The Fat Budgie

A new establishment on the flyover end of Dale Street that is looking to make a stamp on the road. With close competition from Moose and City Cafe, could the Fat Budgie be a gem found in the nest? The first Toast of the year expects big things!

Willburton – Budge up there mate

“It was my first toast in a while after a few months out being a fanny. The ball was well and truly set rolling when I bumped in to our in house James Bond impersonator at the entrance to the gaf.

Good old turn out and a few faces I had not seen before, so it was good to meet those guys. The service was provided by a lovely young lady who went out of her way to accommodate us all. Even bringing my drink back in the same mug, like I’d asked for.

All the food was brought out at near enough the same time. All items of the dish were of a high quality. There were plenty of sauces on the tables, so none of this table sharing condiment malarkey. They even had what sounded like a custom selected sound track playing in the bank ground.

All in all for the price of £5.50, they’re working small miracles.

8.5/10″

Mr Kirk Douglas – Budget Bossness!

“Like the January payday, the January Toast is as eagerly anticipated after far too long. The Fat Budgie was lovely on the inside, a no-nonsense menu that we later found out could have been adapted to whatever we wanted it to be with warning. This was highlighted when the halloumi wasn’t availz – the bonus to this place was that they wouldn’t run to Tesco for the ingredients meaning the quality was going to be spot on!

Bargain £5.50 for a fully with a drink and the quality of the items were spot on, the black pudding rivalled the Hanover Street Social and the sausage was prime as well – you wouldn’t expect this for the price but the ingredients were of the highest calibre.

Lovely coffee and the service was brilliant, we were well looked after and a jolly good time was had by all.

A definite tip off for those living/working in that end of town and would put it above Moose for a go to venue!

The budgie might be cheep, but the quality is immense. A stonking 8.5/10!”

Plotatron 9000 – Budget smugglers!

“This was my second visit to the fat budgie in the same week and both times i was made to feel immensely welcome and thoroughly well fed.
A small venue but easily accommodated 14 or so strapping hunks, drinks orders taken quickly and filled promptly with alacrity and charm by the sole waitress/server/breakfast genie.
Food came out with ease in plenty of time considering numbers with mounds of toast bedecking the tables and extra drink orders taken in stride by aforementioned breakgenie.
Food was of a great standard no complaints whatsoever, but would have liked another egg but thats me.

All told 8.75/10“

John Forbes Nosh, Jr – Phat Budgie

“A thoroughly enjoyable mid-winter brek brek at the hidden-in-plain-sight Fat Budgie; fellow early bird Plotatron 9000 hit the blackboard with his ‘magic wand’ and uttered “Brekimus Aperio” (witness accounts may differ).

Upstairs, two large tables laid out in anticipation for a healthy influx of Toast-brethren hinted at the excellent service we were to enjoy. Our lady server was immediately grilled (lolz) on the availability of Halloumi (no, but request-able in advance), and started delivering piping hot drinks in amusing mugs and fielded our item-related queries with good humour. Most concerns were related to the omission of certain FE fundamentals on the menu (mushrooms, hashies) and we were all pleasantly surprised to find that, while not listed, they were all included. After much repetition, we arrived at 12 FEs – simples.

Hot drinks continued to arrive as Grill Scoff Herring declared that the shiny, black TOAST trophy rack we were all admiring should be awarded to the best-dressed man. His tux may have been a catalyst.

FEs duly arrived, and were of noticeably higher quality than many had speculated and very tasty. Two rashers of bacon represented good value to me, I simply expected one of everything, however they could have been a bit crispier, triggering a discussion about whether eggs and bacon should both be crispy or not. For the record I’m a crispy bacon, softer egg kinda guy. The tomato was very raw, but it was a real tom and not from a tin of chopped ones in juice so I’m not going to mark it down. Everything else was delicious, and disappeared rapidly, plus the toast was pretty bang on, I can’t abide burnt toast.

All in all, for £5.50, including a cup of tea (a lovely touch sadly lacking at a lot of ‘cooler’ establishments) this represents tremendous value, with great food, great service, zero omissions from a standard FE (halloumi’s not a deal-breaker for me) and top, top bantz (Mr Kirk Douglas’ tale of asking to eat a Monkey) – I’m gonna give this a massive 9/10.”

Grill Scoff Herring – Budgie Over City Cafe

“As far as the value offering goes, this place belies its budget bracket by a barrel load. I’d actually go so far as to recommend they up their prices was it not for the fact I live 200 metres away and wish to take full advantage of this gem in future.

I cannot fault one thing about this experience in terms of service, food quality, bantanical gardens and aforementioned value.

It knocks nearby City Cafe out of the park for central budget offerings and leaves the ever present hoards queueing outside Moose look a bit silly really. This is already a contender for my Toast of the year and that means a great start to the 2015 programme. I’m looking forward to seeing how the 10 future venues fair in its wake.

8.5/10 – I wish I had a third arm so I could applaud the place while still eating.”

Eggy Road Rover

“Bumping into two fellow breakfast enthusiasts on the pavement nearby, I was in fine spirits and salivating at the thought of a well earned FE to kick off my 2015 Toast journey. What followed was a confusing staring competition as we scanned a row of near identical red shop fronts, unable to work out where this mysterious Fat Budgie was!

I was wondering if we were in Harry Potter platform 9&3/4 territory when we finally spotted a small sign. We bounded in and up the stairs. What we found inside was a delight…

First off, a top atmosphere with 14 fine gentlemen, beards and bantz a plenty, all excited to be reunited for the first time since our glorious Christmas special. The conversations were soon flowing – one man’s desire to protect each of his teeth with bean skins was matched by another’s idea for a branded vegan themed start to the year – Vajanuary – you get the idea…

And then we were entertained by a fantastic waitress who handled our over-enthusiastic and somewhat giddy behaviour with complete professionalism and style.

The service was quick, the drinks were spot on (proper mugs for builders tea, posh pot and even lemon slices for earl grey). Once we’d finally ordered and everyone had realised hash browns were included despite not featuring in the menu, we were quickly served with 14 plates of well cooked and presented food, piles of toast and regular additional drinks.

Nothing was too much trouble and the time passed fast and hassle free. If I have to niggle, the bacon could have been crispier and the tomato grilled more or roasted but these are small things, the sausage was spot on and chunky as 2 little ones seen in many other places.

And to finish it off it was cheap too – a budgie bargain at £5.95 including tea! I skipped home, nothing was gonna get me down for the rest of the day…

I’m gonna give it 9/10, just hope I can find it again!”

Overall Score – 8.7/10