Breakfast at Carluccio's - Kingston

Usually nothing can drag me out of bed before noon on a weekend but circumstances called for an early morning meet up with the girls in Kingston a few weekends ago. Given that choices are limited at that time of the day - Carluccio's definitely won over greasy spoon cafes and McDonald's. Carluccio's with its fill of yummy daddies and mummies playing happy families and older folk with their copies of Daily Mail, Telegraph and maybe on occasion the sneaky copy of the The Sun (purely for the sports section mind you).

Having browsed the menu online the day before (always better prepared) I had my heart set on the Colazione Magnifica (£8.95) for no other reason than that was the heartiest item listed (with a choice of juice and coffee/tea included with the price - bargain!). I got a very nice glass of freshly squeezed (it does make all the difference, doesn't it?) orange juice and a latte. The water was brought over on request by one of the other girls which I probably drank a little grudgingly. More liquids means less food space!

My scrambled eggs, grilled pancetta, sautéed mushrooms and half a grilled tomato came piled on a slice of toasted Italian bread - not quite sure what exactly Italian bread is but at Carluccio's it sure is tough and chewy. Everything else tasted fine - the eggs were done nicely with the right amount of fluffiness and left just a tad bit runny.

JN's order of Uova E Funghi (£6.25) - scrambled eggs with sautéed mushrooms on toast. Pretty much the same as mine but without the pancetta, tomato, orange juice, coffee .....

The others opted for eggs benedict (£7.50) with Italian roast ham. The hollandaise appeared in an over-enthusiastic shade of yellow and smelled like it had come in contact with a heavy hand of vinegar. It tasted like it looked - off-putting. Claggy, sharp and in good need of seasoning. I was personally unimpressed and the dish won no points despite the eggs very prettily cooked.

Being the piggies that we were (are) we ordered another round of carbs after polishing off our mains - a Breakfast Bread Tin (£3.95) and almond croissants (pastries from £1.40) to share. The bread tin consisted of one very good looking croissant (in golden brown perfection), more Italian bread (untoasted this time, which surprisingly tasted a lot nicer than its toasted counterpart), butter and fig jam (ergh!).

We got in a few good hours of natter and noshing before it became distinctly obvious we had overstayed our visit. The breakfast menu was cleared off the tables and the happy families munching on Danish pastries were replaced by hungry families queuing up for their midday fill of risotto and raviolli. All this and it was only just gone twelve. I must say it was weird to have done so much (eaten so much ... I should rephrase) by noon on a non-working day and still have a whole day ahead of me. I should do this more often .... I will keep reminding myself that ... I will ... I will ... zzz ...

Carluccio's
2 Jerome Place, Kingston upon Thames KT1 1HT