‘The Gooseberry Bush’ Wetherspoons near NTU City Campus has an all-day brunch on its menu for just £5.11, including a drink.
Now, this certainly isn’t news, but I’m fairly certain not many of you actually know about this absolute gem of a deal.
I, like many of you awful, drunken Nottingham students (who, by the way, bring in £3.8 billion to the UK economy every year — so you can’t be that bad), love a good old cheap meal at Wetherspoons.
Actually, I take that back. It really isn’t that cheap anymore, is it…
At The Joseph Else in Old Market Square, a chicken tikka masala will set you back £10.34 including a soft drink (£11.87if you fancy a drink that’ll make you feel something). I don’t know about you, but my pockets aren’t deep enough to stomach that sort of price — figuratively and literally.
“But Nathan, that’s not actually that bad.”
Well, I think it is — especially for microwaved food that’ll probably shave a few years off my life expectancy.
The good news, though, if you couldn’t tell by the headline, is that The Gooseberry Bush — known by many as the “uni Spoons” — offers an all-day brunch with a soft drink for £5.11.
It’s terrific value, and coming in at around 1,250 calories, it’s certainly a hearty meal for the price.
How good is it, though? I just ate one, and I’m going to answer that very question.
Well, there it is. (You’ve got to admit, it does look good — unless you’re vegan, in which case I sincerely apologise.)
My £5.11 all-day brunch — it looks good, doesn’t it?
Let’s dive in. The chips were really crispy — they had a lovely crunch to them, one I can only describe as if a chippy chip made love to a chicken shop fry, and they had a child who grew into a wonderful, successful doctor.
It was the perfect mix, and honestly, it impressed me.
The eggs were great. Seriously, they were good — perfectly cooked, with runny golden yolks that almost made me feel like I was consuming something healthy (shock: I wasn’t).
The beans were nothing special — a tad watery and not very flavourful. The tomato sauce lacked any real punch, and that did bring the score down a bit.
As popular food blogger Gary Eats often says: “The sausage makes the breakfast.”
This isn’t technically a breakfast, but the notion still applies. The sausage was surprisingly herby. It did have a very processed texture, but it tasted good — and that’s what counts. Good job, sausage.
The bacon was crispy and had a smoky flavour to it. It wouldn’t break any records, but it did its job.
Overall, I’d say I’m impressed. For £5.11 (including a 500ml can of White Monster Energy), this is stupendous value that I’d struggle not to recommend.
Try it for yourself — at your own risk, of course. Bacon is classed as a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning it’s just as likely to give you cancer as a cigarette.
But that’s over a long period of time, obviously. If you had one of these every morning, I’d probably be a bit concerned — but pop over and have one once in a while. It won’t make a dent.