You know how every now and again you see something on Instagram and think “I need that”?  It could be a new face mask, or a mermaid blanket, or something delicious to eat.  But you just know that you will have to have it in your life at some point.

Well, that was me and “The Original, Breakfast in Bed”.

On our way up to London for our fabulous chocolate making experience with My Chocolate, Mum and I were pondering where we could go afterwards for lunch.  As I have already confessed, London isn’t my area of expertise, so we were floundering a little.

Then it hit me.  I knew exactly where I wanted to go.  Only question was could I remember what it was called, and when I eventually got that far, would it be anywhere near where we were?

Turns out that Google is the best invention ever and in minutes of googling the description of the breakfast, I knew that we needed to be at a place called The Barge House, and not only that, it was literally less than a 5 minute walk from where the chocolate class was!

It was truly meant to be!  I finally was going to get to try the dish that quite literally made this place famous.  So famous that it transcended Instagram and hit the newspapers too!

Let me introduce you to The Original from the Breakfast in Bed line at The Barge House…

This odd looking creation is the brainchild of some or other genius, and is a sour dough loaf scooped out and filled with your standard English breakfast type things!  What does that mean, I hear you ask!  Well, it means:

Barge House Banger (or, “Sausage” as it’s otherwise known!)
Smoked Bacon
Slow Roasted Tomato
Leeks
Oyster Mushrooms
Spinach
Topped with a Free Range Egg and cheese

It sounds amazing, right!  Let’s have another look at them so you can truly appreciate the presentation, too!

Now you have to have a picture of when I cut it in half and managed to stop myself from diving in head first for just enough time to take the picture.

The Verdict?

It was “ok”.  I personally thought that the bread was too scooped out which made the crust really hard going to cut through.  I am also not convinced I had any bacon in mine (I can see it in the pic but it was a tiny half rasher), which is a fairly serious offense in my world.  I also think there was maybe all of half a sausage in there.  The balance between the meat and the rest wasn’t quite right.  It was quite tasty but as with most things that you really are excited to try, the reality doesn’t quite hold up to the hype.

It was certainly an experience though and I am really pleased we got to go.  The staff were incredibly friendly and welcoming.  We weren’t rushed at all, or made to feel out of place when we first arrived gasping for water (me) and a pot of Jasmine tea (Mum).  They even were very accommodating when I asked for a second bottle of water and some cucumber slices to pop into it.  We did make up for it later by ordering some rather lovely prosecco.

Overall, I would say that you should go and try it if you find yourself along the canal in N1.  It mostly serves the Breakfast in Bed range (there is a veggie one, a vegan one and a smoked salmon one, too), but the rest of the menu also looks really good.

It’s vibe is a bit hipster but in a relaxed way, and despite looking as out of place as it was probably possible to be, we were really comfortable and had a great afternoon.