Kensingtons - Brighton

1a Kensington Gardens

Brighton

BN1 4AL

Another trip to Brighton and a chance to try out another cafe.

Kensingtons can be found in the busy and popular North Laines.

As you walk up the stairs you get the feeling that you are in the right place.

Decide and place your order here, you will be spoilt for choice.

If you want to sit inside you can but why bother when...

There is an amazing balcony perfect for watching the world go by.

The condiments were spread out fairly randomly.

The coffee came with the breakfast but was not very hot.

There was plenty of nice food on the plate which I enjoyed eating but..

Yep, economy sausages.

There seems to be a vast number of places in Brighton offering a full english breakfast so it was going to be difficult deciding which one to visit, luckily a friend recommended Kensingtons to me. As soon as I got off the train I headed to North Laines, spotted Kensingtons and headed upstairs..

Upon entering - As soon as you reach the top of the stairs you are greeted by a mass of menus and a counter where you place your order. There is a long narrow seating area inside with both tables and booths, the counter was full of customers waiting to place their order so I wondered why nearly all these tables where empty. Then I spotted a door open towards the rear, this led to an outside balcony area which was rammed with customers eating and chatting away. I managed to get a table outside and whilst waiting for my food to arrive realised what a fantastic spot this was. This place had a great atmosphere, the perfect place to relax, meet friends and chat over lunch whilst the world went by on the busy North Laines below. 8/10

Service - Place your order at the counter and keep your receipt, it has your order number on it and this will be called out later. My breakfast came with a drink which I collected as I placed my order, I chose coffee and it wasn't particularly hot. Collect cutlery and find a table, the waiter will call your number out when your food is ready. Some tables had sauces on others had none so be sure to grab what you can when you see it. Getting past people on the narrow balcony to get to my table was quite difficult, my rucksack almost knocking somebody's table over in the process. When I finally sat down the table was in need of a good wipe but I was not about to head inside again risking knocking more tables over on the way to ask if it could be wiped so I tried to ignore the sticky mess. That said though after I had finished my food the waiter did eventually come out to give some tables a wipe, I must have just caught them during there busiest period. 6/10

Contents - Big Meat Breakfast - 2 sausages, 2 bacon, 2 fried eggs, 1 hash brown, half a grilled tomato, beans, toast & butter and a tea or coffee. 7/10

Presentation - Nice layout and loved the way the toast was placed along the edge of the plate. 7/10

The food - I will start as I always do with the sausages, these were economy and not very special at all. The bacon though was truly delicious a real pleasure to eat. The hash brown was different to the norm with a slight onion taste, very nice indeed. The fried eggs looked a tad undercooked on top but were very good and went nicely on top of the toast. Baked bean fans will be in heaven here as you get so many and the grilled tomato was tasty and cooked nicely. 7/10

Value for money - £6.00 for a breakfast that comes with toast and a hot drink on Brighton Laines is great value for money, especially if you get a table on the balcony. 8/10

Veggie option - Plenty of veggie options here such as Big Veggie breakfast for £6

Overall - I loved the atmosphere of the place, it felt very laid back and you could happily spend some time here relaxing over lunch or killing off that hangover from the night before over a fry up. If like me you like a quality sausage you may well be a tad disappointed but that said the prices are reasonable and as the environment is so great this can be forgiven. Kensingtons is a popular place so be sure to get there early and try and get a table on that amazing balcony. 7/10