Author: footloose

[Edit] 23/03/22
More changes unfortunately. Billy’s is no longer the Surfers Cafe it was. It had a lick of paint during the Covid lockdown and it is now a looking a lot sleeker. Another chic seafood cafe. No longer that different and no Surfers Breakfast.

Different is something I have been looking for ever since Charlie Harper’s changed their menu, doing away with their Brunch Hash special.

A search which took me down to East Wittering for a breakfast at  Billys on the Beach.  I can’t remember when I last ordered kippers for an early morning breakfast and soon discovered that I have forgotten how to peel it away from the bones .

But I managed.

Keeping to different was the Surfers Breakfast which was a tomato, pepper base with cheese and I seem to remember chourizo. This topped with two fried eggs with chunks of bread.

It was different and Billy’s on the Beach is just one of a number of interesting restaurants and cafes to be found in East Wittering. Suspect it has got everything to do with there is a surfing community making it worth another look.

I used to do breakfast at Lakes Traditional English Cafe.

But they have sold and the shop is being refurbished. Stuck for choice, I eventually ended up in the other end of town, at Charlie Harpers.

I didn’t feel like a traditional breakfast and decided on the Black Pudding Hash.  Something I will do again as it was that good. They also offer Rooibos.

I got it all wrong.

Not dressed for what became a bitterly cold day. But that made an early breakfast at the Swan Inn in Midhurst all the more welcoming.

I understand that in this country breakfast is taken very seriously and I was fortunate to bump into the perfect breakfast sausage, quite by accident. Arriving in Midhurst a bit before time, I stopped outside the Swan Inn. It didn’t take long to decide to take them up on their offer of a full English breakfast and a bottomless pot of tea.

I didn’t have that many options. It was my only option.

The perfect sausage, the perfect breakfast in an English country hotel in the South Downs.

 Recommend a Local Service Provider

CPN Investment Management
cpnim.com
facebook.com/cpnim
enquiries@cpnim.co.uk
01243 780077
All Saints Church, West Pallant, Chichester

There are three Thai restaurants to choose from in Chichester but don’t expect authentic, home cooked and independent. There is Niyom on Hayling Island and Thai Time in Arundel and one of the Thai restaurants in Bognor is supposed to be good. But it’s trip into Portsmouth for anything resembling Thai street food at Saros. There are a few more indepentently owned cafes in Southsea which I gaven’t tried as well as Na’s Bar & Galley on Kemps Quay in Southampton.

 Recommend a Local Service Provider

The taxi rank is at the station is on the northern side of the railway lines opposite the Foundry.

There are a number of local companies offering both metered taxis as well as Private Hire services.

Local Companies

Starline

Premier Cars Chichester

Chichester Taxis

Station Taxis – Chichester Taxi Association

Chichester Mini Bus

Fly Taxi Chichester (email bounced)

Toms Taxis

 

Booking Services

Minicabit

Tesco Petrol Station
Fishbourne Rd
Open 24 hours

ESSO Rontec Stockbridge
A27 Westbound
Open 24 hours

Sainsbury’s Petrol Station
Westhampnett Rd
07h00 to 22h00

ESSO Rontec Kingsham
A27 Eastbound
05h00 to 24h00

Texaco ??? Co op
Roman Fields, Lavant Rd
Co op Food
Lavant Rd
07h00 to 11h00

ESSO EG Tangmere
27 Arundel Rd
Open 24 hours

If you are looking for a newsagent in Chichester, they are around the corner, down a small lane and they open promptly at five in the morning.

Breakfast on a Saturday morning is incomplete without an early morning paper. Although I am not saying that eight o’clock counts as an early breakfast. It’s the earliest I can find.  But I was stuck without a newspaper.  That was until I found one in St Martins Street. Its a lane that runs off East Road next to M&S past the Hole in the Wall and St Martins Coffee Shop.

The newsagents are on the next corner on the left.

Good News are also billed as Confectioners but I don’t think I saw any evidence of confectionery in the shop besides ice creams. If I did I would buy purely on principle.