Not sure where to head for an early Breakfast in Preston, Devon at 6:30 am, we ask the Egg Delivery Man whose van sits outside our Guest house. "Hop in," he beckons. We tend toward the naive trusting way of life, and hope for the best in people, so in we hop. Mr Friendly Eggman drops us off in front of Frankie's Cafe on the main commercial street in Paignton.Great choice!
Frankie's interior decor oozes beach-theme. The light blue and white colours remind one of a beach box. Lots of thoughtful touches, too -- a toaster on each table, and soothing wall art.
The proprietors, a friendly young couple -- he talks, she cooks -- explain that they started up four years ago. When the competition between lunch cafes became so rigorous they changed a year ago to a breakfast cafe. One of them, we assume it's She, must be a "J" personality (think Myers-Briggs) as evidenced by the printed and posted week's cleaning rota which inlcudes everything from wipe down table legs to clean behind oven to scour extraction (grill hood).The poached eggs are the real thing -- perfectly runny. The table is solid, not at all rocky -- always a blessing. I like to cut my egg on toast without table movement! At about 8:00 Charlotte, a young waitress with tattoos running up her arm, joins the team. My brother-in-law manufactures the decal transfer paper used by tattoo parlours around the world, so we now take more note of tattoos and tattoo parlours, which are prolific in small-town Britain.
After our leisurely eggs on toast meal, we stroll along the promenade, enjoying the English Riviera. We even find the penny arcade fortune teller Zoltar, straight out of the film
Big!
The skies may be grey, but it's been another wonderful Breakfast in Britain.
