The Grande Scottish Breakfast (Cafe Grande - Bruntsfield).

Cafe grande is a popular small family owned restaurant located towards the end of bruntsfield as it turns onto  morningside road.  I opted for their most expensive breakfast option the Grande scottish breakfast.

  Presentation

The breakfast comes adorned on a swanky restaurant dinner plate that doesn't do much to hide the potions being dealt here (more later).  The beans come in a quaint little container that makes dunking easier if you want to dunk your singular sausage into a reservoir of beany deliciousness. 

Cultlery again presenting nothing over the top, coffee coming out in a nice glass latte numbert and orange juice coming out in fairly normal breakfast glass.

The two slices of toast come out in their own little side plate chariot accompanied by a nice middle class dosing of lurpak butter.

The food looks poultry on the plate with a half of a tomato that looks bigger than your sausage.  Let's hope it tastes good!

Decent on the whole but the fry up isn't anything to lose.

Swanky coffee glasses and lurpak can't help your portions 

Score - 5/10 

Taste and quality of ingredients.

Egg - I would have pluralised it but I only got one, reasonable taste nothing to note really.

Bacon - Small rasher, well cooked and fairly lean again run of the mill.

Black pudding - reasonably dry but it is black pudding again nothing to remember.

Potato scone - Nice big portion and well cooked nice a crispy with a warm moist center not a great sign when you potato scone is out performing the stuff that used to have feet. 

Haggis - Has anyone ever had a haggis that didn't taste good?

Mushrooms - Need to be drowned in butter, these boys were barely up to their toes.

Beans - Meh

Score - 5/10

Value for money

7.95 is well above average for the price of a fry up.  When I am paying above average prices in what is a more upmarket part of town I am not expecting to be blown away but I am expecting either good quality food or a nice big portion of decent food.  What the grande offered was a below average portion of very average food.

Score - 4/10

Added Extras 

The coffee was pretty nice and I did appreciate the fact that my toast came with lurpak I know I have friends that will hate me for not wanting normal butter that came fresh from a local cow that still has bits of grass in it but I like me some lurpak, commercialised whore that I am.  Getting orange juice is also nice but given the price It's not going to get it a huge amount of brownie points.

Score - 7/10

Dining experience.

We ate outside in the rain in what was a autumn sunday morning in Edinburgh, it was nice to sit and relax under the canopy when other people where running around trying to avoid the rain or achieve the impossible and get a table for breakfast on a sunday evening in Bruntsfield. 

The restaurant and furniture where nice as was the waitress but I was under the impression she sent for out food via 2nd class post as it took some time to materialise and given the portions they must have been growing the wheat to make the toast.  

Score - 6/10 (speed of service only real negative)

Final Grand Total - 27/50

Pros - 

• Coffee
• Outside chairs
• Free Orange juice and lurpak

Cons - 

• Where is my food?
• Tortoise service
• Paying a premium for average.

Extras - Ice cream coffee.... sweet jesus yes!

Rocket Breakfast from the Rocket Cafe Morningside

The Rocket cafe is situated on Morningside road at the T-Junction that turns onto the grange.  It is a cosy little cafe that serves a whole host of breakfasts, lunches and beverages.  They also have a lot of cake.

We will be looking at their flagship breakfast the "Rocket Breakfast" for £6.70 you obtain the following delights.

Presentation

The rocket breakfast comes out on a normal dinner plate to not much fanfare.  The cutlery is your standard fork and butterknife fare that come out on a 100% recycled napkin which is a nice quirky touch given the cafe's organic/new age vibe.  The breakfast also comes along with a complementary orange juice which is once again presented in a normal glass all pretty straightforward.

The food itself looks pretty good with a big slice of bacon, meaty lumps of black pudding and haggis.  The plate however looks crowded with out much room for manoeuvring other than eating your way through the pile!

On the whole above average presentation but nothing to really write home to Gordon Ramsey about.

Score - 6/10.

Taste and Quality of Ingredients

Toast - fairly common fair, pretty nice bread that has been toasted well and applied generously with butter.

Eggs - I opted for the scrambled option, they were a bit runny for my tastes but the eggs were of a good quality and it could have maybe done with slightly more seasoning.

Bacon - Really good quality cut of meat thick, well cooked and with out excessive amounts of fat only one rasher however but good quality all the same.

Sausages - For me the acid test of a fry up, they were of an average size and of an above average taste. Cooked well but maybe a bit dry (more to do with the sausage than the chef!) pretty solid all round however.

Haggis - Solid bit of haggis well cooked and pretty moist goes well with the rest of the ingredients.

Black Pudding - weakest of all the ingredients dry and luke warm.

Mushrooms - very good quality ingredients but could have done with more butter, pleasant all the same. 

Potato Scone and Fried tomato - not really worth of special mention they were adequate and didn't let down the experience as a whole.

Score - 7 /10 

Value for Money

At £6.70 the rocket breakfast packs a lot of quality for your money whilst it might not be the Rolls Royce of dead things cooked in butter it certainly is no dead beat.  I felt satisfied after finishing my plate and believe me that is saying something since I am somewhat of a portly customer.

Score - 8 / 10

Added Extras

The rocket breakfast comes with a glass of orange juice included in the price, if you request sauces you get a selection of brand name red and brown sauce.  The lack of a cup of coffee or tea, extra butter and marmalade included in the price lets it down somewhat in this category however you get plenty of the main event so shouldn't grumble too much.

Score - 6/10

Dining Experience

You have the option of going to the counter or waiting for one of the waiters or waitresses to come to your table and provide you with table service.  Being a small and well staffed cafe your never too far away from catching someone's eye.  The decor is quirky and has a kind of alternative even french vibe, the counter is always stocked with lots of great looking cakes, bread and produce.

The seats are all wooden and functional it's not the sort of place you might want to sit in and relax for hours on end due to the seating but it does the job admirably.  It can be slightly cramped or "cosy" when it becomes busy (which it often is and for good reason.).

Overall the rocket cafe is a pretty pleasant place to be and doesn't cost an arm and a leg for some good quality food.

Score - 7 / 10

Final Grand Total - 34 / 50 

Pros 

• Good quality produce
• Good Value for money
• Free orange juice.

Cons

• Cramped presentation
• Seating can be cramped and cafe is often very busy
• Some ingredients let the standard down

Extras - the expresso milk shake or french toast are well worth a look!