50 Earlham Road
Norwich
NR2 3DE
Breakfast served
Saturday and Sunday
9.30am till 11.30am
Dog Friendly
The Black Horse is about a ten minute walk away from the City Centre on Earlham Road.
It's spacious inside with a choice of areas to dine in.
We chose to sit in this room at the front to make the most of the natural light.
There's also a good sized beer garden at the rear.
The breakfast menu is only available at weekends and offers vegetarian and vegan options.
Once you've chosen what you'd like from the menu, place your order at the bar. Don't worry about paying yet as you settle your bill at the end.
Remember your table number when placing your order.
The coffee here was excellent and came with warmed milk, an Americano cost £2.20.
No breakfast is complete without a squirt of Heinz and HP.
An quick aerial shot of the food before I went in for a closer look.
The Black Horse Breakfast usually costs £9.50, the black pudding had been forgotten though so I was given a discount and paid £8.
The mushroom ketchup listed on the menu has now been replaced by a mushroom, it was a nice enough mushroom but I was a bit disappointed as I love mushroom ketchup. The chipolatas and bacon are from Toombs Butchers in Hellesdon, both were really nice.
Boston beans made a nice change.
I enjoyed them over the thick cut toast.
Many would argue that greenery on a breakfast shouldn't be seen. I love spinach though and thoroughly enjoyed it.
A nicely seasoned tomato and a fried egg with a deep yellow yolk.
The yolk could have been runnier but better to be slightly overcooked rather than undercooked.
The egg and slice of toast were exactly the same shape as each other, a perfect fit!
The vegan option on the menu didn't really appeal to my wife as she doesn't like avocado. Instead she ordered the vegetarian breakfast minus the eggs and halloumi, this cost her £6.
Ever since The Black Horse launched their breakfast menu at the beginning of 2017 it's been on my list of places to visit. It took me far longer than I was expecting to finally visit and I'd been reminded by the pub to do so on a couple of occasions. On a warm Saturday morning my wife and I were finally passing by at the right time so we decided to call in for breakfast...
Upon entering - The Black Horse looks great inside and has an equally impressive beer garden out the back. We were very tempted to sit outside but the sun wasn't shining and it was feeling a tad chilly so we headed indoors. Inside feels spacious with two main rooms offering a selection of table sizes to accommodate small or large groups. We sat by the window in the front room so as to make use of the natural light for the photos. My wife enjoyed looking at some of the old photographs of Norwich displayed on the walls whilst waiting for the food to arrive. The breakfast menu covered all bases with something for meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans. My only slight concern was that the items on the menu didn't match what arrived on the plate, more on that later though. We were given a menu at the bar where we later returned to place our order, be sure to remember your table number though. Once you've placed your order it's full table service so simply settle your bill at the bar before leaving. Cutlery is brought over first and sauces are offered once the food has arrived. The environment was lovely and the ordering process seemed to flow quite nicely. 8/10
Service - As soon as we arrived were greeted with a big smile, the welcome here is certainly warm and sincere. My wife enquired about vegan options and was told she could choose whatever items she wanted from the breakfast menu. Once we'd chosen where to sit we returned to the bar and placed our order. The coffees arrived first served with warm milk, my wife requested oat milk which wasn't a problem. When the food arrived my wife pointed out to me that my breakfast didn't have mushroom ketchup so I enquired when the waitress returned. She told me that it was no longer being served but extra sausage and bacon had been given to compensate. I then noticed that there was a mushroom on the plate which wasn't mentioned on the menu so this seemed to make up for the lack of mushroom ketchup. As we went to settle our bill at the bar my wife pointed out that my breakfast should have included black pudding. The staff apologised for it being forgotten and gave me a £1.50 discount. So very friendly and helpful staff but a menu which on this occasion didn't match up to what arrived on the plate. It was all dealt with in the best possible way though and it perfectly demonstrated why paying at the end of a meal is always the best way in case there are any issues. 9/10
Contents - 3 chipolata sausages, 3 slices of bacon, 1 fried egg, 1 large mushroom, half a tomato, Boston beans, spinach and toast served with butter. 6/10
Presentation - The breakfast was nicely presented with beans contained in a ramekin and toast on the main plate too. The meats could have been a touch browner and the egg yolk a bit runnier but that's just my personal preference and on the whole it was looking very good. 8/10
The food - The chipolata sausages and bacon used on this breakfast are from from Toombs Butchers in Hellesdon. Sausages didn't feature on the previous breakfast menu at The Black Horse so I was delighted to see they'd been added to the current breakfast menu. The sausages had a coarse but firm texture and tasted delicious, the bacon was clearly a quality rasher with great flavour, I thoroughly enjoyed the meats on this breakfast. I also really enjoyed the thick cut toasted bread, once spread with butter it made the perfect base for the beans and the fried egg. The Boston beans made a nice change from standard beans, they were served in a thick sauce with a subtle bbq flavour. The fried egg was in pretty good shape with an intact but fairly firm yolk, it tasted amazing though and was exactly the same size as one of the slices of toast which was quite pleasing on the eye. The large mushroom was rather nice and the seasoned tomato had plenty of flavour. Spinach isn't something I see very often on a breakfast, I love it though so no complaints from me. 8/10
Value for money - The Black Horse breakfast usually costs £9.50, on this occasion though I was charged £8 as the black pudding had been forgotten. It was a thoroughly enjoyable breakfast made using quality ingredients but take the toast off the plate and you soon realise there's bigger breakfasts out there for the same price. It filled me up at the time but within an hour I found myself thinking about food again and scoffing churros on Norwich Market. 7/10
Veggie option - Fried egg, spinach, halloumi, beans, mushroom and toast. £9.
Overall - The Black Horse is a lovely pub to dine in, it's beautifully decorated and feels really spacious with the added bonus of a large beer garden. The staff are friendly, helpful and really listen to their customers ensuring they are happy. I enjoyed The Black Horse Breakfast but was slightly disappointed that what I received wasn't the same as what was listed on the menu. Having tried mushroom ketchup a few years back I was really looking forward to trying it again and the forgotten black pudding meant I was reviewing an incomplete breakfast. The way the staff dealt with the situation was commendable though, they really do aim to please. It's definitely somewhere that's worth visiting for breakfast, I hope to return at some point to try the breakfast in its entirety. 7.5/10
Went today (8 Mar 2020) and breakfast now finishes at 11:00 so went for a walk around the city and came back at 12:00 for a really good Sunday roast. I had the veggie option with a pint of Oakhams Citra and my sister went for all the meats option.
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