Invergordon
The Ship Inn is located on the Shore Road of Invergordon directly
opposite the Service Base. The restaurant/B&B has recently been
refurbished and it looks great inside. It has plenty of seats and has an open
fire that was lit, which made for a cosy atmosphere. As this was the morning,
the restaurant wasn’t too busy so we were seated instantly. We were also
served immediately. The breakfast is an all you can eat buffet with all the
items laid out, except for the eggs, these were cooked to order, so there is
only a 5 minute waiting time for these and they were cooked to perfection.
The downside to a buffet is that the food can be overcooked or dried
out by the time you get to eat them. The item that suffered the most from
this was the beans. They were what I would describe as ‘clumpy’, there was a
small film of bean juice on top of the beans and all the juices had dried up.
The black pudding seemed to have also suffered slightly and it was quite dry.
The sausages and bacon were fine though. The breakfast also included a hash
brown and it was also great to see a lorne sausage – this is the first one we
have come across in our breakfast reviews. Overall the breakfast appeared to
be grilled apart from the mushrooms. The meat produce provided could only be
described as average – there was nothing more-ish about them – but the bacon
was good, you can’t go wrong with bacon, can you?
The breakfast is advertised as an ‘All you can eat Breakfast’ on the
board outside for £6.95, but it fails to mention that toast is an extra 50p
and the tea and coffee costs an extra £1.20. For £6.95 I would expect them to
be included, after all they aren’t expensive items and certainly not £1.70
worth. Unfortunately this breakfast is more like the Ryanair of breakfasts,
with added extra costs that you weren’t expecting. In total you will have to
pay £8.65 for a breakfast with items that you would expect to be included in
the breakfast price, therefore this is the most expensive breakfast we have
had, costing 70p more than its next competitor.
In the points review, the breakfast loses a point for not including a
tattie scone, which is necessary for the basic ingredients in a Full Scottish, however the breakfast is not advertised as such. To achieve the
Ultimate Full Scottish Breakfast, tomatoes and haggis would also have to be
provided. The breakfast gained a point for having a lorne sausage though and
the hash brown was a bonus. The breakfast failed to gain any more points on
the produce as it was only average and the items weren’t all cooked to
perfection – probably due to the hot plate. If all these items had been
provided, the score would have been higher, maybe a 4 but unfortunately not a
5 as the items were not freshly cooked and the produce was not the highest of standard. Therefore the breakfast only scores a 2 out of 5.
This breakfast would be better if it was cooked to order, but it is
understandable considering the market they are catering to. Workers from the
service base wouldn’t have time to wait 15-20 minutes for a cooked breakfast,
so a buffet is the best option. The food is in no way bad and it was a good
feed. I did think that the breakfast was overpriced, and £6.95 would be
reasonable with tea and toast included. I had expected greater things from
the breakfast as the lunches in the Ship Inn are superb and well priced –
possibly the best lunches in Invergordon.
Recommendations for the Owner
to achieve Full Scottish Breakfast Greatness:
(In order of priority)
1.
Don’t charge extra for tea/coffee or toast.
2.
Include a tattie scone.
3.
Include tomato and haggis.
4.
If you can – cook to order.
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Breakfast
served at times
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8am-11am Mon-Fri
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Breakfast
advertised as
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All you can eat Breakfast
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Price
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£6.95
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Breakfast
contents
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Unlimited Amount
Choice of Fried Egg, Poached or Scrambled
Sausages
Lorne Sausage
Bacon
Black Pudding
Hash Brown
Beans
Mushrooms
Toast – choice of brown or white – 50p Extra
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Tea/Coffee
Included
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No - £1.20 Extra, unlimited refills
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How
cooked
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Grilled
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Service
Time Queuing
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Instant
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Service
Time Waiting for Order
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5 minutes
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Star
Score
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2/5
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Points
deducted for
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Ship Inn
Station and Tomich Update
After another
visit to The Station in Alness, we had a slightly different experience. The
first point to mention is that the breakfast now includes a hash brown! We love
a bonus item. The second point to note is that we were given the choice of what
and how many items were put on the plate. Now I’m not sure if you get refills
anymore, like we were told the first time, or if you just order as much as you
can greedily manage? The third and final point is that the service was
excellent, much better than the first time. The cereals and juice were laid out
nicely, milk for the tea was brought out, side plates for the toast were given
and the waitress (different one from the last time) was extremely helpful and
attentive. You can read the first review here.
It is nice to
see that the owners of Tomich Restaurant, Invergordon have taken note of one of
our recommendations – or at least it’s nice to think it was our input that
brought the change. They have now given the customer the choice of egg;
poached, scrambled or fried. While we never eat the breakfast the second time
we visited, it was written on the board. I wonder if there is now a lorne
sausage and haggis included too? You can read the original review here.
Below is the
updated list of the breakfast contents.
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The Old Dairy Coffee Shop at Frank Nicol Farm and Garden Machinery Ltd
Dingwall
Frank’s Full Breakfast
is served in The Old Dairy Coffee Shop located within Frank Nicol Farm and
Garden Machinery Ltd in Dingwall. The coffee shop is pleasant and is located
in a large conservatory. We were served quickly and the breakfast was
delivered within 20 minutes.
The breakfast included
tea/coffee and toast. You have the choice of either brown or white toast and
we opted for the brown. Quite frankly (no pun intended) the brown toast is
the best we have tasted, it is locally sourced from Dees bakers. A little
negative is that the toast was delivered slightly too early before the
breakfast, but this is a reoccurring theme lately. The whole breakfast appeared
to be grilled and it tasted fantastic! The black
pudding and sausages were superb, there was so much flavour. The menu states
that food is sourced locally and I suspect that these were from Cockburns
butchers. The breakfast also came with a fried egg which was cooked to
perfection, unfortunately we never got the option to have poached or
scrambled eggs. The breakfast also came with 2 lovely slices of bacon, a
tomato, mushrooms and beans. We felt that the cook skimped on the beans a
little and we could have done with more. The only thing that was missing from
the breakfast was a tattie scone. For those that can’t manage Frank’s Full
Breakfast, they also offer a half breakfast consisting of 1 bacon, 1 sausage,
black pudding, egg, beans, toast with tea or coffee for only £4.
In the hunt for the
Ultimate Full Scottish Breakfast, this breakfast would have scored more
points if it had included a tattie scone, so it only scored 3 out of 5,
otherwise it would have scored a 4 out of 5 as the breakfast tasted so good –
I can’t stress that enough. Using our scoring criteria we had to
deduct points for the lack of a tattie scone and the lack of choice with our
eggs being cooked, which we consider to be must haves in a Basic Full
Scottish. However, the breakfast gained points for the quality of produce;
the toast, black pudding and sausages were mouth wateringly good. If haggis
and a lorne sausage was also included this would have easily been scoring top
marks.
Overall this was an
extremely tasty breakfast with only minor points to criticise. It was
reasonably priced and a pleasant place to eat, with the bonus of getting to
peruse power tools while you wait for your breakfast.
Recommendations
for the Owner to achieve Full Scottish Breakfast Greatness:
(In
order of priority)
1. Include a tattie
scone.
2. Give the customer the
choice of eggs.
3. More beans.
4. Include Haggis and
Lorne Sausage.
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Breakfast
served at times
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9am - 3.30pm Mon-Sat
11am - 3.30pm Sun
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Breakfast
advertised as
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Frank’s Full Breakfast
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Price
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£6.75
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Breakfast
contents
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1 Fried egg
2 Sausages
2 Rashers of bacon
Black Pudding
1 Tomato – halved
Tattie scone
Beans
Mushrooms
Toast – choice of brown or
white
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Tea/Coffee
Included
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Yes
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How
cooked
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Grilled
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Service
Time Queuing
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Quick
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Service
Time Waiting for Order
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20 minutes
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Star
Score
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3/5
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Points
deducted for
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No choice of eggs, no
tattie scone, lorne sausage or haggis.
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Website
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