Fancy Hank’s Bar and Kitchen in York say that they offer Good Mood Food inspired by the travels of two brothers through the 11 states of the American Deep South.

Now that certainly got my attention when we were looking for somewhere to get Brunch while visiting York for the weekend.

I spent a fair amount of time living in the States, in New Jersey, Illinois and North Carolina and I had kind of got my taste buds attuned to a classic diner breakfast, so I was really interested to see what this place had to offer.

Apart from the American breakfast that we both ordered there was plenty on the breakfast menu at Fancy Hanks that I was tempted to have.

I do love a good plate of Hash and the Chorizo Hash did sound good!

“Chorizo, bacon, potato, onion, red pepper, melty cheese and scallions stir fried and topped with a fried egg and chipotle mayo“?

My mouth is salivating already at the thought of all the rich tangy sausage and spicy mayo, oh my

The Chicken Bennie, essentially fried chicken on a savoury scone with eggs or as they list it out

‘Buttermilk chicken, streaky bacon on a buttermilk biscuit topped with poached eggs and spicy hollandaise‘

this brought back memories of trips down South to New Orleans and the months I spent living in North Carolina.

The Mushrooms on Toast was actually akin to meals eaten more recently in this country like the I had on the Welbeck estate in Nottingham (read more here).

“Sauteed mushrooms, parmesan, pine nuts, mixed herbs, spinach, guacomole and a poached egg on top of toasted bloomer bread”

is that going to be basically mushroom, pesto, guacomole on toast? It sounded earthy and perhaps too on trend for me to be bothered with when I could have a classic American breakfast. Nevertheless I would have given it a good go 🙂

AMERICAN BREAKFAST

The American Breakfast “Two rashers of streaky bacon, homemade sausage patties. two eggs, home fries and toast”

for £10 was the winner, mostly because it was just so classic and also because we love to check and compare so called American style breakfast plates with those eaten from diners in the states when someone puts one on the menu.

So as breakfast goes, yes we enjoyed eating this for sure, there were some great tastes on the plate and some good nods to classic American Breakfast plates.

The best part of the plate were the home fries, they really did have that taste that you get in the States, I like mine with a little bit of onion, perhaps a hint of bell pepper all mixed with a good pinch of seasoning.

The Eggs cooked to perfection, soft white, runny yolk and well seasoned with black pepper, I was happy with them both

I liked the flavour of the sausage patties, that was spot on, they were a bit dry though and maybe could have benefitted from a bit more fat in the mix.

The streaky bacon too was close to being perfect for me, I just needed it a bit crispier.

I liked the sour dough toast, but it was unexpected, I was just hoping for some classic white toast, at a push a bit of rye bread, it probably would have been ok with a bit of butter or maybe some beans on the plate

Having said all of that, I did enjoy the breakfast, just not sure was a classic American one. I would probably try one of the other breakfast options if I was here again at Breakfast time

TEA AND A PONDER

While waiting for our breakfasts as well as drinking my pot of tea, I was perusing the rest of the menu with much gusto. There was so much stuff on the menu that we wanted to try, but just not enough days or time on this visit to scoff.

The Shrimp & Chorizo Gumbo with ‘Black Bean & Thyme Rice‘ and the Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya were two dishes that we really would have like to try. I spent a fair amount of time hunting these dishes down in the states after several trips to New Orleans, and it seemed that most of my American friends all had their own family recipes that they occasionally fed me with. So I have put that on the list for my next trip to York.

Also I need to have some Chicken & Waffles, a dish that I always though was weird until I tried it. Then I was hooked, so it seems that I am going to have to come back then 🙂

Fancy Hank’s Bar & Kitchen is located at 39 Goodramgate in York, YO1 7LS. It is a short distance away from the Minster and just far enough away from the crowds on the Shambles that you feel you can pause for a breath and be relaxed

You can check them out on their Facebook page, their Twitter feed, and on their Instagram profile