Overall Rating – 36/100
On 28 July 2024, I visited Gilt in Bingham, Nottinghamshire. This is my first review on this website so I thought I would choose something local to me that I had always seen but never visited. I thought I would choose somewhere that looked prestigious and expensive to set a good baseline for my reviews.
It was a busy Sunday and there were a lot of people outside enjoying the sun. The inside was quiet in comparison, at least in terms of people. A 50s jive song was playing softly. I could hear people laughing and talking outside and the coffee machine whirring inside.
Looking at their breakfast menu, I settled on the ‘Full English Breakfast’ with no changes. It included a tomato but I decided to leave this – usually I would substitute it for mushrooms.
Within two minutes of sitting down, a waitress asked if I would like a drink. I said I’m ready to order now. I ordered the Full English Breakfast with a cappuccino with a caramel shot. It was £9.95 for the breakfast and £3.40 for the cappuccino plus £0.70 for the caramel shot, bringing it to a total of £14.05.
I had high expectations for the breakfast. The overall vibe of the place was ‘classy’. The decor of the place had duck egg blue walls and window surrounds with a stylish small vase on each table. The tables had mismatched chairs, which perhaps should have been a sign of what was to come.
It took 15 minutes for the food to arrive, which I thought was a bit too long considering the quality of it, which you’ll see what I mean as you read on. A nice touch was the mini salt and pepper shakers they brought out with the coffee.
When the food arrived, they asked if I want any sauces. I asked for brown sauce. They brought out a small dish with a spoon with brown sauce on the side. Decent presentation, in my opinion. As for the presentation of the breakfast itself, I’ve seen better presentations when I was in primary school and a 10 year old had put together a PowerPoint presentation on their favourite sport.
Coffee – 75/100
Two minutes after my order, the cappuccino arrived. It had a rich smokey taste, with the taste of the coffee quite prominent, and the caramel was subtle and not too overbearing. The smokiness did overpower everything else though. I’ll say now that the coffee was the best part of the breakfast, which should give you an idea of what’s to come.
Egg – 25/100
The egg tasted very ‘eggy’. It was also covered by beans, which to me is disappointing as I first like to try it without any other flavour added. The edges were burnt and crispy, which is a negative in my books. The yolk however was pretty good, firm but slightly runny. Overall disappointing – not good, not bad.
Bacon – 25/100
I don’t think I’ve ever been quite so disappointed with bacon in a fry-up. It had a burnt sear on it as though it had been on a barbeque. I don’t think this complemented it very well. The aftertaste was just a burnt taste that didn’t leave your mouth. Quite a lot of fat. Too chewy for my liking and did not taste exceptional. The more I ate the bacon, the less I wanted to continue with it. Even the beans could not mask the disappointing burnt flavour.
Sausage – 45/100
The menu said ‘sausages’ so I assumed there would be more than one. I was wrong. There was only one. It had been cooked for too long. The outside skin was quite hard compared to the inside and had an unsatisfying crunch when biting into it. The flavour was fairly good as it was quite herby. But the outside being cooked too long made it unsatisfying to eat. The fact there was only one left a sour taste in my mouth (not literally).
Beans – 50/100
The beans were not bad. It’s clear that they were just Heinz beans with nothing added to them. They were unexceptional. Could have done with some seasoning or cheese adding.
Hash Brown – 55/100
The hash brown was probably the best part of the breakfast, which isn’t really saying much. I took a break from the bacon to eat this without beans at first. It was a nice surprise compared to the bacon. Slightly crispy on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside. Tasted pretty good. However, there is something about it that I cannot put my finger on. Something to do with it being cheap and tasting like cheap frozen hash browns that I’ve had before. But it didn’t taste bad and was even better with beans. However, it was not exceptional, and I have had better hash browns from the Co-Op at 20 for £2.
Mushroom – 20/100
This was probably the most depressing mushroom I’ve ever had in a fry-up. I sent a photo of the breakfast to my friend and the first thing they said was, “What is that depressing cremated thing in the bottom left?”. The mushroom was wilted and overcooked. It didn’t taste horrible, having an almost creamy and smoky flavour to it, but the fact there is only one is very disappointing, especially for the price. I wouldn’t have been too happy eating more than one of them anyway. It left a strange taste in my mouth.
Conclusion
Initial thoughts when walking into the premises were that it is a classy and expensive place. Well-dressed families were scattered around the front of the building sitting in chairs, enjoying food and alcoholic drinks at 10.45am.
The breakfast was a huge disappointment, as you can see from what I’ve written above. As I ate my breakfast, the atmosphere began to grate on me. The music switched to an old rock song that felt out of place. The manager could be heard shouting orders from the front door to the kitchen staff, which I found to be excessively loud. This, combined with the abysmal breakfast, results in a poor rating from me. The only decent factor was the coffee.
In terms of accessibility, there is plenty of on-street free parking as well as a free public car park a three minute walk away.
My total rating is a result of the sum of each breakfast part divided by the total items. The coffee is excluded from the rating.