The plan was simple. Finish off the excess of a 28th birthday with a nice bit of breakfasting the morning after. My companion was going to be Charlie Guérin, a Frenchman, and so I had proposed visiting Paris Cafe Bar. Simple, easy, apt.
The problem was that it happened to be a Bank Holiday Monday, and Paris Cafe Bar doesn't appear to open on bank holidays. Zut alors.
And so the search for an alternative began and we set off for Trafalgar Street, home to a mighty plethora of eating options. There was bound to be somewhere open here that I hadn't been before.
Sure enough, Caffe Aldo presented itself. In truth, I had eaten there before, on my birthday two years ago in fact, but I had yet to review it for this blog. And as many of us well know, two years is a long time in terms of cafes in Brighton.
The problem was that it happened to be a Bank Holiday Monday, and Paris Cafe Bar doesn't appear to open on bank holidays. Zut alors.
And so the search for an alternative began and we set off for Trafalgar Street, home to a mighty plethora of eating options. There was bound to be somewhere open here that I hadn't been before.
Sure enough, Caffe Aldo presented itself. In truth, I had eaten there before, on my birthday two years ago in fact, but I had yet to review it for this blog. And as many of us well know, two years is a long time in terms of cafes in Brighton.
I have known Charlie for a much shorter time than that. It has been less than year since he first arrived here, ready for an internship alongside Steve Kelly at Espresso TV. Hopefully he will be here for many more years to come.
Now the internship has finished, Charlie is looking for further work in media production. Our fingers are all crossed that he can find something and continue to live and work in Brighton. It's not as though he doesn't have the talent. Charlie has made plenty of his own films in the past, as well as helping to create a popular hack version of Metroid called Darkholme Hospital along with promotional videos.
Not only that, but Charlie also likes to make music. Going under the name Area XG, he has made some great electronic industrial ambience that you can check out on his bandcamp page. He hopes to perform some music at the next [beep] event, a monthly platform for local electronic artists to play their music and collaborate with other like-minded souls. Usually held at the Verdict, these nights are worth a look and are free to attend up until 7pm.
Passionate about his music, Charlie has thrown himself into the electronic scene. It is an enthusiasm and passion that he also brings to friendship. He is a very friendly and kind-hearted individual, equally charming and open. He is also quite adept at the game of petanque, but this was to be expected from a man who embraces many of the French stereotypical characteristics with open arms. I once bumped into Charlie walking down London Road and he was carrying a baguette under one arm.
Hopefully, with all his skills and good qualities it will not be long before Charlie finds the job that he is looking for, ensuring that the breakfast we had is just the first of many.
And so, the breakfast:
Veggie Breakfast
Veggie sausages, fried eggs, hash brown, tomato, roast veg, toast, and beans
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| Veggie Breakfast - £5.40 |
I remembered having a good time last time I ate at Caffe Aldo. Certainly the signs were good as we were greeted with the sound of new wave post-punk playing on the radio. It appeared to be a quiet morning, although shortly after we had sat down the cafe began to fill rapidly. Wonderful timing.
We were served just as quickly. The menus did not specify precisely was the breakfast was comprised of, and so when I was presented with my plate I was both pleasantly surprised and perplexed.
The inclusion of roast vegetables was welcome and refreshing to see. However, the quantity of hash browns (1) and baked beans (a metric shit ton) was bamboozling.
Only having one hash brown would have been ok if it had been an exceptional hash brown but unfortunately it was not. It was all crunch and no flavour. Only having one hash brown would have been ok if the other carb component, the toast, had been especially good. Again, unfortunately it was not. The toast was average in taste and texture, making me rue the lack of multiple HBs.
In contrast, the beans were there in superabundance. Sitting there in their little receptacle, it felt almost as if they were there for other items to be dipped in, almost like a grossly underwhelming breakfast fondue. As the picture might indicate, there was far too much juice, diluting the flavour that was there. When I gave in and poured the contents of the receptacle out onto the plate, a beanie flood of biblical proportions swamped across the land. It was a mess.
There were some positives to be had on the plate. The two sausages had crispy surfaces that gave way to pleasantly soft flesh and notes of rosemary. The roast veg was varied, meaning that there were a number of different flavours and degrees of sweetness to play with. These were also cooked well and carried a uniform crispness to them.
The tomato was not quite as well cooked as these. As it was, it felt solidly chunky where it should have been soft and submissive. Also on the "not quite" pile were the eggs. The whites were fine and firm but the yolks were only slightly juicy. Considering the amount of beans, however, perhaps I should have been grateful for all the dryness I could find on the plate.
We were served just as quickly. The menus did not specify precisely was the breakfast was comprised of, and so when I was presented with my plate I was both pleasantly surprised and perplexed.
The inclusion of roast vegetables was welcome and refreshing to see. However, the quantity of hash browns (1) and baked beans (a metric shit ton) was bamboozling.
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| "Je suis Charlie" |
In contrast, the beans were there in superabundance. Sitting there in their little receptacle, it felt almost as if they were there for other items to be dipped in, almost like a grossly underwhelming breakfast fondue. As the picture might indicate, there was far too much juice, diluting the flavour that was there. When I gave in and poured the contents of the receptacle out onto the plate, a beanie flood of biblical proportions swamped across the land. It was a mess.
There were some positives to be had on the plate. The two sausages had crispy surfaces that gave way to pleasantly soft flesh and notes of rosemary. The roast veg was varied, meaning that there were a number of different flavours and degrees of sweetness to play with. These were also cooked well and carried a uniform crispness to them.
The tomato was not quite as well cooked as these. As it was, it felt solidly chunky where it should have been soft and submissive. Also on the "not quite" pile were the eggs. The whites were fine and firm but the yolks were only slightly juicy. Considering the amount of beans, however, perhaps I should have been grateful for all the dryness I could find on the plate.
My abiding memory of this breakfast will always be the ocean of baked beans, excessive and dominating. I know I have sung the praises of beans on here and sung them often, but you can always have too much of a good thing. Here at Caffe Aldo, I definitely had too much of a good thing. Something has gone wrong if there's a component of your breakfast that you can eat with a straw.
Function: breakfast should not be perplexing - 2/5
Adherence to Canon: Yes
Taste: many problems here, not all bean-induced - 2/5
Value: a lot of bang for your buck (though it could benefit from less bang in the bean dept.) - 5/5
Presentation: to be fair, they've made the bean abomination look presentable - 3/5
Venue: pleasant environment, good music - 3/5
Overall: it's bean emotional - 2.5/5
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