19 Cafe Bar

Review by Chris Patrick

19 Cafe Bar is located near the bus stops off the main Northern Quarter drag, instantly making it appealing because: cheaper and less pretentious.

Entering the place I found a cheerful vibrant atmosphere in a space which was visibly popular. Outside seating is available for when the sun is out and it’s well-placed for people coming from work. For a central venue to achieve cheerfulness in these days of homelessness, beat-boxing and general city-centre strife is quite an achievement.

Everything that turned up on the plate performed its part with aplomb

Looking over the menu, I ordered the Breakfast Club, as it included most of the breakfast elements available elsewhere on the menu and therefore, fried breakfast fans take note, could act as an index of quality.

There is also a full drinks menu available, including Brunch Cocktails for those wanting a Screwdriver with their Eggs Benedict. Given the location close to hotels, I suspect there may be quite a few morning-after, hair-of-the-dog takers for these. There are also soft drinks and lots of V, VG and GF options.

For myself at that particular moment in time, I decided that an Iced Latte would be sufficient, and it was – made out of real coffee and refreshing.

The eggs were fried properly so that they ran but had some substance

Now the Breakfast Club made its way towards me. It was a huge, welcome sight, and great value at £9.00. Sriracha sauce is the key innovation. The eggs were fried properly so that they ran but had some substance. The sausages were nice and herby. The bacon was very real, not dry or scrappy. There was actual spice in the black pudding.

To use technical breakfast terminology, there was no ‘duff element’. Everything that turned up on the plate performed its part with aplomb. The bloomer toast book-ended all this perfectly.

What is difficult to get across in writing is the sheer size of the Breakfast Club. Sometimes, lying on a rug in a park, I have been surprised by the size of some clouds when you really look at them. This was like that perhaps, except that when we grab at clouds we cannot reach them. 19 also offers Giant Home-made Sausage Rolls, which I didn’t try personally, but going off the Breakfast Club I can only imagine they’re a wonder of the world.