Egg on Toast update

Egg on Toast of the Year clarification

I seemed to have stirred up a hornet's nest of controversy by breaking with tradition and making Egg on Toast (EoT) my thing of the year. I have been at the centre of a social media storm with literally ones of questions flooding my Twitter and Facebook accounts.

So to clarify things here are the EOT rules I will be following:
1. To qualify a cafe must be, or have been, visited by me by bike
2. Eggs can be poached, fried or scrambled. If more than one type is available, then that is my order of preference.
3. Each EoT will be marked out of 50

i.         Quality of toast. Economy sliced bread popped in the toaster won't score as highly as homemade bread or sourdough etc that has been properly grilled. Out of 10

ii.        Quality of Egg. Covering both taste of eggs and how well cooked. No slime or water in the white with a slightly runny yolk will score best. Out of 10

iii.       Presentation. What it looks like on the plate. Out of 10.

iv.       Overall enjoyment. How much I enjoyed the whole EoT experience and how the individual elements of the dish came together. Out of 20

4. If other cycling guests have also opted to have EoT then I will invite their input although my decision is final.
5. During December a finals week will take place where myself and team of EoT expert cycling guests will go on a series of rides to revisit the top 5 EoTs to crown the overall winner.

Every month I will announce the egg on toast of the month winner as well as publish the top 5 egg on toasts currently heading for finals week in December.

I had 6 EoT in January with January's Egg on toast of the month winner being the cafe at Eaton Park in Norwich.

The Eaton park cafes award winning Egg on Toast

The current top 5 EoTs can be found at
1. Eaton Park Cafe, Norwich
2. Nourish, Norwich
3. St Georges Distillery, Larling
4. Tabnabs, Mattishall
5. Ravenous Cafe, Raveningham

Blown away. (Nourish, Norwich)

Nourish,

Norwich,

Monday-Saturday 8:00-16:00,

Highly Recommended

Today's forecast was for an increasingly windy day. I knew that my cycling guest, Mrs Crusader, won't come on a cycle if there was a danger of her being blown off. I therefore made sure we would be going on a morning only ride meaning I would have to make it a fairly short one.

I had been told good things about a new cafe in Norwich, Nourish, so thought a quick 25 mile loop ending there would be just the ticket.

It was a nice little loop out to Barford and incident free although you could feel the wind picking up the further we went so I was pleased to make it to the cafe before the real gusts arrived and I got my head blown off by two different sources.

The cafe was at the site of the old Red Roaster cafe and although small inside has a large outdoor seating area available for less cold and windy days.

Outside Nourish in Norwich

It has a healthy living theme so lots of meat and dairy free options from locally sourced producers although there were still animal based offerings available too. It made for a very interesting (in a good way) cake selection from which I choose the tiffin while Mrs Crusader had the vegan millionaire shortcake to go with her Americano.

Today's eclectic cake selection

Hopefully by now you know that this year I'm in search of Egg on Toast of the year so although not on the menu I was pleased that owner Emma was more than happy to sort me out with two fried eggs on ciabatta. The eggs were excellently fried being running but with no slime for a very agreeable offering.

Today's Egg on Toast of the Year contender

Our drinks soon arrived and again scored well. My hot chocolate had a good chocolaty taste although could have been a touch stronger for top marks. Mrs Crusader thought it was excellent coffee.

Our drink choices

The cakes were very good and although the millionaires shortbread was a lot sloppier than one made from animal products it was still very tasty. My tiffin was some of the best I've had (and I've had a lot as it's my go to traybake) especially as I suspect it had a few extra ingredients not found in a more traditional recipe.

Vegan millionaire Shortbread and tiffin

The Nourish cafe was full of energy from both the healthy food vibe and Emma's enthusiasm so I really enjoyed it. The food and drinks are excellent so I highly recommend a visit.

Just as we left my phone beeped to tell me my delivery of gear cable had arrived which meant the day had got even better as I could spend it back at Crusader Towers in my secret underground bicycle workshop with a cup of tea fixing a couple of bikes ready to continue my egg on toast search tomorrow. 

About to start work in my secret underground bicycle workshop

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.3	7.5	6.5	8.0	7.6	7.38

Route

Click here to download 25 mile Norwich Barford loop gpx file to your GPS

Milestone. (Cherryleaf Coffee House, Norwich)

Cherryleaf Coffee House,

Norwich,

Monday-Friday 8:30-15:30, Saturday 9-14:00,

Highly Recommended

When I checked my Cake Crusader blog stats this morning (like I do everyday) I was excited to see I had finally had my quarter millionth visitor. I had hoped to hit this target by the end of last year so wasn't far off track. At current rate of progress I should have my millionth visitor in 2034, if blogs are still a thing then.

To celebrate I got Mrs Crusader out of bed (she has had a bad cold and is coughing a lot) and despite her illness insisted she came on a celebratory ride. I promised to keep it short and let her have a sachet from my supply of extra strong Lemsips.

Recently a friend of mine told me about what he thought was the best coffee shop that he knew of (Cherryleaf Coffee House in Norwich) and I promised I would check it out. As it was in Norwich Mrs Crusader said she would come thinking it was only 2 miles away, little did she know we would be going the long way round.

Mrs Crusader was surprised that her 2 mile ride went on for over 20

On a typical grey winters day we visited Wymondham, Hethersett and Bawburgh before I eventually delivered us to the target cafe on St Giles street.

Outside the Cherryleaf Coffee House on St Giles street in Norwich

Once inside I was impressed with the range of cakes (including Vegan options) and had difficulty making my selection so a very effective cake selection (ECS) indeed. I eventually went for the brownie while Mrs Crusader had a caramel cupcake with her Americano.

A very effective cake selection

You may remember that this year's thing of the year is Egg on Toast so I was excited to see egg on toast with avocado on the menu but sadly I was outside the breakfast availability zone (BAZ) so it was no longer available. I think this is a problem I may encounter on many occasions on this years thing search.

Being lunchtime it was quite busy so we opted to sit at the indoor breakfast bar seating area.

Making use of the indoor breakfast bar seating area

The cakes and drinks soon arrived. I had been offered a choice of hot chocolates (always a good sign) and as always went for dark. It was a very good hot chocolate and with Mrs Crusader enjoying her Americano then high hot drinks scores all round.

Todays cakes and drinks

The brownie was exceptionally good with a proper gooey middle. If only it was still 2018 then it would have been a contender for brownie of the year but it isn't so it's not. Mrs Crusader had similar views re her cup cake although she has never held a cup cake of the year contest.

My friend was certainly right about the Cherryleaf Coffee house which is now just inside my top 10 cafes and I certainly highly recommend a visit (although get there in the BAZ (before 12) if you want egg on toast).

As I was in a good mood I let Mrs Crusader go the quick way home, especially as her coughing fits were beginning to get a little bit annoying. 

Scores based on two visits last on 18/11/2022

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
8.43	8.0	7.7	8.9	7.45	8.10

Route

Click here to download 28 mile Norwich Wymondham loop GPX file for your GPS