eggbaconchipsandbeans

Dennis Cafe, Castle Sands, The Harbour, Tenby, Pembrokeshire

The Denis is a perfect beach cafe. Friendly. Good food. Great views. And it's in Tenby, which is the nicest town in Wales.

A very high quality ebcb. Pale chips, afraid of the sun these chips. Not so the beans which have clearly been sweltering in a tanning facility. The egg is vaguely Martian, at least not of this earth in its contours, but delicious. And a splendid amount of excellent bacon with pinks and reds and browns and whites begging you to slam it in your gob. Genius grub.

A clever touch with the condiments. You have to careful at the seaside, you don't want people grabbing your sauce bottles and taking them out on the sand for their picnic. It's always a possibility. But too often these little sachets are a poor alternative because you have to get them yourself and you can never find them. Not so with these plastic cups stuffed with all your condimentary needs. Nice solution Denis Cafe.

Lovely big booths. You can get the extended family in here. And the spare friend or cousin you've brought with you.

And this is the view from our table. What could be better? If it's rainy you can sit inside and avoid the downpour. If it's sunny you can sit inside and avoid the sun. Perfect.

Hello over there. Are you having as much fun as us? I hope so.

hp petition

You should support the petition at London Eats to keep HP manufacturing in the UK.

Antonio's Cafe, 14-17 Piccadilly South, Manchester, M1

Antonio's is right next to Piccadilly Station in Manchester, so if you start your day with a big fry-up at the Double Six you could hop on the train and have lunch here. Or vice versa.

You cannot beat a fry-up like this. I like way the chips are scattered as though they've been dropped from a plane. The bacon has a splendid industrial quality and the egg is nicely mottled, as though with age. And I like those dark and gorgeous beans.

Excellent condiments, reaching for the sky. The sauce colours are for indication only. You wouldn't eat ketchup if it was that red. But you know which one the ketchup is in.

A high density of high visibility vests is always a good sign. These  men know a good cafe.

Fantastic signage at Antonio's. Slightly non-traditional spelling to upset the purists but I think it's a sign of character. Maybe all the asterisks are there to offset the spelling.

Toasted dishes. I want Toasted Dishes.

Double Six Cafe, Eversholt Street, NW1

I've always thought that being early is a bit like being lucky. If you're early good things happen. And if you're early for a train at Euston you can wander up the Eversholt Road and pop into the Double Six cafe. And that's a good thing to do, because this is a little gem of a traditional greasy-spoon. You always seem to find them near stations.

I love those chips. They almost seem like salmon leaping over some rocks to dive into the beans. While nearby lies a limpid pool of egg. And a sylvan glade carpeted in bacon.

I think this is my favourite condiment picture ever. It's almost art. The colours. The composition. The mustard. Prints of this are available at Tate Modern.

I like a nice stripey cup of tea. Especially when it contrasts nicely with the table.

This bloke's wearing a splendid 'shop local' t-shirt. I wonder if I could get an 'eat local' one. But then I don't. I eat all over the place. But wherever I am, I eat local.

Plain. Simple. Honest. Good.

And it's always nice to have a telly on in a cafe. Just in case the banter dries up. As you can see we were having a right laugh in here.

Woodhead's Cafe, Simpson Street, Blackpool

There must be a ton of great cafes in Blackpool, but we weren't there for long and we had to plump for one. And I think we got very lucky, because Woodhead's is a fantastic place.

The ebcb is splendid. It had a marvelous efficient crispiness. Crispy bacon, crispy eggs, bitey, crunchy chips. Beans, not really crispy, obviously, crispy beans would be weird, but delicious.

It's a big place. Dead busy when we were there. It's right next to the Pleasure Beach, which had just closed, so they're obviously busy a lot and they'd developed an efficient friendliness which worked very well. I guess in a location like that you have to get good quick.

Big. Value. Meal. The three most beautiful words in the English language.

They've picked a colour and they're sticking with it. Admirable focus and consistency.

Simple chip-shop condiments. Your sauce comes in sachets. That'll do me.

And a handy outdoor bit for take-aways. What a brilliant place. Must go back to Blackpool.

Mermaid Cafe, North Prom, Mablethorpe

The Mermaid cafe is a marvelous place, which looks slightly like a bit of a ship, on the Prom at Mablethorpe. I only had my phone to take photos so they're a bit grainy. But I think that's somehow appropriate to the mood of the place.

I always love it when you get chip shop chips mixed in with a fry-up. It's like too culinary cultures colliding, and it often spills over the side of the plate. In a splendid way. Look at the lovely fatness of the chips and those chaotic beans. And the egg is completely hidden. Trust me it's there. Ready to surprise and delight you. And the bacon is lurking as well, ready to push you over the edge into full-fledged groaning stomachness. Perfect.

And pukka-pies endorsement is always a sign of quality.

Minimal chip-shop oriented condiments.

Lots of people hate these bolted-in chairs. Why? I love them. I think it enforces family intimacy, always a good idea on a holiday.

And the best crazy golf course in the UK is right outside the window.

More chip shop vibe.

And this is the best thing. They've painted a sea on the ceiling. And stuck little boats on it, with two little Barbies as the mermaids. Brilliant.

And you can put your fags in here.

Abergeldie Cafe, Shudehill, Manchester, M4

Finally I break my NorthWest duck. The Abergeldie is a fantastic place in Central Manchester. Huge portions. Great interior. What an atmosphere.

Look at that huge amount of stuff on there. I love it when an ebcb causes this kind of pile-up. They don't diminish the portions to create elegance on the plate, they just mound it all on there. Genius. Lovely chips. All sorts of sizes and textures which makes chip eating a voyage of discovery. Lots of pinkylovely bacon. And that egg is genius. Like a lunar crater.

NASA should be sending some sort of rover in there. What would they find?

Very nice condiment selection. Very elongated. Lots of verticals.

Medieval and red. What a brilliant combination. This is what Henry VII's bedroom would have been like if he'd be a Man U supporter.

Morning to you.

If it's alright with Terry Wogan it's alright with me. (Or is that just the toasted sandwiches).

Surely that's everything. What could the 'etc' be?

ebcb japan

I was very excited to discover that the eggbaconchipsandbeans book was featured in this fine Japanese publication - The Cuisine Magazine (Eating With Creativity). I've no idea what it says but I choose to imagine it's largely positive.

Raffles, Craven Road, W2

The other Russell took some pictures of Raffles for my book, but I'd never been there myself. I must admit I'd built an elaborate fantasy Raffles in my head, based on a nice looking fry-up and the green-checked table cloths, and it wasn't quite up to the standards of my imagination, but it was very nice.

Very pleasant bacon, and a generous portion, which conceals the yolk of the egg, like the sun on a cloudy day. The eggs had a scattered quality, like the timbers of a building after a hurricane. The beans are like, well, beans. But good beans. This is an excellent ebcb, and good value.

You see how the table-cloths sets it off nicely. There's probably something in colour theory that explains it all.

Great colours here too. The browns and whites of the salt and pepper echoed by the sugar and the brown sauce. Clean and simple.

Very respectable cup of tea and the often seen, tightly-wrapped knife and fork, which always reminds me of a mummy or disturbing chinese foot-binding practises.

It's a busy place, a blur of motion.

And I always like that slightly medieval feel to the lettering and quaint roof to the sign.

There's a platial map here.

Cafe In The Garden, Russell Square, WC1

Parks and squares seem to be one of those things that have got better in the last few years. Russell Square got a refurb a while ago and they built a very nice cafe building which is a perfect place to sit in the summer before heading off to work.

The chips instantly reminded me of this Tom Dixon extruded lamp-shadey thing we got once. Which got me a in a frame of mind for strange analogies. Like that egg - doesn't it sort of look like a sun with angel wings or the grill and front bumpers off a classic car (though in Toy Town colours)? Nothing occurs for the beans and bacon, but they were delicious.

I think this is the only receipt or chitty I've ever had with all the things in the right order. Splendid.

Slight disappointment with the sauce, I can't really approve of sachets over bottles but I can understand that their al fresco setting changes the priorities. Not many people'll nick a sauce bottle from a cafe, but, if you're in a park and you've got a sauceless sausage roll in your picnic hamper I can see you being tempted.

And this it why you're here really. The grub's alright here, though a bit pricey, if you're sitting inside it's just another modernish, OKish cafe. But if it's a nice day and you can sit outside this place is perfect. Starting your day in one of London's beautiful sqaures, watching the commuters pass (or decide to hang it all and have a last coffee before work), enjoying a respectable fry-up, mulling over things in your head; what could be better?

There's a platial map here.