Bryer’s Delicatessen and Coffee House in East Leake is actually in the Nottinghamshire Region of the Food Hunt, don’t be fooled as I was initially by the Leicestershire postcode

Bryer’s is relatively new to the sandwich scene having been here since September 2012 and it has sprung into action offering a lovely little deli offering meats, cheeses, cakes, pastries, and breads, plus a great set of shelves filled with items such as condiments, herbs, spices, wines and local beers. Not only that, but they sell sandwiches made to order from the deli counter, cheese and meat platters, quiches, and suchlike. They also do an English Muffin packed with crispy bacon which I saw being prepared while I was there. Such dangerous knowledge to behold!

On my first visit to Bryer’s I had a sandwich to go, picking one of my favorite combinations off their somewhat mouth watering menu. That sandwich was a ‘Spicy Spanish Chorizo, Barber’s Cheddar, and Rocket‘ on White sliced farmed loaf for £4.25. It was all quite good, the bread was a freshly baked soft white loaf with a nice chewy crust, nice slightly spicy chorizo, some tangy cheddar cheese and a good pile of peppery rocket. Most enjoyable.

I washed my sandwich down with a couple of locally produced beers from the nearby “Wicked Hathern Brewery“, both purchased at Bryer’s. The brewery is based at Oakley Grange Organic Farm in Hathern just a couple of miles down the road from Bryer’s. The first bottle opened was the ‘Hathern Cross’  described on the bottle as ‘A golden ale with spicy hops in the aroma. The taste is nicely balanced with a lemon note from the hop contrasting with malt sweetness. A gentle bitter and hoppy aftertaste’. Well I don’t know about that, but it was quite nice, a bit of a crisp follow through and a nice hoppy aroma. The second beer was a bottle of the ‘Hawthorn Gold’ which is described on their website as “A light golden easy drinking summer beer with a good balance of hops and malt”. An interesting titbit from their website is that the village name ‘Hathern’ is ‘derived from the Saxon word for hawthorn which was prevalent in the village’. I enjoyed both beers, but the only place I have seen them for sale is at Bryer’s in East Leake but apparently for us Notts Folk they sell it at Delilahs on Middle Pavement in Nottingham. At Bryer’s they were selling for £2.65 a bottle.

On my second visit I decided to eat inside the deli in their loft space seated area. This time I chose another option on the menu that I was drawn to which was the ‘Pastrami, Barber’s Cheddar, and Ouse Valley red onion marmalade” for £4.25. It was another great sandwich effort. Depending on which way up you ate it you got soft white bread, then the sweet marmalade, then the peppery pastrami, followed by the tangy cheese. A pretty well thought out combination of flavours. My only change would have been to slip some rocket or other crunchy leaf into the upper layer to stop the marmalade oozing into the bread. The marmalade was really quite good and they sell pots at the deli, how can I describe the taste? well I will just quote them from their website “A sticky concoction of onion, brown sugar, spices, orange and balsamic vinegar”. They also note that it can be used as an “accompaniment to cheese, sausages or a Scotch egg” That would be three of my 5-a-day items then!

The sandwiches come with a good solid salad of mixed leaves, tomato, peppers and red onion, mine had a nice drizzle of balsamic too, and a very creamy homemade coleslaw which I thoroughly enjoyed despite my mild antipathy towards that particular side.

Bryer’s is based at 13 Gotham Road in East Leake on the other side of the road from the Fire Station. If you approach from Nottingham along the South Notts No 1 Loughborough Bus Route it is in the first row of shops that you hit. There is plenty of free parking nearby

Sandwich Menu