Jo-Hanna’s Bistro and Cafe – Great spot for Breakfast, Brunch, Lunch and Dinner in Lowdham!

Jo-Hanna’s Bistro and Café in Lowdham was the perfect place to meet up before we took on a 17 mile (ish) pub crawl through the villages over to Southwell. It seemed like a good idea at the time, although I am sure we could have found as many pubs if we had just stuck to Mansfield Road . Anyway we digress, lets talk about Jo-hanna’s and food

I was just expecting a small café when we made plans to meet here around 9.30am before our ‘stroll’. It is actually a pretty big place, a bit ‘Tardis’ like. You walk into a small front area where all the cakes are and just a couple of tables.

Then we went round the corner to a lovely little room with 5-6 other tables which was quite a delight to see. Out back in there was a garden dining area, and later on when I was making use of the ‘facilities’ I found a big upstairs dining area as well. I can see why and how they are able to host so many local community events now.

So anyway we were here for breakfast so we got ourselves some tea and spent some time checking out the breakfast sections of the menu.

I was really tempted to try the American style pancakes with maple syrup and a side of bacon. It was a bit early though for such sweetness.

The Breakfast special of “Home Cured Bacon, Lincolnshire Sausage, Fried Egg, Hash Browns, Mushrooms, Tomato, Beans and Toast, with a tea” for just £4.99 nearly made it as my choice. I just veered away at the last minute towards the Eggs Benedict

Eggs Benedict

I had a plate of Eggs Benedict for £4.95, I was feeling a little bit more grown up than usual and was forgoeing my favoured fry-up, and it was a fantastic choice!

The eggs were poached perfectly sitting on top of two toasted muffins. The soft runny yolk oozed gently out of the perfectly set white as I cut into them. The bacon that I chose instead of ham was lovely and crispy, it was meaty, nicely smoked and there was plenty of it.

The Hollandaise sauce was delightful, it was rich and creamy and it was not too tangy, the sprinkling of paprika over the top was a nice touch.

I really enjoyed eating this plateful, the only downside was that I was so hungry I could have easily scoffed another one and it was over sadly too quickly 🙁

Scrambled Eggs on Toast (with Bacon)

My fellow walkers Adam and Sam had chosen somewhat well, both opting for the scrambled eggs on toast, Sam asked for a side of bacon and as you can see he did rather well out of that choice getting this fantastic plateful of food. To be honest it was a good idea as it was to be another 6 hours before we managed to eat ‘properly’ again!

Those were real doorstop slices of toast and to be honest one slice would have been good value, two slices a boon, and then two super slices of smoked salty bacon as well? Trust me, there were some smug food faces at the table 🙂 Not bad for £4.75

I was a bit jealous

Next Time?

On the counter in the front room were a whole selection of cakes and other baked delights vying for our attention and delight. I almost bought one of these fruit scones as it just looked so goddam delicious. In some ways I am glad that I didn’t as now I have something else to look forward on my next visit to this most delightful place.