Barnsley – Toby Carvery Breakfast

As I mentioned in my previous post, Ibis Styles no longer offer a free breakfast, so I decided to make my second ever visit to a Toby Carvery (here’s the first one). It wasn’t much of a walk and indeed the hotel can be seen at the back of the photo on the left. It was evident there were a fair few number of hotel guests that were doing the same journey as well.

I had pre-booked a table for 08.00 when the restaurant opened, but it was clear that this wasn’t necessary. The set-up is easy, pay a few pounds for the unlimited breakfast at the bar and then you’re given cutlery and off you go. I went for the unlimited filter coffee as well which is also self-serve. It’s a very large restaurant and there’s plenty of seating available, with everything feeling clean and organised.

There’s the breakfast buffet selection, with (from left to right) gravy, Yorkshire puddings (very appropriate given where I am), bacon, sausages, tomatoes, beans, mushrooms, something horrible, hash browns, fried eggs, brown sauce and tomato sauce. There was a period during lockdown when the staff served the breakfast options, but those dark days are now behind us and hopefully won’t be returning.

I had a plate of bacon, sausages, plum tomatoes and the like, but this second round is a particularly decadent little plateful of food, the Yorkshire puddings, sausages and gravy. That traditional English breakfast dish…. The food was OK, the Yorkshire puddings were a bit bland and the gravy was a bit watery, but the sausages were fine and it was suitably filling. I fancied a third plate of food but decided I didn’t need it, which was very responsible of me. Unusually so actually.

Anyway, this isn’t a bad breakfast option and it’s cheaper than what the Ibis Styles is offering. I’m not sure that I’d want to eat here very often in the morning as I can’t be trusted not to eat too much, but it’s a handy occasional little treat.