Chocks Away Cafe based at Nottingham Airport just past Tollerton is a fabulous place to grab a snack and watch the small planes land and take-off on the runway.

I have been coming here on and off for over 10 years as it used to be one of our semi regular lunchtime haunts from work especially in the summer when you can sit outside in the sun.

I like to come here for the breakfast action (if I can get here early enough) but I have been know to grab a toastie and a slice of cake as well in my times here. It is a very popular and friendly little cafe and everyone is most welcoming.

Today we were in before 12 so I was able to get myself a plateful of breakfast. Happy Days indeed!

BREAKFAST MENU

The breakfasts are all named with an aeroplane themes, instead of small medium and large you can order a CO-PILOT’S, PILOT’s or HERCULES Breakfast. When I first used to come here they were named Tomahawk, Jumbo, and Hercules (read more here)

The HERCULES is still the largest made up of ‘3 Bacon, 3 Sausages, 3 Eggs, 2 Hash Browns, Mushrooms, Beans, Tomatoes, 3 Toast and Bottomless Tea / Coffee‘. Today that will set you back £13.75 back in 2017 it was £9.95.

It feels more of a challenge than breakfast! Obviously if it was sat in front of me I would give it a go and I was tempted but I was more sensible choosing the middle sized option called the PILOT’S BREAKFAST

THE PILOT’S BREAKFAST

The PILOTS BREAKFAST for £8.99 is the medium sized option and contains “2 Bacon, 2 Sausage, Hash Brown, Free Range Egg, Mushrooms, Beans or Tomatoes, and 2 Toast”

I liked that they have seemingly upped their egg game offering free range ones, when I read that on the menu it gave me hope for other quality items in the bacon and sausage department 😎🧐

I opted for beans instead of tomatoes as I suspected that they were going to be tinned ones and if I have to have some sort of sauce on the plate I prefer it to be of the baked bean variety. It also gives me the chance to moan again that the beans came in a ramekin 🤣

Before I rearrange the contents of the plate in the way I like it to be, I have to comment on how lovely the vintage plate was. Some kind people on Twitter (or X) told me it was 1970’s Denby which made me feel quite posh for a moment far better than getting my scran on a generic cheap white one!

BREAKFAST PLATED AS I LIKE

OK so once I moved everything around as I wanted I found myself staring down at some fabulous slices of bacon, perfectly rendered fat and crispy rind, exactly as I like it. If this is how they always cook their bacon now I will certainly pop back for a couple of bacon cobs next time I am passing through and need a quick bite!

The sausages were decently plump with a bit of colour, they weren’t especially gourmet but they were far better than most catering type ones that you sometimes get on a classic greasy spoon breakfast. These ones had quite a nice porky taste and a good solid meaty bite.

The hash brown had a good crunchy coating but was a bit soggy inside, I am not a great fan of this breakfast item really, if I have to have a potato element I like the leftover ones from last nights tea sliced and fried up. I don’t care if people think that breaks the breakfast rules at least I didn’t say chips!

The egg was well cooked, yolk still soft and runny as I cut in and the white perfectly set. Once I perched it up on a slice of my toast I was in hog heaven. The rest of the toast was used to mop up those pesky baked beans which while used mostly as a cheap plate filler I do concede that they are popular to many and they do add some moistness to the dish I suppose.

I wasn’t that keen on the mushrooms (although there were plenty of them) they seemed to be a bit overcooked for my liking. I took advantage of the bottle of brown sauce from the condiments counter to liven them up a bit and then all was well in my breakfast world!

I have to say that since my earlier visits many years ago the quality of the breakfast here at Chocks Away has gone up both in cookery and in the ingredients. I used to come here just expecting some cheap greasy spoon action but now I would come here in expectation of a really nice well cooked plate of breakfast. I might even contemplate taking on the HERCULES!

Chock’s Away is located at Nottingham City Airport just off Tollerton Ln, Tollerton, Nottingham NG12 4GA.

It is well signposted from the road, but the road seems to be going nowhere once you turn off, so  just keep driving down that long green road until you get to the Airport Car Park and Tower, then follow the sign through the door and keep on going until you smell the bacon cooking in the café 🙂

You can check them out on their Facebook Page and on their Instagram Profile