Mr VB and myself are rather fond of treating ourselves to a cooked breakfast (cooked by someone else that is, and with no washing up) after a long hard week and have tried out most of the cafes in town over the last couple of years.

In our search for the best breakfast in town, and I would add at this point that Merlins comes in at a close second, we discovered one place that we consider to be more than worthy to take that accolade.

The Ventnor Bay Cafe

We’d walked past many times, but never gone in. I’m not sure why really, as it looks perfectly approachable from the outside, but I guess we’d got used to our regular haunt.

Anyway, Russell from the arcade was telling us how excellent the breakfasts are there and how hard the lads work, so we thought we’d pop along and see how good they actually were.

If you’ve ever been in there, whether it’s or food or just a drink, I’m sure you’ll agree that they are all very friendly, helpful and polite. Besty and Spinky both worked for some time at the Royal Hotel and they certainly know how to knock together an excellent cooked breakfast.

All the usual suspects appear on the plate, egg, fried to perfection, sausage (we’re talking a decent one, rather than the cheap rubbish that gets served in some places), mushrooms, tomatoes, beans and hash browns. There is something missing from the plate though … and that’s grease. This has got to be the cleanest fried breakfast going. I don’t know how they do it, but they do and it’s a very welcome change.

All this comes with toast and tea or coffee all for £3.95. There are plenty of other options too, including the special (it’s huge) or vegetarian version.

Now that the esplanade allows for people to sit outside the cafe and get a clear view of the sea (without any parked cars), it’s even better than when we first starting using it.

They also do a wicked chicken stuffed with chorizo, but you have to ring first to see whether it’s on that day.

You can find the Ventnor Bay Cafe on the Ventnor seafront, next to the Gaiety amusement arcade.

More reviews of eateries in Ventnor can be found on the excellent Matt and Cat’s Isle of Wight Eating Out Guide. Restaurants, pubs and cafe are always reviewed comprehensively and with great humour.

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