Not Posh Nosh

[Gob]

With its comfy chairs, wooden fireplace and shabby chic lamp shades, it could very easily be mistaken for someone’s front room.



But it is, in fact, a humble cafe that offers a full fried breakfast for the unremarkable price of £5.95 – including tea or coffee. Now The Haven has been rated the best place to eat in Edinburgh – after rating higher than the city’s five Michelin star restaurants.

Every customer to review the cafe on the Trip Advisor website says they would recommend it, giving it the highest possible marks for food, service, value and atmosphere, so that it now ranks higher than posh restaurants Castle Terrace, four, Number One, 11, Martin Wishart, 13, Kitchin, 19 and 21212, 219. All five were awarded a star in the latest 2013 edition of the Michelin Red Guide but while they typically serve pigeon, deer and rabbit at around £70 a head for three courses, The Haven is a more modest affair. Its menu includes scones, cakes and pancakes all freshly made by cafe owner and University of Edinburgh graduate Natalie Kwek, 26.


Natalie, who has a degree in English and masters in film, says the most popular dish is her fried Scottish breakfast – sausage, bacon, black pudding, haggis, fried eggs, baked beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, potato scones, toast and a cup of tea or coffee, for just £5.95. Natalie, whose cafe is in Newhaven, said: ‘I can’t believe it’s being mentioned in the same breath as these amazing Michelin star restaurants. ‘I’ve never eaten in any of them but know they have a fantastic reputation for quality food. ‘To see my cafe rated above them on Trip Advisor is a real honour. ‘When I opened the Haven last November I hoped it would be a success but never imagined it would be such a hit so quickly.’

She added: ‘I spent all my spare time at university baking cakes for friends and family, who loved them. ‘When I graduated I decided I wanted to make a living out of my hobby, doing what I loved. I was lucky to secure this cafe and have tried hard to turn into a warm, friendly place with a great atmosphere and fresh food. Based on the reviews, people seem to love it.’ Natalie said the cafe attracts a wide range of customers, including ‘workmen, yummy mummies and older folk’. And some tourists even make the 15 minute bus journey from the city centre just to get there after reading reviews of the cafe online.

One review on Trip Advisor says: ‘We were in Edinburgh for the weekend and needed a place for a big breakfast to set us up for the day. The Haven surpassed itself. ‘Great food and quick friendly service at a decent price. We’ll be back.’ Another wrote: ‘Amazing – the people working there, the food, the price – great!’ A third said: ‘Great wee place with interesting decor too. I have not been to a nicer cafe!’

The Haven’s website perhaps reveals the cafe’s secret, saying it offers ‘delicious fresh food and friendly service in a cosy atmosphere that feels just like home.’



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z298Wshvbp

[Sean]

I would pay $100 for that breakfast right now!

[Lord Jim]

Sounds yummy....

[MajGenl.Meade]

Not very busy are they?

Yogi Bera

[TPFKA@W]

Yes except hold the haggis, beans, mushrooms, black pudding and tomatoes. Blerg.

[Lord Jim]

I could do without the beans...

Every thing else sounds like a nice Sunday breakfast....

To be followed by a nap....

[Crackpot]

sounds like this place http://www.thefarmrestaurant.com/index.html

[rubato]

Black pudding is nasty. I haven't tried haggis. Beans for breakfast is a little strange.

Otherwise it looks good and she should immediately raise her prices.



yrs,
rubato

[Daisy]

Black pudding is lush. Haggis is yummy. And baked beans is the perfect "moist" element for the full cooked breakfast bringing all the elements together with its sweet, salty beaniness.

She probably makes a healthy profit on that breakfast. Putting her prices up could risk pushing away just the people who have praised her so highly on Trip Advisor.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Scottish breakfast vastly improved:





(Hint: ask for a full English. It's served without vermin ingredients. Note that after you leave civilization, you eventually reach the English midlands where the weather becomes cloudy with chance of black pudding the further north one travels)

Meade

[Sean]

You heathen!

[Daisy]

Vermin ingredients???

Heathen isn't a strong enough word Sean!

[MajGenl.Meade]

Haggis hurling is popular though

[Lord Jim]

The Irish Country Breakfast I have occasionally at a little Irish place near our home called The Copper Kettle looks a lot like that Meade, but it also has the blood pudding. ($7...great value)

[Sean]

Does it have white pudding too Jim?

[Lord Jim]

It's got a slice of black and a slice of white.

[dales]

[rubato]

A McBreakfast with authentic McFood items!

You can almost smell the hot machine oil of the assembly-line it was made on with that real "feed-lot steroid" after-taste.

MMMMmmmm! Any country that can live on crap like that can live on anything!

yrs,
rubato

[Sean]

It's got a slice of black and a slice of white.

Nice!

I'm taking the soda bread as read...

[Gob]

Oh bugger, I think I'll go to the shops see if they have any buttermilk, thanks for the inspiration Sean!!