Mustard Coffee Bar - Norwich

3 Bridewell Alley 
Norwich
NR2 1AQ

Opening hours
Monday to Friday - 7.30am till 5pm
Saturday - 8am til 5pm

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This was my second visit for breakfast at Mustard coffee bar

 The sign on the corner of Bridewell Alley will point you in the right direction

The Mustard Full English is a recent addition to their menu

 Place your order at the counter whilst admiring those nice looking cakes

 The seating area is small with just a few tables to choose from 

More comfy seats in this area, perfect if you are just having a coffee

Local artists work is displayed on the walls and available to buy

Stuck for a gift idea? You could always buy a Mustard gift voucher

 Local magazines are available and will keep you occupied whilst you wait for the food to arrive.

If you are feeling artistic grab the sketchbook from the coffee table and get creative

If they like what they see in the sketchbook it gets hung on Mustard washing line!

Flowers are found on each table and the kitchen is up the stairs

A nice cappuccino and during January hot drinks are free if you spend more than £4 on a breakfast.

My wife got to it before I could get a picture of it and this is all she left me..

I thought it would look a bit more special than this and the toast would have been better served on a side plate. That said though if you take the toast off the plate it really highlights how small this breakfast actually is

 A good quality sausage had been overcooked

 A fairly decent fried egg

A nice runny yolk

Very flavoursome tomatoes are always a bonus but so is butter served in a small bowl

With no veggie full English breakfast available my wife chose "No meat in my muffin" but without avocado (she cut through the egg before I had a chance to take the photo). She wasn't particularly impressed with it though, it looked far better on our first visit

This is how "No meat in my muffin" looked on our first visit back in Jan 2014, far more visually impressive!

In January 2014 I visited Mustard Coffee Bar, they didn't serve a full English back then but the breakfast menu was still fairly impressive so I wrote a special feature which can be found here. It was a regular reader of the blog that informed me of Mustard's new breakfast menu featuring a full English breakfast so I wasted no time in visiting with my wife..

Upon entering - The counter is on the right as you enter and further back the fairly compact seating area, the kitchen here is upstairs. You can choose from a handful of tables or the more comfy seats with coffee tables, if you are here for breakfast eating at a table is your best option though. The latest breakfast menu was on the window outside so make your selection, order at the counter and choose a table, each one has salt, pepper and sugar already on it along with some fresh flowers. The food is brought to the table when it is ready along with cutlery and the option of sauces, simply pay on your way out. I liked the look of Mustard Coffee Bar, local artists work is displayed on the walls and is available to buy. If you are feeling artistic then you can draw in the sketchbook found on the coffee table using the pencils provided, if they like your work then it could end up on Mustard washing line with all the other favourites. It was fairly cold inside and the heater beside us was switched off, my wife decided to keep her coat on and as a result of this found it difficult to properly relax. 7/10

Service - All the staff here were friendly and helpful ensuring we had everything we needed and making us feel welcome. 8/10

Contents - 1 sausage, 1 bacon, 1 fried egg, mushrooms, beans, tomatoes and toast & butter. 5/10

Presentation - Expectations were high but soon dashed when the food arrived, it just looked very standard and lacked any special touch or attention to detail. Everything mentioned on the menu was there on the plate but the sausage looked overcooked and the toast perched on the edge of the plate complete with packaged butter. It did occur to me afterwards that had the toast been served on a separate plate it would have highlighted just how small this breakfast actually is. 5/10

The food - A standard slice of bacon and a good quality sausage that was overcooked on one side creating a much tougher texture in places. The fried egg was fairly good and a nice runny yolk appeared when I opened it with my knife. Very tasty tomatoes, great mushrooms and beans that could have done with a bit more sauce reduction. The toast was browned evenly and nice served with real butter. An enjoyable enough breakfast for sure but nothing really stood out as being particularly special and I was thinking about lunch less than an hour later. 7/10

Value for money - The Mustard Full English cost £7.50, during January a hot drink is offered free making it reasonable value for money. If I had paid £7.50 for it without the drink though I would have been questioning how a standard single items breakfast could carry this price tag. I will base the score here on the fact the coffee was included though. 5/10

Veggie option - No veggie full English available. The closest thing was "no meat in my muffin" consisting of English muffin with halloumi, mushrooms, vine tomatoes and avocado topped with a poached egg for £6.50

Overall - A great place for sure with friendly staff and a compact but nice environment with some lovely touches like the sketchbook washing line and local art on display. For me the full English was a bit of a let down though and not particularly filling. With so many places nearby offering a bigger and better breakfast at the same price or less it left me wondering if they need to go back to the drawing board with their full English and create something better that stands out from the crowd and offer a vegetarian one too. 6/10