Sergeant Sausage meets the Met

 

My favourite band was debuting their new album in Manchester so full of excitement I packed my bags and jumped on a train to the North West, knowing that whilst I was there I would have a chance to investigate a breakfast or two.  I stayed at the centrally located Mitre hotel, a cheap and very cheerful budget establishment, the staff were excellent and the rooms weren’t at all bad. I paid £20 a night for my single, but that didn’t include breakfast (available for an extra fiver) and so I planned to try Manchester’s finest.  I’d heard good things about the Café Metro so proceeded across the Arndale Centre….

  The Metro is located on a busy street, with outdoor seating

Inside there is an upper floor with a galley kitchen in it

Good Morning Manchester

Metroplitan scenes adorn the walls

 

Feeling Metrolpolitan, I ordered a large coffee

 

A plate of toast soon arrived

Closely pursued by the Manchester Morning Breakfast

 

 

Not the kind of sausage to blow you away

A bit too overdone for my tastes

Upon entering–It was a hot sunny day, but I declined the al fresco option and headed inside where there is a ground floor with fairly basic tables and chairs about the space, a short flight of steps leads up to a larger floor abour three times the size. It was all very clean and there were lots of smiling staff around to welcome me. I noted that there was only one window over the stairs and not a lot of natural light, but the large street scene pictures attempted to convey a bit of character. A large galley style kitchen takes up one side of this space with a couple of grill chefs manning it.  7/10

Service–I was greeted by a friendly looking chap in an apron who was all smiles and very efficient, allowing me to choose my table and leaving me for a moment to take in the menu. Mind made up I ordered the MMB and a large coffee and the waiter was quite chatty.  The coffee and toast arrived pretty quickly and the fry up not long after. I felt like I was in safe hands.   8/10

Contents–2 bacon, 1 sausage, black pudding, mushrooms, 1 egg, hash brown, baked beans, tomato, toast.   7/10

Presentation–It looked okay when it arrived, although the sausage and the egg yolk were definitely a bit suspect. It was a good sized plate, but not overloaded.   6/10

The food–As always I started with the mushrooms which I found to be a bit tepid, but the bacon was quite nice and had some flavour to it, having been cooked on a hot plate.  The deep fried sausage tasted quite bread crumby, like the ones served in Stafford Street chippy, but minus the batter, and just a little overdone.  The black pudding was also overcooked, only just, but it was a bit lifeless.  I was pleasantly surprised to find the hash brown was pretty good, crispy on the outside and soft on the in. It made up for the very lightly grilled tomato.  I’m thinking deep fried wholesale ingridients, some fresh from the freezer. The egg white was okay, but the yolk was a fail for me. It had been freshly cooked, but just too hard.  The hot toast was good, with plenty of marge on it. The beans were just that.  5/10

Value for money–At £5.45 it seemed about right, but the watery large coffe for an extra £2 made it less competitive.  6/10

Veggie option–Definitely one on the menu, as a well as a selection of eggy/cheesy items

Overall–The premisies were okay and the service was good, but I came away feeling like I had visited a high street fast food chain. They could have got away with the contents if the cooking had matched the service. It was just all a bit average and nothing to get excited about.  It made a promising start, but for Manchester City’s centre, it lacked a little heart  6.5/10