A Better Breakfast At ‘Leaf On Bold Street’, Liverpool

I’ve had many a big night out in Liverpool which required a full English breakfast the next morning. Despite being a food geek (obviously) and if i’m honest a bit of a food snob, for some reason it has always been at the same old dodgy greasy spoon which makes the losers cafe on The Apprentice look like The Ritz.

Before my latest visit last weekend I was determined to find somewhere for a better breakfast and I came across Leaf on Bold Street. Not only does it have a fabulous reputation online and numerous awards including the ‘UK’s 4th Best Brunch’ in The Times and listed in The Independents Top 50 Tea Rooms but it is amazingly just 3 minutes away from my hotel, closer than the greasy spoon!

I arrived with two friends at around 11am on Sunday morning feeling a little worse for wear after a heavy night out and only a few hours sleep.

I was surprised at how big the place was, one large and very open room with a sign offering more seating upstairs. It’s very spacious and modern with a bar at one side of the room and a stage at the other.

It was pretty busy but we spotted an empty table and sat down. Menus are on clipboards and orders are placed yourself at the bar.

I went for a good old traditional English breakfast, a large black Americano and a freshly squeezed orange juice. Both drinks arrived almost before i’d got back to my seat. The coffee was a good size and very good quality, the orange juice fresh and zingy.

The breakfast arrived shortly afterwards and looked impressive. A million miles away from the what i’d usually be tucking into just a few doors down the street.

It wasn’t the biggest Full English i’ve ever had but it did contain everything required for a good cooked breakfast: bacon, sausage, tomato, mushroom, eggs, baked beans, toast and a ‘breakfast croquet’. The eggs are available either scrambled, fried or poached which I chose and they were amazing, perfectly round without the scrappy wispy bits and beautifully soft. Everything else was cooked really well, the ingredients were clearly of a higher quality than your average greasy spoon Full English, particularly the black pudding. The breakfast croquet was far better than a hash brown. Most impressively it wasn’t at all greasy and I finished it feeling satisfied but not over full. Definitely the best breakfast I’ve had in Liverpool.

One of my friends ordered ‘Eggs Benedict’ which looked really good but he wasn’t happy with. He was very impressed with the shredded ham hock which was much nicer than sliced ham but everything else was disappointing. He felt it was under seasoned although that was easily fixed with the salt & pepper on the table, more importantly the hollandaise was lacking in flavour and it was all quite cold. He complained about the heat and they immediately cooked him a fresh one which was much improved.

Despite the disappointment with the Eggs Benedict I think Leaf is a good place, i’ll definitely go again for breakfast and i’d also be happy to sample the main menu too.

Date of visit: 03.02.2013