21 Mar 2023
James Cameron checks out the new bistro everybody’s been talking about…
When the weather is as unpromising as it’s been lately, something that can really warm you internally, if not externally, is a good, solid, piping hot piece of toast. New café on the block Toast puts this dish right at the heart of its offerings, as you might have gathered yourself from the name. If this was all then even the most inadequate of home chefs would probably be able to rustle it up themselves without needing to leave the house but Toast have gone one better by adding a wide array of toppings.
Toast advertise themselves as a brunch restaurant, and the toast coverings definitely skew towards breakfast items, with eggs in particular featuring heavily, but depending on how hungry you get in the mornings they will take you all the way up to a rump steak.
I went for the Bloody Mary, inspired by that most breakfasty of cocktails this was a slice of sourdough covered with vodka-roasted tomatoes and Tabasco and Worcester sauce flavoured seeds.
It was a very interesting blend of flavours, I could not particularly taste the vodka on the tomatoes but the hit of the Tabasco was a really powerful contrast to the fresh fruit. Also, fair play to Toast for being able to source so many tomatoes in a variety of hues in the current climate!
I do wonder if this is more of a summer dish though, it didn’t give me the slug of pure comfort I was after and I think either the tomatoes or the weather need to be a bit warmer for this to work.
My companion went for the veggie breakfast. In her case it was the vegan breakfast with the egg replaced with avocado (or ‘avo’ as they needlessly abbreviate it to, it is definitely a sign of ageing to get cross about such things). The sausages were absolutely amazing, so convincing that we had to check that they were definitely vegetarian. The mushroom was the star of the show though, bursting with juice and flavour.
I had hoped for some hash brown bites on the side, but unfortunately they had run out so instead I went for the other side dish, macaroni cheese. This was lovely and creamy beneath a cheesy layer of crumb (presumably from some previous toast), but it was very rich and I struggled to make my way through it.
Ironically, I think Toast could actually do with making the toast more central to their meals. In each case the toast itself seemed slightly over-shadowed or inessential, whereas if the other ingredients were focussed on enhancing the core experience of the big, crisp and above all toasty chunk of toast then they could truly justify their name.
Toast’s decor is very pleasing. Situated on Waddington Road (AKA the street with Panda Cards on), it has a slightly minimalist, almost IKEA-esque, feel to the furnishings. The understated vibe continues to walls which have a raw plaster look.
The waiting staff are very friendly, though maybe a touch eager (starting to remove our plates whilst I was still finishing one of my dishes). On a wet Thursday lunchtime the place had a good buzz to it, with almost all tables filled with happy chatting punters.
Toast seems like a great place to meet a friend to catch up over a coffee. It has a fantastic range of both food and drinks, and is very good value (substantial mains are around £10). I would just love it if they could make the toast the star of the show that it deserves to be.
