Ooo arr! We’re in the West Country, Bristol to be specific, and it’s BRUNCHTIME following a 30th birthday party. A little dozy and worse for wear, we are wandering Bristol without aim….luckily, we’ve found a brunch spot not far away from the city centre and our hotel. Hooray! It looks safe and there are spare seats, so we step inside.

The menu looked pretty interesting, offering the standard kind of things you’d expect to see in a brunch spot, but my bruncheon of choice was the Harissa Bap. Specifically, the menu read “Bacon house harissa + aioli bap with a poached egg” – interesting. Bit different to my go-to of eggs benedict or something avocado-looking.

When it came out I felt kind of like a groom waiting for his bride (or groom) at the end of the aisle… gosh, this looked delicious and was really tasty for both the eyes and mouth. Buttery, not too spicy all coming from a brilliant call on the amount of each ingredient to include. The bacon was bang on with a crispy rind and thick well done actual bacon meat section.  Adding aioli meant a great contrast against the home-made harissa. To be honest I was a bit scared of the harissa (don’t judge) because of spice levels and it being the morning after a drink filled night, but it had a fabulous flavour and was just right. Still thinking about the aioli.. I do love it but don’t get the chance to put it in my face very often – an appreciated opportunity.

The eggy balanced on top of this beauty was poached PERFECTLY.  The yolk porn was on FLEEK – that’s good.  No weird jelly bits in the white which I often find in poached eggs. No sir. Solid white, runny yolk *does the ok hand sign*, I am pleased. Bannnginggg.

The bap was really tasty too, the only problem was I think I needed a sharper knife because I couldn’t cut through the bottom of the roll! A crusty white, yeah, but the bottom of this bad boy was intense. I ended up scraping out the inner breaddage because I was knife and forking this mountain of glory rather than a pick up and bite job. Maybe my teeth would have got me further but then I would literally have had egg on my face. No thanks!

I’d really love to have this combo option closer to home and at £5.25, what you get it’s a bargain too. In London there are a ton of good brunch options but they usually sit just under a tenner and this is one of the best I have tasted…and it’s just over a fiver! WHAAAT?!

Spicer + Cole offer gluten free bread to customers in need, which is very important to some. Their baked goods range is immense and random,  from brownies to plum friands (a small French cake, FYI), muffins, flapjacks, croissants, pain au raisin and mooore. Some of the cakes have odd flavours; courgette and lime with cream cheese frosting or a fig and rosemary combo offering.

Out of the weirder flavours, the courgette and lime cake deserved the verdict of a solid: “Yummy”. It’s moist,  zesty and has that nice home made feel to it, which we like. There’s a robust sponge and a good layer of lime curd (and thin frosting layer) sandwiched between two cakey layers, with the whole thing being topped by a thicker layer of cream cheese frosting. Yus. There’s a good contrast of sweet and zesty and savoury and creamy in this cake, plus it looks nice with the flecks of courgette in the sponge. Definitely approved.

The peanut butter blonde is lighter than a brownie, a little more than a cakey and the icing is bang on. Tastes fresh rather than an artificial or packet style peanut icing. It’s a good alternative if you fancy a brownie but can’t quite (for whatever reason) face the full on stodge they can often bring. Flavour-wise, peanut butter is always in my top 3 – I love nuts. Hoho. But seriously, I do love a bit of peanut butter and that icing was proper-bo. A lovely little homeslice.

The tea range was pretty vast too, including a guest tea.  I’m not sure how often the guest tea is changed up but it’s a nice feature to have. It’s served with a mini sand-timer so the customer knows when their tea is properly brewed.  I’ve seen this in a few places before and do like it. I’m a simple gal, what can I say? We breakfast tea’d and it was a pretty reliable cuppa – not much to note there.

When it comes to the coffee, I went for a caramel latte. I learned that the beans are roasted and supplied by another Bristol based brand, Extract Coffee. The flavour was smooth and sweet (probably down to the syrup), very nice. I almost wish the coffee was bad so I could have something negative to say here! 

I have a few friends who live in Bristol and I will definitely be recommending Spicer + Cole to them, if they haven’t been already. It’s a cute treat if you want a relaxed lunch or just a bit o’cake on a budget (coming from a London-dweller). Seriously – try the harissa bap. Lush.

Forked by Stefpuff

spicerandcole.co.uk – 1 Queen Square Av, Bristol

Twitter/Instagram: @spicerandcole