Urban Bistro

Urban Bistro has a superb breakfast menu. It is divided into courses and includes a breakfast daiquiri, home made crumpets, brioche french toast with caramelised banana, superb bircher muesli and a great list of egg based dishes including such tempting items as sweetcorn and coconut fritters served with truss tomatoes, crisp pancetta and tomato jam. However I find that having once tried them, I can never go past the ricotta pancakes with blueberry compote and rich cream (although in my case I ask for maple syrup and some crispy bacon on the side as well).

These are, quite simply, the best pancakes in the world(and I have travelled the world in search of such pancakes believe me!) Whipped egg whites must be involved somewhere in this recipe because each pancake is at least as thick as your hand and is divinely light and fluffy. You have the barest hint of ricotta to the taste and combined with the perfectly whipped cream and a splash of maple syrup these are heaven on a plate. I have had them every time we visit Urban Bistro and they have never been less then superb. To be sure on this occasion my top pancake was on the darker side of golden brown and my "crispy" bacon was disappointingly underdone - but regardless the pancakes were so good that all my critical faculties simply faded into food bliss nirvana. Two of my companions had scrambled eggs with pancetta and asparagus and were very happy - the eggs being particularly fluffy and perfectly done - although they both felt that the pancetta was excessively salty.

Urban Bistro have a good list of teas and coffees (I enjoyed the orange oolong and there is also a fine loose leaf English breakfast tea and a good selection of herbal teas.) They serve a perfectly acceptable (if possibly a little weak) latte.

Service in the past has been patchy but on today's visit we had a waitress who looked after us well. However the day was spoilt somewhat when the manager came and asked us to leave the table as her next booking had arrived. Given that we had just ordered more coffee and tea, and that the new guests were almost 30 minutes early relative to when we were told we would have to leave, we politely declined, and having asked us what the time was (and realised her error), she left us in peace. This left a bad taste in our mouths after some excellent food.

It is worth noting that this bistro is almost always busy and that booking in advance is a necessity. However I would cross hot coals for pancakes this good so putting up with a little service aggravation is a small price to pay for pancake perfection.