Review: breakfast at The Akeman, Tring
With their latest Costa-bashing adverts (placed cheekily opposite the store itself) offering coffees (eat in or take away) for just a quid, The Akeman has been putting itself out there recently. We decided to head along for breakfast to check out the hype.
First impressions are, I have to say, rather fabulous. Having only ever been there for dinner and cocktails, the place takes on a completely different vibe during the day… people were lazing in comfy leather sofas, sipping cappuccinos, and there were plenty of mums with babies sitting in the lovely courtyard garden. I love the fact that the kitchen is open so you can see exactly what’s going on:
We were seated quickly and although it was just noon, assured that it was still okay to order breakfasts. The breakfast menu isn’t massive, but it covers the basics. My three men all went for a full English, and I ordered scrambled egg and bacon. Service is efficient and really friendly. When English Dad struggled with a pepper mill, someone was at his side instantly offering to help. Juices were fresh and ice cold and the coffees were ‘terrific’, apparently (I’m not a coffee drinker).
The full English breakfasts were pronounced excellent: really decent, meaty sausages, creamy, well-seasoned scrambled egg, lovely thick-cut bacon cooked properly (how I hate flaccid bacon) and delicious mushrooms. I got all the cherry tomatoes as nobody else liked them. My own bacon and scrambled egg was delicious, although we could have done with a bit more toast all round (to be fair, we didn’t ask as our waitress had momentarily disappeared):
The bill (with coffees and a couple of fill-ups of coke) came to £34.00 – under ten quid a head for breakfast not being bad for an occasional treat, we didn’t think. We were invited to ‘tweet the boss’ with our comments, which I did, but he doesn’t look like he keeps his Twitter account up to date, which seems a bit counter-productive.
It took a while to get the bill, but both people that served us were cheerful and friendly. So, a decent brekkie all round and a solid 7/10 for the Akeman.
The Akeman is at 9 Akeman Street, Tring, Herts.
Thanks for the review – delighted you guys enjoyed your breakfast. Sorry I didn’t respond to your tweet at the time – I had a mega hectic day on Friday.
I have enjoyed reading your blog. Given your interest in food you might want to look at the web-site / blog of another business we run The British Larder: http://www.britishlarder.co.uk
Regards,
Peter
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. We had a really lovely meal and the staff are so friendly. No worries about the tweet – I forget that other people aren’t on there 24/7!