Monday 26 August 2013

Sergeant Sausage gets posh

Posh Pigs
Ellough Industrial Estate
Beccles
NR34 7TD

Opening Times (as per websearch)
 Mon - Fri 8am - 2.15pm

Sat - Sun 8am - 1pm
 



Posh Pigs is a well known and often discussed establishment a few miles outside Beccles. The Inspector needed a review for the blog so despatched me on a damp Saturday morning to get the inside line on the joint.

 
Follow the signs then follow your snout!



 
Unit 17 is well worth noting



 
Big car park, outdoor seating and bright window boxes, great!



 
Just 8 of the many varieties of breakfast available



 
A good space inside with a bright décor



 
Sauces reporting for duty



 
 Standard mug of tea, check.




 A good old plateful




 Let’s look a little closer….




Sooooooo meaty!!



 
 A tale of two eggs




 Egg one




 Egg Two




Makes a good fork full 



 

Now you see it….



Upon entering – The experience started when I pulled up in the large car park, probably one of the reasons why this place is popular with bikers.  As I stepped out of the car I was hit with the smell of cooking breakfast hanging in the air.  As a long time camper there is nothing more appetising than this good morning smell, so with my mouth watering I headed for the door. Inside the big wooden building the decor is nice and fresh and there is loads of space. With the white beamed ceiling and neat rows of wooden tables it put me in mind that I was in a place of worship.  A great setting to pay homage to the almighty Full English. The counter and kitchen are on your left as you enter, the kitchen open to display and wafting out those delicious smells from the range that was heaving with great looking sausages. A nicely adorned dresser to the right where you will find knives forks, napkins and other items of interest.  I couldn’t see any menus on the tables so it was a case of ordering from the extensive menu suspended above the counter to which I proceeded.  9/10

Service – Ah. Maybe because it was early the waitress who took my order seemed incapable of a smile. I wanted to be there, but I got the impression she didn’t, which was a shame because friendliness costs nothing and making people feel welcome isn't difficult.  I made a determined effort to engage but it wasn’t really reciprocated.  So feeling a little perturbed I went for the number two, but completely missed the black pudding as an extra (I got the picture of the menu when I was leaving, they had no take away menus on the day).  The Full Breakfasts come with a choice of saute potatoes or hash browns, and I know some purists think the hash brown belongs on an American plate, but its always welcome on mine, so I ordered the hash browns.  Unfortunately the waitress didn’t get that right either, so saute it was when my plate arrived.  Another waitress bought that out, and she did smile, which was good. 6/10

Contents – 2 sausage, 2 bacon, 2 eggs, tomato, mushroom, beans, fried slice, toast, and saute potatoes or hash browns (didn’t I order hash browns?) 9/10

Presentation – It looked good on the plate, a big old portion swimming with beans, there was a fried slice tucked away under the eggs, although one of the eggs looked a little more overdone than the other.  The sausages looked fantastic though.  8/10

The food – Beans, beans. 30 seconds in the microwave just doesn’t do it for me, and there were too many. I would have been happier with less but hotter beans. However. The large field mushroom was lovely and juicy.  The eggs were nice, good quality, the yolks done to different degrees, but still rich and tasty. The fried slice was okay. Crispy and not too oily, although I did wonder if it had been done in a batch earlier as it wasn’t quite as hot as the eggs that rested on it. The tomato was really good, packed with flavour,  no doubt locally sourced like all the ingredients. The hot toast, lathered with marge was great and cant be faulted. The hash br saute potatoes were a bit bland, they always are.  Well cooked and all, but they just don’t do it for me which is probably why I didn’t ask for them.  The bacon was great quality and had an awesome flavour, cooked so it was tender with a lovely melting quality, I could have eaten more of it very very easily. It was really good as were the sausages, I’m guessing local butchers and they were very fine. They had a really strong herby flavour coming through and this accompanied the porky texture perfectly, definitely up there in the sausage stakes.    9/10

Value for money – Decent ingredients at a decent price and 80p extra for the mug of tea. I thought £6.60 was well worth it.  9/10

Veggie option –  Yes. Number four on the menu with veggie sausages and lots of choice across the menu.

Overall –  I had been looking forward to this assignment as I have heard loads of great things about this place.  The food certainly is very good, you just cant go wrong with local produce and cafes are great places to eat them, especially this one. Lots of great flavours on the Posh Pigs plate. It could have been a religious experience, but the service let it down. That and the beans. I know they are basics, but these should be a given, especially at Posh Pigs.  Chatting to a biker friend that evening he did indicate the service is usually much better, so I must have caught them on an off day. But those sausages, and that bacon, mmmmm. It deserves more, but I have to go on the evidence I’m given.  8/10

2 comments:

  1. Very good and accurate review. Why do the beans always spoilt the party!?

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  2. Shame you seem to have got one member of staff on a down moment, I have been to Posh Pigs innumerable times and found them always to be very pleasant, even when really pushed as they get SO busy. It's the kind of place you can take anyone to, and a real favourite with us and family.

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