Introduction
It’s Breakfast Week, and to celebrate we’ve carried out a survey of Edinburgh Foody readers. The lovely folks at One Square at the Sheraton Hotel offered a prize of breakfast for two which led to a wonderful response.
So what do you, our intrepid readers like? Are you creatures of habit and eat the same things all the time? What are your favourite breakfasts?
As well as sharing the results, we include a recipe from Executive Chef Craig Hart at the Sheraton and suggest some great places to have breakfast in Edinburgh. So, read on. I guarantee you’ll feel hungry!
Breakfast Week Survey¹
Eggs Benedict at One Square, Edinburgh
It’s official our readers love Eggs Benedict. When we asked you for your favourite this dish came top. Rich hollandaise sauce, poached eggs on a toasted English muffin clearly hits the spot. You also mentioned Eggs Florentine (with spinach) and Eggs Royale (with smoked salmon). I get the sense that you love indulgence and Eggs Benedict is not something you’d usually cook yourself. It’s the ultimate treat to have made for you.
In second place are 0ther dishes featuring eggs, with full breakfast (Scottish and/or English) and pancakes tying in 3rd place, with French toast an extremely close 4th.
Our Top 5 breakfast foods
It’s often said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It’s heartening to note that 67% of people in our survey eat breakfast every day.
Beth: I adore French toast and find that using challah bread means the egg really soaks into it. I know some prefer a savoury a version but I’ve come to lust after a sweet AND savoury brunch plate.
Just 13% eat the same things each day. The remainder eat different items on weekdays to weekends and non-workdays.
Anthony: ” I love scrambled eggs on toast with builder’s tea. Breakfast of champions!”
You might expect that we eat differently on work days to non-working days, and you’ll be right.
There’s a big shift away from cereal and porridge over to cooked foods, pastries and other items. For cooked foods, it’s not just simply a full breakfast, but fish too.
Danielle: I had the best breakfast ever in India – exotic fruits freshly picked from the garden
Other items include cereal bars, smoothies, fruit and yogurt but also some more unexpected items such as eating leftovers, idli (Indian rice dish) and Thai dishes. There’s one that I hope is tongue in cheek, eating cheesecake with Anthea Turner.
The Recipe
- 30mls. white wine vinegar
- Six white peppercorns
- 10 gr. Tarragon
- One egg yolk
- 100 gr. unsalted butter
- One English Muffin
- Two Rashers bacon
- Two Eggs
- Make a reduction with vinegar, tarragon and peppercorns, strain and reserve. Do this by heating these ingredients to boiling point and reduce to half
- Melt butter, keep warm.
- Place yolks in a bowl with a little reduction, a spoonful of water and a little lemon juice, season.
- Whisk over a bowl of hot water until light and slightly thickened.
- Remove from the heat and slowly pour in melted butter, whisking all the time, until the sauce thickens.
- Adjust seasoning and keep in a warm, not hot, place.
- Grill bacon
- Toast muffin
- Poach eggs in water with a little white wine vinegar added
- To finish place bacon on muffin then eggs on top
- Spoon over hollandaise and glaze under the grill
- Garnish with a few micro herbs & drizzle a few drops of green oil round
Great breakfasts in Edinburgh
There are some places in Edinburgh that offer breakfast. Our criteria is being to able eat early. One day last week, Brendan and I were seen to be lurking outside the Huxley on Shandwick Place, we were early for breakfast booked for 8 am. The Huxley is just one part the Rutland Hotel group which includes Kyloe and Heads and Tales.
The Huxley’s Full Scottish Breakfast
We tucked into a full Scottish and Eggs Royale (eggs, hollandaise and smoked salmon). The ingredients were clearly well sourced with the emphasis on local suppliers. My wish would be to add some really good bread, rather than pre-sliced. I loved my Eggs Royale – the salmon was really tasty and the sauce just right. It’s a friendly place and families are very welcome and prices are reasonable. Survey favourites Eggs Benedict is £8.00, French Toast £6.00 and Full Scottish £8.95
Sophie: My favourite breakfast is perfectly cooked egg benedict with fresh spinach and crispy bacon. Simple but not that easy to find a place where the eggs are cooked properly, the sauce homemade, the ratio sauce/egg is perfect and where the bacon is good.
Other great places to eat
One Square, the Sheraton
The One Square breakfast menu could have been written to match all our favourite breakfasts in our Breakfast Week survey. Try the Bircher muesli with apple and hazelnut crunch with low fat natural yoghurt (£5.50), Eggs Benedict in standard or large size (£7.50/£11.50) or the classic smoked haddock and scrambled eggs £10.00.
Mimi’s Bakehouse, Leith
Mimi’s Bakehouse French Toast
Perhaps best known for its fabulous cakes, Mimi’s Breakfast is a very big favourite with our readers and in particular their French Toast which is served with your choice of Banana and salted caramel, Ramsay of Carluke’s bacon or Crombies’ Broughton Bangers and roasted cherry vine tomatoes
Rachel: Pad krapow (Thai stir fry with basil) with chicken and a fried egg on top with rice – the BEST BREAKFAST EVER!
Contini’s, George Street
Contini’s Porridge
The freshest Scottish produce with an Italian twist. Try survey favourite porridge. Contini’s version features Graham’s gold organic milk served with apricots, Italian honey and cream or seasonal fruits for £5.50/£5.95 There’s a particularly good range of drinks to accompany your breakfast.
Teuchter’s, Leith
A good place to eat pancakes, with crispy bacon of course, another survey favourite. It’s a lovely spot down by the water.
Julie; “I’d love to eat eggs with a gourmet cheese board, with some vegetables, interesting breads, and a bloody mary”
1 The survey was sent out to Edinburgh Foody newsletter readers and through Twitter and LinkedIn in January 2015. As we reach a very foodie audience, we’re not suggesting that this is a representative sample.
The Huxley’s Egg Royale
The Huxley:
One Square:
Mimi’s Bakehouse:
Continis:
Teuchters:
Photographs
Eggs Benedict – courtesy of the Sheraton
The Huxley full Scottish and Egg Royale – Brendan MacNeill
French toast – courtesy of Mimi’s Bakehouse
Porridge – courtesy of Contini’s
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