131 Earlham Road
Norwich
NR2 3RF
Breakfast served
Monday to Saturday
8.30am till 11.00am
Back in August 2017 The Mitre on Earlham Road opened it's doors once again following a £600,000 investment by the congregation of a neighbouring church, St Thomas'.
Place your order and pay at the counter.
There are two main areas where you can dine, both spacious.
The former pub has been transformed into a stylish community cafe, bar and bistro.
As well as tables there's also a sofa area to relax in and socialise over a coffee or a beer.
The breakfast menu is served until 11am and offers meat, vegetarian and vegan options. There's also "The Five" which allows you to build your own breakfast choosing five items. If you want to add additional items to any breakfast you can do so at a cost of £1 per item.
Cutlery and condiments are on a table beside the counter, help yourself to what you need.
The sauces selection here is impressive, I love Stokes ketchup and it was nice to see a jar of Colmans.
A cappuccino cost £2.50 and was served with a Lotus Biscoff biscuit.
A few sips into the cappuccino revealed some nice touches on the inside of the cup.
The breakfast was looking good when it arrived, I ordered the full English with beans and fried bread as extras.
Something had caught my eye though.
I know everyone likes their eggs cooked in different ways but I personally can't bear runny egg white.
The meats used here were excellent quality but slightly undercooked.
I was impressed with the mushroom and tomato, both tasted great. There was no shortage of bread on my breakfast, it included a muffin, toasted sourdough and fried sourdough.
The highlight for me was this chunky slice of black pudding, a beautiful colour and great flavour.
My wife ordered the vegan breakfast, a potato item would have made it look more complete though and some vegan spread would have livened up the dry toast.
Back in August I noticed photos of the breakfast at The Mitre in Norwich being posted onto my facebook page. The former Mitre pub had been purchased by St Thomas' Church in 2016 and transformed into a cafe, bar and bistro. With my Japan blog posts complete I decided to go out for breakfast once again with my wife and with so many people talking about the breakfast at Mitre it seemed like the obvious choice...
Upon entering - The transformation from The Mitre pub into Mitre cafe/bar is quite remarkable. Inside it feels really spacious and no expense has been spared in making it look modern and inviting. There's original parquet floors, exposed brickwork behind the counter and nice large tables to dine at. If you want to chat over a coffee in comfort there's also an area with a sofa, soft chairs and a coffee table. The Victorian building still has many of it's original features and the way the interior has been designed ties in beautifully with it. The breakfast menu is served until 11am and offers something for meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans. Place your order and pay at the counter, don't forget to help yourself to cutlery and condiments before returning to your table. There's a decent selection of sauces on offer here from Stokes, HP and Colmans. Drinks are bought over to your table, as is the food once it's ready. Most definitely a lovely environment to spend time in and beautifully renovated. 9/10
Service - A friendly staff team welcomed us when we arrived and took our order. The location of the cutlery and sauces was pointed out to us and we were informed that there may be a slight wait on the food to arrive due to lots of breakfast orders being prepared. The wait for the food to arrive was perfectly acceptable and we were offered water with the food. I believe some of the staff here are volunteers who all seemed to be doing an excellent job. 8/10
Contents - The full English breakfast consists of 2 sausages, 2 bacon, 1 slice of black pudding, 1 fried egg, portobello mushroom, half a tomato and a buttered muffin. I also added fried bread and beans for an extra £2. 7/10
Presentation - When the food arrived I was initially quite impressed, a neatly laid out selection of items filled the plate. The meats were clearly good quality but I thought they needed a bit longer in the frying pan. The egg was holding a pool of uncooked egg white around the yolk which I'm not a fan of at all. 6/10
The food - I'm not sure where the meats used on this breakfast are from but it was all decent quality which is crucial in making a breakfast special. The pork sausages were firm and plump with a very pleasant flavour, slightly pale in the centre though so a bit longer in the pan would have been nice. The bacon tasted great and the rashers were nice and thick, personally I'd have preferred them more browned though. The highlight of this breakfast for me was without a doubt the thick slice of black pudding, deep red inside and a superb flavour. The fried bread was lightly fried and could have easily been mistaken for toast. I tried to put it to good use though by turning my egg over onto it, I was hoping the heat of the fried bread would cook some of the uncooked egg white. It didn't really work though and I was left with quite a slimy egg/fried bread combination which I didn't particularly enjoy. The tomato was flavoursome and the portobello mushroom tasted devine. The rather small portion of beans were fairly standard and the lightly toasted muffin was delicious wrapped around some bacon and dipped in Stokes ketchup. Had the meats and egg been cooked for longer this breakfast would have been far more impressive, this is something that can easily be sorted out though. 6/10
Value for money - The full English breakfast costs £7.50 and extras of beans and fried bread cost £1 each, so with a cappuccino I spent a total of £12. Fairly expensive I thought considering there's no potato item and only a single egg. 6/10
Veggie option - 2 vegan sausages, portobello mushroom, tomato, beans, 1 fried egg and sourdough toast. £6.50.
Overall - Certainly a lovely environment to enjoy a spot of breakfast and the staff were friendly and helpful. The breakfast here has a lot of potential as some quality ingredients are used on it, I just felt the cooking times need tweaking to make it a great breakfast. Also I couldn't understand why the toast on the vegan breakfast was served dry when vegan spread is so readily available. It's only been open a few months though so I'm confident the breakfast will only get better over time and I wish them all the best with this new venture. 7/10
Decent effort, I'd lose the muffin and have bubble. Great looking black pudding, love to know where its from. The vegan option just doesn't look right...again needs some bubble.
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