Morning Glory @ Gonzo's Tea room - Norwich

(Now closed)

68 London Street

Norwich

NR2 1JT

Breakfast served

Monday to Saturday - 7.30am till 11.30am

 Sunday - 11am till 3pm

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I'd been to Gonzo's Tea room a couple of times before, usually for cocktails.

Today we were heading here for a different reason though, Morning Glory were serving a Mexican breakfast menu.

The random array of things inside will give you plenty to look whilst waiting for the food to arrive.

We were tempted to sit at the arcade table, I had concerns about leg space though.

Perfect if you want to play Breakout over breakfast!

We didn't spend long at the bar before being told to take a seat as somebody will come over and take our order. Behind the bar Heisenburg keeps a watchful eye on what's going on.

I must confess to initially not being overly excited about trying a Mexican breakfast. There was plenty of options on the menu, I ordered Huevos Mexicanos and my wife ordered Huevos Rancheros.

Fresh flowers, cutlery and serviettes were already on each table.

A decent selection of sauces could be found on the bar.

As always I ordered a cappuccino, it came with a nice biscuit.

When my Huevos Mexicanos arrived I was impressed, it was much bigger than I was expecting and looked delicious!

It lay across a tortilla base.

I'm not usually a big fan of chorizo but these sausages were superb.

A nice firm texture and not too rich in flavour, delicious!

Crushed avocado, I found some nice big chunks in there, spot on!

Great salsa and refried beans.

Those egg yolks were eager to escape, the tortilla was equally as eager to soak them up.

I wasn't expecting diced and spiced potatoes but spotted some beside the eggs.

I lifted the egg to find more, nice and crunchy with a great flavour.

With an egg and sausage left I decided to wrap things up.

My wife thoroughly enjoyed her Huevos Rancheros, she swapped the avocado for diced and spiced potatoes.

I was reading through the newsfeed of Norwich Facebook group Secret Norwich when I first spotted Morning Glory at Gonzo's Tea Room. Not being a massive fan of Mexican Food I considered possibly visiting later in the year. Then I got a message from the chef asking me to pop along there at some point to see what I thought. A few days after receiving the message my wife and I decided to visit Gonzo's Tea Room for a Mexican Breakfast...

Upon entering - In my opinion Breaking Bad is the best thing to ever be shown on TV so I was delighted to spot the illuminated Heisenburg print behind the bar! Beyond the bar is a well lit and spacious seating area made up from a random array of objects and furniture. I spotted a grandfather clock, a tabletop arcade machine, cuddly toys, numerous rugs and a dj area. Gonzo's Tea Room is open till late at night serving an impressive selection of cocktails so the main room is perfect for this, as a breakfast room it seemed to work nicely too though. We chose a large table towards the back, there's full table service and cutlery is already on the table wrapped in serviettes. Once you've eaten you can settle your bill on the way out at the bar. It felt like a nice relaxing place to enjoy some food and spend some time chatting over a coffee. There's certainly heaps of things to look at here and the arcade machine works so you could always have a game or two whilst waiting for the food to arrive. 9/10

Service - We were greeted with a smile and told to chose a table as somebody would come over to take our order, we found a menu on the bar and sat down to take a good look through it. The service we encountered from everyone here was friendly, sincere and efficient. A few apologies were made for delays caused by there being no gas in the kitchen earlier in the day, we both thought the timing of everything seemed just right though. Whilst placing our order my wife asked if it was ok to swap avocado for potatoes, this wasn't a problem at all. The hot drinks arrived first, both served with a nice biscuit which was an unexpected treat. Within 20 minutes our food arrived looking really impressive. We paid on the way out having enjoyed our time here and been made to feel really welcome. 9/10

Contents - 2 chorizo sausages, 2 fried eggs, crushed avocado, refried beans, diced and spiced potatoes and salsa on a tortilla base. 8/10

Presentation - I find a green garnish either works well or looks out of place, here it worked a treat though in garnishing an all round excellent looking breakfast. Everything looked delicious layed out across a nice big tortilla base. I had initial concerns about the egg yolks being slightly undercooked on top but on closer inspection it became apparent that the chef was clearly a master at frying eggs. Unlike most breakfasts the wonderful thing about this one was the bit towards the end, you have the option to wrap any remaining items up in the tortilla for those final mouthfuls. 8/10

The food - I used to love chorizo but on some occasions have found it to be far too rich and over powering, this made me feel a bit apprehensive about trying these chorizo sausages. Thankfully I had nothing to fear though, they were not too rich and I thoroughly enjoyed them. The potatoes had a soft centre and spiced crunchy edge, delicious dipped into the chipotle and cola sauce. I'm no expert on refried beans infact I rarely ever eat them, I was expecting a mashed consistency but here they came served whole, I really enjoyed them. The fried eggs tasted great with their impressive yolks that hung on for dear life until I finally put them out of their misery with my fork. Although my wife often tells me she can't see the point of an avocado I have to disagree. The crushed avocado was really good and the mix of textures was spot on. Finally a nice tangy salsa finished off this impressive Mexican breakfast. 9/10

Value for money - When the food arrived I was really impressed with how good it looked and how much there was on the plate. £8.50 for my Huevos Mexicanos seemed like a fair price, I wasn't expecting to find potatoes on it either so this made it even better value for money. 8/10

Veggie option - Huevos Rancheros or a breakfast burrito, both £8 each.

Overall - I felt certain that a Mexican breakfast wouldn't really be my cup of tea but Morning Glory have totally changed my mind, I loved it! Every aspect of this visit from the impressive interior of Gonzo's Tea Room and the excellent service to the delicious food being served here has totally won me over. This isn't a full English breakfast and it's not pretending to be, this made it quite difficult for me to score it in places though so I based my score on the fact it was a Mexican breakfast. Not just any Mexican breakfast though, a seriously delicious one that you really should try for yourself, I will definitely be returning again! 8.5/10