South-coast breakfasts : Drift In Cafe

Although summer seems to have vanished in the blink of an eye this year, we have had the wonderful unexpected bonus of an unseasonably warm September (24c as I write!) So this morning we headed to East Wittering for a wander along the beach and a chance to try a new breakfast venue.

The Drift-In Cafe was originally recommended nearly a year ago, by Louise from the Clandestine Cake Club but it's taken us this long to find a time to try it out.  The Drift-In is situated in the middle of East Wittering's main shopping area, a place that is full of surprises with a mix of shops, that vary from Tesco and the Co-Op to an independent sweet shop and a quirky antiques place.

We got there at about 10am and were able to grab a parking space right outside. Inside the shop and cafe is like a rabbit warren with retail disolving into restaurant and back again. There's also an ice-cream parlour taking up the front section of one of the three shop fronts. Dogs are allowed in the cafe, but we headed for a cute little courtyard area at the back for our breakfast.

The Drift-In specialises in pancakes, smoothies and milkshakes. There was no bog-standard Full English on the menu but a couple of quirky variations on it involving pancakes. Jim tried the vegetarian option, while Theo and I shared a banana and nutella pancake and a toasted bacon, cheese and tomato sandwich. For drinks we had a capuccino, hot chocolate and pineapple and mango smoothie. Everything was fantastic, but the toasted sandwich was particularly good and I could quite happily work my way through their entire smoothie menu too, preferably without having to share them with a small boy!

The staff were the kind of chilled easy-going and long-limbed young adults you'd expect to find in a place like this. Nothing was a hassle and everything arrived on time. The Trip Advisor reviews seem to suggest this place never puts a foot wrong so we'll be back to try other things on the menu at a later date.

Drift-In Cafe. 11 Shore Rd, East Wittering, Chichester PO20 8DY  
www.witteringsurfshop.com/pages/drift-in-cafe

South-coast Breakfasts : Wellies Restaurant

With the long Easter weekend ahead of us, we decided to start the 4 days off with a hearty walk at Kingley Vale Nature Reserve followed by Brunch at a new restaurant in a converted barn a few miles down the road. It was also a good excuse to escape from the house as our contentious builders are still hammering and sawing away, even on Good Friday.

I have seen mention of Wellies restaurant in a few local magazines and online and it's been on our list of places to try for a while. It's miles from anywhere, literally in a farm yard with fields surrounding it. It's a place frequented by walkers and horse-riders, more than the usual beach-goers and yachties.

They are open seven days and serve evening meals on Thursday, Fridays and Saturdays. The main restaurant is quite small, but there's a lovely deck at the back looking out on to a courtyard which is doggie friendly (hurray!)

Our Easter feast consisted off a large full English (for Jim) a small English (for Theo) bacon and scrambled eggs (for me) hot chocolate, cappuccino and orange juice.When we arrived at 11am we were the only people there, but by the time we left it was starting to fill up with people arriving for lunch.

By its own admission, Wellies is off the beaten track, but it's definitely worth seeking out. Amidst tranquil surroundings it feels exclusive and undiscovered and the food is great. We've had a sneaky look at the dinner menu and we will definitely be going back. (It would be lovely for my birthday in August - hint hint!) Visitors to Goodwood or the Festival Theatre could do a lot worse than jumping in the car and heading west to track this place down.

South-coast breakfasts : Boat House Cafe, Chichester Marina

A couple of weeks ago we had lunch at the newly opened Boat House Cafe in Chichester Marina and after seeing us mention it here, they asked us back to try out their breakfast. Whilst I was happy to embrace a free meal, it threw my husband into a moral quandary...

"Should we do a Michael Winner?" he said
"What pose for a photo with the manager?"
"No, offer to pay, because otherwise if we say it's good in the review then no one will believe us..."
"Err, but we've already said it was good and that was when we did pay.."
"Oh, ok"

So we went along today. After seemingly endless days of rain, the sun finally shone and the sailor's launching their dinghies into the cold waters of the harbour looked visibly cheered by the springlike conditions. Once again the cafe was busy, we arrived at 10:30am and within an hour the place was nearly full and that was before lunch.

This is definitely not somewhere you show up at for weekend lunch in a group and just hope they can fit you in. Thank heavens they will have the deck area too in the summer.

So, first off, their breakfast menu is not as extensive as lunch and they don't have a children's menu during the morning, but lets face it, we are probably among the very few who take our child out for breakfast. No pancakes on the menu sadly, but they did have a really great granola which came in a huge portion, though it could have done with a little more yoghurt.

Jim had trouble deciding between Eggs Benedict & The Full English (he always does!) He opted for full English in the end, which came with lovely crunchy bacon and a solitary sausage... Uh-oh, I did warn him he should have asked for two!

Theo made short work of the sour dough toast and had a bit of a fight on his hands keeping his parents paws off it too. It was wonderfully chewy and just right with the jam. We had a hot chocolate, babyccino, coffee and orange juice between us. All promptly served and just the right temperature.

But food aside the real joy of this place is the atmosphere. It's all come together in a wonderful way, the bustling location, the happy helpful staff and the rustic cosy interior and personally, if I was picking a place to eat, I'd say one that scours Twitter looking feedback from their customers probably isn't a bad one to start with. If you're not from round this neck of the woods, there is a Boat House Cafe in Swanwick marina too and they are also part of a bigger chain which includes several restaurants in Hampshire.

Thank you Boat House Cafe for our lovely breakfast. We'll be seeing you again soon...

South-coast breakfasts : Billys On The Beach

After a summer spent tirelessly searching for the perfect breakfast location, I think this weekend we have come the closest yet...

Billys On The Beach is right on the seafront in Bracklesham Bay. Though the town is only 15 minutes from us, the one and only time I had been there previously was when we got lost driving to the Witterings, and in a nutshell, this is Bracklesham Bay's biggest problem. It's like going out to a nightclub with a supermodel. Though you may wear a winning smile and a stunning dress, no one even notices you are standing next to her.

But we'd read great reviews of Billys online (thank you Tripadvisor) and the website looked promising, so we bypassed the more obvious charms of West Wittering and drove the extra few minutes east to Bracklesham Bay and I'm so glad we did...

The shingle beach was deserted when we arrived just after 9am and we managed a good walk keeping the dogs entertained with the host of unusual smells and the boy and me both entertained collecting flotsam and jetsam. It's one of the best beaches I've found yet for small items of driftwood and washed up treasures.

Inside Billys was light, bright, warm, cosy and bustling. The locals clearly love this place and by 11am they were queuing up for tables. There was a log burning stove in the corner, a beautiful 1960s sea plane model hanging from the ceiling and some inspiring driftwood art on the walls. The menu delivered too! The right mix of breakfast reliables and a few unusual choices.

I had spicy avocado breakfast (with extra sausages,) Jim went for the big breakfast and Theo had eggy bread and maple syrup. For drinks, we tried coffee and hot chocolate, but the orange juice was the easy winner, freshly squeezed and absolutely delicious.

We left with our plates scraped clean, our belly's full and the pleasant glow of having been served well in a fantastic location. Next time you are anywhere along this stretch of the coast, stop by and visit, you won't be disappointed!

South-coast breakfasts : Cafe Rouge at Gunwharf Quays

I started our south-coast breakfasts series in order to shout about the many great independent eateries we have in this area, but this week we found ourselves at a chain restaurant and the experience was so utterly underwhelming that I very nearly didn't bother to blog about it, but then I realised that if I didn't, it would do all the independent cafes an injustice.

Cafe Rogue have 120 restaurants across the UK. The last time I went in one of them was probably at least 10 years ago, but I have fond memories of eating their toasted gruyere and salmon sandwiches on a pavement in a town somewhere in southern England and as they seem to be giving their breakfast menu a push at the moment, we thought we'd try it.

Their spot at Gunwharf Quays is alongside the canal with great views of the Spinnaker Tower. Outside they have a lovely Parisian style cafe area, but inside was tired and a little grubby. Though it was only half full, the staff were languid and disinterested. We ordered a Petit dejeuner and Bebeccino for Theo, Eggs Benedict with mushrooms for Jim and the mystical sounding Pain Perdu for me.

When the drinks eventually arrived (after a tantalising preview which was rapidly withdrawn when a fourth drink on the tray could not be explained) we received a piping hot Bebeccino for Theo and something coffee based that was supposed to be Jim's cappuccino, but wasn't.

Sometime after we had drained the last dregs of our drinks and Theo had told us he wanted to go, the food eventually arrived and here is the absolute tragedy. It was delicious! Lazily presented, languidly served and slow to leave the kitchen but magnificent tasting.

My Pain Perdu was a combination of perfectly ripe banana and blueberries served on brioche french toast with honey and tasted of heaven! Jim's Eggs Benedict (he thinks himself a conosuier) was a delight and the petit dejeuner perfectly proportioned with excellent tasting sausages.

And so as we ate, we discussed other things on the menu we'd like to order (an orange juice, an extra croissant) but no one came to serve us and as the empty dishes piled up on the table, the moment first came... and then went. Eventually we paid and left and I'm afraid, no matter how good that Pain Perdu was, we won't be going back.

South-coast breakfasts : The Beach House, West Wittering

If you've ever looked at a British newspapers during a hot spell, chances are you will know the area we visited this week for our latest breakfast experience. West Wittering is one of those beaches that always appears in British newspapers during a hot spell, with all the semi-naked sun-worshipers jostling for pitches on the sand, it looks like hell, and in truth, if you hit it at the wrong time of day, it is exactly that!

Which is why it made such a perfect candidate for a breakfast location! Beat the rush before it gets busy, grab a breakfast, hit the beach for a walk and then turn round and drive home at lunchtime just as the road starts getting congested - hurrah!

Our venue of choice was the Beach House, a restaurant with rooms a short-distance from the entrance to the West Wittering estate. It's in close proximity to the local shops, including one which sells an astonishing array or different colours and sizes of buckets and spades. I have never seen a small boy more chuffed with a purchase than Theo was, well worth the £3.85 we paid.

Parking at the Beach House was a little tricky when we arrived, but it is still the school holidays, and we were eventually able to grab a spot down a side road. Dogs are welcome on the veranda at the front, so we ate outside taking in the views of holidaymakers trudging to the beach.

 
I tried the pancakes with maple syrup (fantastic) and followed up with Eggs Benedict (the best I have had yet, with fabulous crunchy bacon). Jim tried Eggs Benedict with added sausages, there was a croissant for the boy (enthusiastically received as ever) and Jim's father tried a bacon ciabatta (more garnish required, said he!)

The breakfast was amongst the best we have tried in this area so far. A slight disappointment that although they offer a children's menu at lunch and supper there were no small portions on offer at this time of the day, but we are still fairly unique in our love of eating breakfast out, so perhaps the demand is simply not there.

Service was excellent and the waitresses were all adorned in a uniform of stripey t-shirts, which curiously seemed to be rubbing off on the patrons. I counted at least 4 other people come and go from the tables wearing variously striped tops - perhaps it's the proximity to the sea?