The Black Cat Cafe in Ruddington has been open for about a year now and is in the same location as Mathew’s Deli and Cafe. I had driven past quite a few times and saw the name change and had just assumed that it was just that a rebrand, but then I read up and found out that they had bought the place back in August 2016.

I have been in a couple of times recently and I was happy to find that is basically the same inside, has the same feel, vibe and relaxed atmosphere as before.  They still have all the lovely cakes, pies, scotch eggs and assorted other snack items on the counter, and they still seem to have a pretty good selection of lunch and breakfast items.

Breakfast Menu

The Black Cat breakfast menu, which is also available at lunchtime, looks to have been expanded a little bit and has many of my go to favorites on it. In addition to the Full English Breakfast (which I did end up picking) they also have some of my most loved brunch snacks such as Eggs Benedict and Eggs Royale.

I liked the sound of the Eggs Benedict as they describe that as being an “English muffin topped with poached free range eggs, grilled bacon and homemade hollandaise sauce” for £5.50. I probably would have ordered that until I saw that I could also get a small breakfast for the same price 🙂 I am such a glutton.

I was also pretty close to getting the “American Pancakes with Bacon and maple syrup” for £5, but I just put that on hold for a while, perhaps for another visit 🙂

Full English Breakfast

I ordered the Full English Breakfast which I was very happy with. I loved the way that it was presented with a little stack of black pudding, hash brown, mushroom, and grilled tomato forming a little tottering breakfast tower. The Sausage was pretty crispy, well done, and was nice and meaty with some good flavour. The menu said that it was award winning. The bacon was of quality with some lovely meaty bite and a nice bit of gentle saltiness. I loved that my perfectly cooked fried egg arrived with just a little sprinkle of pepper and salt on the yolk.

The smaller plate for £5.50 was more than enough, that stack of stuff on the plate made it look deceptively small. I am not sure that I would have eaten the larger option which was 2 eggs, 2 sausage, and 2 bacon without feeling really full. Who are we kidding? You know I could have stuffed it down 🙂

Jacket Potato options

I came in to the Black Cat Café a week or so earlier with Alison for lunch when we fancied a jacket potato. They have a pretty good selection on the menu here with some great sounding house specials. I quite fancied getting the one topped with “Homemade Chilli con carne, Guacomole & Sour Cream” for £5.50, or even just a Classic topped with “Tuna Mayo” for £4

Chorizo Beans and Mature Butter

I ended up ordering one of their salt baked jacket potatoes topped with Chorizo Beans and Mature Cheddar. It was really good but not quite as expected, they seemed to have left a critical comma off the menu, so I got one topped with  Chorizo, Beans, and Mature Cheddar. I was thinking of some magical Chorizo Beans mixture 🙁

It was a generous size and a decent portion for a lunchtime dish, and I did really enjoy it anyway. There was a lot of sliced fried salty slices of Chorizo mixed in to the topping, a rather generous amount and enough to justify that price of £5.50. I like the Mature cheddar, it was really decent and they were plenty of beans and lots of butter too. Lovely stuff

The salt baked potato is super, I always eat my potato skin and I like it when they have been cooked properly in the oven and when you sprinkle salt on before cooking? Oh, then it is even better!

Some Cakes we also Ate

I like eating at the Black Cat Café, they have some great food to eat in and to take away. On the counter they have some super fresh local sausage rolls and scotch eggs which I struggle to resist every time I pass by.

If you like cake and cake type of stuff, then you will be very happy with anything you order to go with your cup of tea or coffee.

The Black Cat Café is located on the main high straight that runs through Ruddington Village.

24D High Street, Ruddington to be precise

Check out their Website for all the menus

and also check them out on Facebook and Twitter too