the second morning we discovered a fixed price breakfast consisting of omelette, pain au chocolat, a whole hot baguette, butter & jam and coffee for around 8 euros, bloody nice it was too!

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Breakfast in America

website

This place was just round the corner from our hotel, we couldn't resist trying it out.

Although fairly empty when we visited on over occasions the place was rammed and people were literally queuing outside for a free table.

The place had a great 50's feel to it and really felt like stepping back in time.

You could doodle on the placemats, some were displayed on the walls.

We were so lucky to pop in when we did as seeing it this empty was a rare sight.

Our booth had a toaster in it so you could pop the toast in whenever you were ready.

The coffee was so strong it left you buzzing for ages and you could have unlimited re-fills.

The service was excellent and the food was really good. 2 really nice sunny side up fried eggs, skinny but tasty sausages and juicy grilled tomatoes. The fried potatoes were very garlicy and although nice a bit overpowering first thing in the morning. The cooked breakfast, toast & unlimited coffee cost around 9 euros.

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HD Diner

website

As soon as we saw this place we just had to go in.

The blue and pink theme continued throughout the diner.

This place was spotless and it looked amazing.

Tabasco heaven if you like the stuff.

Incredibly nice freshly squeezed orange juice.

Good cappuccino that came with an HD Diner biscuit.

Ok so the place looked great but to be honest the food was a big let down. Very thin bacon that tasted of very little, rather dry scrambled eggs, a muffin and some gherkins. This with orange juice and coffee came to about 10 euros. If as much attention to detail had gone into the breakfast as it had the look of the diner then I would have left a very happy customer. The coffee and orange juice were really good though.

Cafe Rouge - Norwich

(This branch now closed but another branch can be found at the rear of Chapelfield Mall)

29 Exchange Street

Norwich

Norfolk

NR2 1DP

Website

Opening Hours (for breakfast)

Monday - Sunday 
09.00am - 12.00pm

Nearest parking - St Andrews multi-storey

Bugger, had I not been busy taking this photo I could have grabbed that leftover rasher of bacon whilst nobody was looking.

A bit blurry but gives you an idea of choice and price.

It looked a bit rude to me but the walls have a number of random things painted on them.

The pot of tea contained 6 cups of tea!

The food did taste better than it looked.

The sausage was clearly feeling that its time in the frying pan had been cut short.

We are out on a busy Saturday lunchtime in Norwich full of Christmas shoppers but before anything a fry up is needed. First we try Franks Bar which last time had no spare tables, this time it's the same old story with the only option being to share a table with strangers, we head straight for the door! Next place we try is no 33 on Exchange street but the place is rammed. Just a bit further up Exchange Street is Cafe Rouge, on the occasions we have eaten there before it has been quite nice so in we go...

Upon entering - Inside there is a bar and small seating area at the front and a much larger seating area at the back. Some of the tables at the front are quite small and you have to position everything very carefully on the table. The place looks quite unique but if you have visited a Cafe Rouge elsewhere in the country you soon begin to realise they all look very similar. I have always quite liked the atmosphere in Cafe Rouge, it really does feel unique despite it being part of a chain. 8/10

Service - We arrived just as they were about to stop serving breakfast but they were more than happy to serve us it still. The waitress serving really could not have been any friendly to us, even chatting to us about 50 years of Coronation Street having spotted me reading about it in a magazine. (Yes, I love Coronation Street! Watched it since I was a kid and probably always will) She continued being genuinely helpful and friendly for the duration of our visit, I did however find that her putting pepper onto my breakfast a step too far, some people might like it but I prefer to put my own on. 8/10

Contents - 1 sausage, 2 rashers of bacon, 2 fried eggs, mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, toast & butter. 7/10

Presentation - The layout on the plate was good but the way the food looked didn't. The sausage looked like it really needed longer in the pan, as did the bacon. When I first spotted the eggs I wondered if the chef from Jaspers had started working here, they were very close to being "ridiculous fried egg situation" revisited. 5/10

The food - The sausage and bacon despite looking undercooked did taste very nice. Under the rough looking exterior the fried eggs were good too. The mushrooms were amazingly good, perhaps the best so far. Although not a big fan of fresh grilled tomatoes on a fry up these juicy plum variety were really tasty. The toast was not particularly hot when it arrived but it made a great base for the fried eggs. 7/10

Value for money - £6.95 seemed a tad steep considering no drink was included. 6/10

Veggie option - Yes

Overall -. A little bit more effort in making all the food look nice would have been better but considering this was a busy Saturday lunchtime the whole experience was pretty good. When there are no beans or fried bread on the plate I am never going to get close to finding the perfect fry up but I enjoyed the food and the service was great. 7/10

*Update*

Due to the comment left below I decided to revisit and I must say the breakfast looked much nicer this time round and still tasted great, the service was fantastic too! The price of the breakfast has now incresed to £7.75.