Bre-fast

A steal at £5.25 gets you: 2 slices toast, heap of bacon, sausage, beans, egg, hash browns, and either a coffee or tea.

I ate my first "classic" English breakfast today complete with an Italian latte (literally, my latte was prepared by a very nice Italian man). Apparently an English breakfast at this cafe includes: a homemade sausage, giant plate-o-buttered-toast, creamy oniony hash browns, slightly spicy bacon/slices of ham, side of beans, a soft boiled egg, and your choice of either a coffee or tea (all of which is served at lightning fast speed). The cafe I went to was the only one that I could find that was open before 10am on a Saturday, and had an odd combination of older gentlemen and young girls frequenting it.

I'm guessing that the Italian man, who prepared my coffee and likely owns the place, is the main reason why most of the young girls come to his cafe (and the older gents come to watch the girls/banter with the owner). He's congenial, makes a point to learn the names of his regulars, and flirts incessantly. Plainly put, he enjoys showing off for his customers. He sings while he makes coffee, always has something to say, and I overheard him offering to give one of the waitresses a free back massage. She'd injured her back somehow, he said he would use his "special skills" to help her, and went on to talk about a good chiropractor that he goes to. Normally I would file a suggestion like this under the "total creep" category and move on, but he so genuinely wanted to help her that it seemed rather sweet. 

Another example of this charismatic cafe owner: An older gentlemen, another local regular, came into the cafe during my meal. Italian owner guy asked him how he was doing, local regular said he felt terrible, and Italian owner guy offered him a slice of cheesecake. Then the owner proceeded to sing some more while he whipped up coffees.

I left the cafe smiling in part because of the ambiance that the owner created, and also because I got a solid meal at such a great price.

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