Sergeant Sausage - The Earlham Arms

The Earlham Arms

Earlham Road

Norwich

I stopped in for a delicious pizza at the Earlham Arms a few weeks ago and while I was there I noticed they do a breakfast on Sunday mornings.  I was mightily impressed with the pizza so I thought I would drop in and try out the brekkie…….

A nice fresh paint job and plenty of parking

 It’s normally a bit less wonky than this on the inside

An interesting choice of seating is available

 

My kind of coffee machine

 

 My kind of coffee

The breakfast tea was bloomin good too

 

As was the Orange juice, a snip at only £1.00

A nice simple menu

 

Ahhhh, breakfast

 

Juicy, juicy tomato

 

Make room for the mushrooms

 

 I love sausages, especially when they are this good

The fresh free range eggs are from High Point Farm

 

And they're tasty tasty

 Very very tasty

All gone!!

Upon entering –  Proprietor Chris Coubrough has done a fantastic job with the refurbishment of the Earlham Arms, turning it from a string of burger joints back into a traditional pub serving local ales and home grown foods.  The theme is stylish and relaxed with the emphasis on being a great place to eat. The place oozes quality, ideal if you want to impress a loved one.  9/10

Service – There was one girl serving on the early shift and despite it being very busy she did a brilliant job.  This was real quality service and I couldn’t find fault, utterly professional which kind of says something about the whole attitude of this place.  My order was taken efficiently and breakfast soon arrived piping hot on a heated plate. 10/10

Contents - 1 sausage, 2 bacon, hash brown, 2 eggs, mushrooms, tomato, beans, hot buttered toast  9/10

Presentation – There are two schools of presentation, throw it on a plate or make it like a work of art that causes your mouth to water just to look at it.  The offering here is the breakfast equivalent of Monet. However When it arrived I thought it looked like a couple of mushrooms had escaped, but if you do a bit of breakfast feng shui, there is a balance thing going on here! 9/10

The food – The grilled tomato was packed with taste and the unctuous mushrooms were perfect. Rustically cut and oozing flavour I was delighted to find them on the end of my fork.  If you want to know what an immaculately cooked hash brown tastes like then come here; fluffy and flavoursome in the centre and consummately crispy on the outside every mouthful was an absolute delight. And praise the Lord, the beans were PAN COOKED. I was beginning to give up hope that I would ever find beans cooked anywhere other than a microwave ever again, but this kind of attention to detail makes me a very happy sausage.  Talking of sausages, the one on offer here was of supreme quality. Meaty, with a good herby and peppery flavour it was yummy.  My enquiries have led me to establish that the Earlham Arms get their meats from Cleveleys of Suffolk,so you can be assured you are eating locally sourced food, and the bacon, my my it was good, cooked just right and tasty as f*ck. The toast was totally tasty too, hot and lathered in real butter it had a hint of fried bread about it it was that good.  I was impressed.  10/10

Value for money – I paid £6.95 for my breakfast and it was well worth it. With a pot of tea for £2.00 and the tall fresh orange juice for £1.00 the whole experience cost me £9.95 and was definitely money well spent. 9/10

Veggie option – The veggie breakfast looked really good. The veggie sausage was nearly as good as its pork equivalent, but less meaty!

Overall –  I have to say this is one of the best breakfasts I have eaten during my time with the Frying Squad and in my opinion it's not far from breakfast perfection.  The food was outstanding quality and the ambiance was equally good.  In my notebook breakfasts can be homely and traditional or gourmet and a bit posh and whilst this one swings towards the more salubrious end of the scale, its not in any way pretentious, just firmly there on the plate saying eat me. I'm really looking forward to breakfasting here  again and I think you should look forward to it too. 9/10