Summer and Autumn EoT news.

EoT update for Summer and Autumn 

After my ride to Sweden, I’m having a few days of rest. This has given me the opportunity to catch up on the latest Egg on Toast news from over the Summer and Autumn. There is barely a month to go before I return to the top 6 cafes for a final EoT off, so not much more opportunity for cafes to make the finals. Sadly, I won’t hit my 50 EoT target, as many of the cafes I have visited don’t serve EoT after about 11.30. But I have still clocked up a good number. So here is a quick summary of the latest ones.

First up was Pura Vida cafe near Wortwell, where I got unexpected EoT as it was meant to be just a brief pit stop on a training ride, but I never miss the opportunity when EoT is available.

I felt the EoT was trying a little too hard with rocket garnish and a yet-to-be-identified grey swoosh (possibly mushroom-based). However, the eggs and toast (sourdough) were excellent, and overall enjoyment was very high, so it’s a real contender and currently in the top 6.

Next EoT occurred on my birthday when my sporty friends Jet and Sharon invited me on a 60th birthday cycle ride, followed by a birthday lunch.

This was a very nice gesture until they both claimed they were injured and couldn’t cycle. I, therefore, spent all morning on a 50-mile ride by myself while I hummed happy birthday. As they didn’t want to travel too far and waste too much of their days, they chose Town Green cafe in Wymondham as it was local to them. They have promised to take me out for a ride in 10 years time for my next milestone birthday, clearly hoping I’ll be so old by then that I’ll forget.

Fortunately, there was EoT but it had rather ordinary sliced bread and random lettuce, so it won’t be making the finals.

On my third attempt, I finally made it to Cake Crusader’s favourite Tabnabs, in time for the breakfast slot. It was worth the wait as the EoT was excellent, although still unclear what part the watermelon was meant to play. Also slightly let down by the sliced bread-based toast, which will probably keep them out of the finals.

The offering at the Goat Shed in Honningham came as a special with a chili salsa. It also came on sourdough, which is always one up on Hovis sliced. However, the eggs were tiny in comparison and rather lost in the salsa, so although nice, it’s not a winner.

I was off to see if a seaside cafe did better EoT, so I went with Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) to the Cliff Top Cafe at Overstrand. The cafe has great views, but I’m afraid the EoT was distinctly ordinary. There were only fried eggs available, and the toast-to-egg ratio was far too high. Not surprisingly, Andrew wasn’t impressed.

It had been a long time since I’d last been to the cafe at Yaxham Waters, (now known as the Pickle and Pie) but getting there proved a real challenge, as my group of 5 cycling guests suffered 4 punctures on the ride. Fortunately, our combined repairing skills got them all fixed (eventually), but it meant we only just snuck in the breakfast slot. In the end, it wasn’t really worth it as the EoT couldn’t recover from poor toast and ended up comfortably mid-table.

I headed West for what turned out to be one of the worst EoTs, so I won’t name the cafe, but see what you think from the photo. It looked like the chef had sat on the plate before sending it out.

I was recommended to try the Chrysalis cafe, which combined a cafe plus the sale of all sorts of insects and bugs. An interesting combination I had not previously come across. The EoT looked ok, but again was let down by the toast. Basically, sliced bread from the local supermarket is always going to struggle at this level. Especially if you have to butter it yourself.

I had been recommended the EoT at the Stag coffee shop near Attleborough, so I took a whole crew of cycling guests to try it, but typically, they all opted for other items from the breakfast menu. It wasn’t quite as good as the recommendation had promised, and not really sure what the leafy green garnish added but a solid enough effort.

As part of my training for the Sweden trip, I started to sign up anyone who would do a long ride with me. Fortunately, Andrew was game so we rode out to Bircham stores in North Norfolk where they had very posh EoT (including avocado and vine tomatoes).

It would have made the top 6 finalists, but I had to rig the score as I didn’t fancy the long round trip back again to taste it in finals week (if you don’t like my approach, please feel free to do your own EoT competition).

At the other end of the spectrum, I went to the Lemon Pip cafe near East Harling, which had no pretensions of trying to be posh and served EoT with no frills. Which was fine but not a contender.

Now on to the trip to Sweden, I wondered how much European EoT I would get to try. As it turned out not much, which was fortunate, as there was no way I was cycling all that way again in finals week. The first was on the ferry crossing to Holland and was one of the better fried egg on sliced bread offerings.

I did have one final EoT in North Germany but forgot to take a photo, but it was two fried eggs on sliced bread and looked much like all the other fried eggs on sliced bread, so nothing to get excited about.

I’m going for one final EoT push in November before announcing which 6 I will revisit to find the overall winner.

Current standings 

Cafe	Month	Toast	Egg	Presentation	Overall taste/enjoyment	Total
Earsham street	April	7.8	8	7.9	17	40.7
Cannells	February	7	8.1	7.4	17.1	39.6
Pura	May	7.5	7.6	7.9	16.5	39.5
Angel cafe	March	7	8.4	7.5	16.5	39.4
Green grocers	January	7	8.4	7	16.9	39.3
Watsons Bacton	March	7.8	7.5	7.8	16.1	39.2
Tabnabs	June	6	7	8.5	16.9	38.4
Bircham stores	August	6.1	7.3	8	17	38.4
Good, bad and Hungry	February	7	8.3	6.7	16.3	38.3
Cafe Verdi	February	6.2	8.1	7.5	16.4	38.2
Goat Shed	June	8	8	6.9	15.2	38.1
Gardeners kitchen	January	7.5	8.6	5.6	16.1	37.8
Earsham Hall	March	7	7.8	7.1	15.6	37.5
Obrennans great Walsingham	February	7	7.4	6.8	16.2	37.4
Byfords	January	5	8	7.9	15.8	36.7
Reepham station	January	6.1	8.3	6.7	15	36.1
Brook cafe	March	7.3	6.8	6.7	15.3	36.1
Piece of cake	February	7	7	6.5	15.2	35.7
ALDIs &sons cafe	February	7	7	6.2	15.1	35.3
Toms Housse Germany	October	6	7	8	14	35
Stag	August	6	6.4	7	14	33.4
Cliff top cafe	June	6.1	7	5.5	14.4	33
Wiveton hall	April	6	6.8	6	13.7	32.5
Lemon pip	October	5.5	7	6	14	32.5
Yaxham waters	June	5	7.5	6	13.8	32.3
Chrysalis	July	5	7	5.5	14.2	31.7
Town green	May	6	5.8	6.4	13	31.2
Shellys	April	5.3	6.3	6.1	13.3	31
Stena Ferry to Holland	October	4	7	6	13	30
Sports park	February	5	7.8	4.5	12.2	29.5
Chalfont	July	5	4	2	7	18