Looking for a tasty serving of eggs and toast? Or a bit more? Hoping our trials can help avoid your errors! My husband and I eat breakfast out each Thursday, our day off. We have moved to Salisbury from London, so now head out by foot into town or by car into the Wiltshire coutryside on the hunt for a Cafe (pronounced "caff"). We share our collected experiences, and keep you up to date with the new venues we discover each week. Here goes...

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Golden Cafe -- Greenwich High Street -- a favourite

The Golden Cafe on Greenwich High Street is surely my favourite breakfast cafe in London.  In addition to the occasional breakfast out, I meet friends here almost every Saturday morning for a tea with hot milk (which the staff are very happy to provide).  
Great location.  Good hearty food and friendly service at a reasonable price.  

My more posh friends marvel at the 70p price tag on the mug of tea -- obviously not frequenters of breakfast cafes.  Keep in mind, I'm looking for a local friendly greasy spoon, not Costa Coffee. 

The Gold Cafe has everything going for it to qualify as a favourite greasy spoon -- friendly staff, newspapers on the tables, please soft background radio of chatty rock-n-roll, full of men looking for a good hearty breakfast, no TV.  

I love the numerous bright coloured hand-written menu cards covering the walls. 

The Golden Cafe is popular and busy, yet we've always found an empty table, or half of one, enough space for the two of us.  
 Even though we're in Greenwich, the prices are not inflated for potential gullible tourists.  It's just far enough from the central historical area -- the Clocktower Market, recently restored Cutty Sark, Maritime Museum, Painted Hall and Victorian covered market -- that it's protected from any onslaught of tourists. 
When it comes to the food -- runny poached eggs on thick slabs of toast. Hot tea with hot milk.  And a Full English Breakfast option that fills the large plates to overflowing.

I'm not a fan of baked beans, personally, and marvel at their popularity.  For most folks here, breakfast isn't complete without those baked beans on the side.  A bean delivery at the Gold Cafe assures that beans will always be available!  That's a lot of beans!
Seating -- I don't usually think that much about it; most cafes have pre-fab molded tables and chairs, and we just slip in and enjoy our meal.  But here at the Gold Cafe I realize seating makes a difference -- loose chairs that are fairly comfortable (not just molded plastic scoops) make for a better eating experience!  Is it my imagination, or does the conversation actually flow more smoothly when sitting on rattan chairs and my cup rests on a marble-look-alike table?  Maybe that's why I frequent the Gold Cafe and the ECCo on Drury Lane for tea anytime -- just wondering.  

I'll be back to the Golden Cafe in Greenwich for another Breakfast in Britain!  And now, I'll enjoy all that Greenwich has to offer -- a must for anyone visiting London.
Here are photos from a previous visit, on a much sunnier day -- yes the sun does shine in London!

The painted hall ..."The Painted Hall is often described as the ‘finest dining hall in Europe’. Designed by Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor, it was originally intended as an eating space for the naval veterans who lived here at the Royal Hospital for Seamen. Its exuberant wall and ceiling decorations are by Sir James Thornhill and pay tribute to British maritime power."  Completed in the early 1700's  http://www.ornc.org  


The matching towers of the Chapel and Painted Hall, part of the old Royal Naval College. "The Chapel, constructed by Thomas Ripley to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren, was the last major part of the Royal Hospital for Seamen to be built. Following a disastrous fire in 1779, it was redecorated by James ‘Athenian’ Stuart in the Greek revival style, and today is a wonderful example of a complete neoclassical interior."

The Cutty Sark, once the fastest ship on the seas!  "Cutty Sark reopened in April 2012, beginning a new chapter in the extraordinary life of the last surviving tea clipper, the fastest and greatest of her time. She is a living testimony to the bygone, glorious days of sail and, most importantly, a monument to those that lost their lives in the merchant service."  http://www.rmg.co.uk/cuttysark 


Looking across the Thames toward Canary Wharf from the Greenwich Observatory... "The Royal Observatory Greenwich is the home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian of the World. It is also home to London's only planetarium, the Harrison timekeepers and the UK's largestrefracting telescope. "  
http://www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observatory  























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