The Smugglers Den in Penzance located on Causewayhead was a handy spot near to our AirBNB (on the same street) to get breakfast which was the purpose of our visit

It wasn’t just about breakfast though, in their own words;

“Ahoy there ‘Land Lubbers’ welcome to The Smugglers Den. Come rest your weary bones & enjoy a hearty meal, seafarers snack or a glass of our finest grog”

That as perhaps too much to take in first thing in the morning but it gives you the idea

On first inspection the breakfast menu appeared somewhat limited with the choices being between the Smuggler’s Full English and the Smuggler’s Large Breakfast. I contemplated the Large one which had an extra sausage, egg, and toast but the price differential between the two options from £8.95 to £14.95 didn’t seem worth the extra outlay.

It turned out though that you could have pretty much anything that you wanted and they would ‘make up a price’ for you. My dining companion just wanted Bacon and Eggs with a bit of toast so negotiated and we got that for about £5.50. I suppose it was close to their offering of Bacon, egg, beans and fries for £7.50 (maybe)

FULL ENGLISH

In the end I had the Smugglers Full English for £8.50 which sounded like a good deal described on the menu as “2 bacon, fried egg, sausage, 2 hash brown, beans, tomatoes and mushrooms“

The highlights were the meaty sausage, the crispy bacon and the perfectly cooked fried egg with a nice runny yolk. I wasn’t that keen on the mushrooms and the tomatoes were not cooked long enough for my liking, I prefer them to be almost melting from the grill.

The hashbrowns were crunchy on the outside, soft of the inside and where a good plate filler just like the baked beans. At this point I did miss the toast which I would have used to mop up the bean juice and egg yolk, not enough to have paid the extra though

BACON AND EGG

The rogue off menu plate of 2 bacon and 2 eggs with toast for about £5.50 was smaller plate but just enough on this occasion to keep the diner who ate it going until lunch.

The eggs were well cooked but the bacon could have benefitted from the fat in the rind being cooked out properly. For the record we swapped our bacons as I am not that fussy and I quite like the fat

PIRATES AHOY

This place is not quite your typical cafe, pirate themed throughout, you could be forgiven in thinking you had walked into a cheap knock of Pirates of the Caribbean themed restaurant, and I tells you there is nowt wrong with that!

I enjoyed my breakfast and would have probably come back again, the only reasons we didn’t were that they didn’t open until 9am and also we found another place nearby, the Mount Bay Pasty Company that was cheaper and that we also liked (read more here about that)

The Smugglers Den is located at 10 Causewayhead, Penzance, TR18 2SN a semi pedestrianised street full of interesting shops and independent cafes

You can check the Smugglers Den out on their Facebook Page