Today we were flying from East Midlands Airport to Malaga and had arrived early for our 9am (ish) flight. We were much faster through security than anticipated so we had plenty of time to grab a breakfast and found ourselves upstairs at the Castle Rock Tap Room & Kitchen.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the pub at East Midlands airport was one aligned with Castle Rock Brewery as it did not feature on the list of pubs on the Castle Rock Website so I had not got it on my pub radar.

One is never certain of what will be on offer food wise when travelling especially at the airport so I was ever hopeful when I saw the menu on the tables.

BREAKFAST MENU

As you might expect at the airport the prices were a little bit higher than you might find in a normal Castle Rock establishment or indeed anywhere else.

The Full Monty weighing in at a massive £13.99 for “Two pork sausages, two rashers of bacon, black pudding, two fried eggs, grilled tomato, roasted mushroom, baked beans, hash brown, a slice of toast, and a cup of tea”

That was always going to be too much to eat before a flight so the more reasonably priced English Breakfast for £9.99 or one of the Breakfast Baps at £6.99 were the options that we veered away too instead.

ENGLISH BREAKFAST

The English Breakfast comprising of ‘Pork sausage, two rashers of bacon, fried egg, grilled tomato, roasted mushroom, baked beans and hash brown‘ was my choice

Now admittedly the presentation was somewhat amiss but the contents were all quite tasty and acceptable. It was plated in the school of ‘pile everything on the plate then just pour the beans on top’ style

Somewhat miraculously there was almost a degree of bean and egg separation at least from above. It was however harder to find some of the breakfast items with the tomato being almost drowned. That didn’t really matter to me as I palmed that off on my fellow diner to go with their bacon bap.

Highlights were the proper sausage that was slightly herby and nicely crisped. The fried egg with a runny yolk and well cooked white, and the crispy hash brown.

The two slices of bacon were ok with a decently crisped edge of fat but let down a little by being stuck together and still covered in the unsightly white gloop that presumably oozed out during the cooking process.

The roasted field mushroom is always a nice addition to a breakfast plate especially one like this which despite its appearance was still moist and juicy. Beans are generally just beans but these ones benefitted from being cooked properly in a pan as opposed to have been blasted for a minute in a microwave.

All in all this was just about what I needed and was more that I had hoped for pre-flight so I was fairly happy with my lot. I even liked the plate that it was served on and seeing as it was about 7.30am in the morning I am amazed that I even had noticed.

BREAKFAST BAP

As a more sensible early morning breakfast options the Breakfast Bap has a lot more going for it.

Officially listed on the menu as a ‘flour topped bap‘ containing ‘Back Bacon, Pork sausage & Fried egg ‘for £6.99 it was more reasonable both pricewise and size wise

Potential downsides being that a floury bun means white powder stains on your top which is not ideal when trying to pass through airport security to get on a plane 🙂

Once inside you could see a vastly superior sausage is being employed in the breakfast world alongside crispy bacon and a perfectly cooked fried egg. The only grumble being that the sausage was cut in half so looked like you were getting more.

Happy as I was with my English Breakfast I reckon that in all honesty the Breakfast Bap was the better value and more sensible breakfast choice.

Having said that at least mine was a decent choice preflight, the man on the table behind me had three pints before getting on the 9am flight and it was Lager not even a pint of Harvest Pale.

That’s airports for you 🙂

The Castle Rock Tap Room & Kitchen is located on the upper floor of Departures at East Midlands Airport once past security. It’s big and spacious and open at 4am so great for getting a meal before an early flight.