Venturing out to Kings Heath on a cold Winters day with the family, we came across this little beauty of a Bakery on the High Street that simply gave us a wonderful family brunch with heart-warming food and a cosy atmosphere. A must visit, The Early Bird Bakery is one of Kings Heaths most valuable hidden gems.

At 2pm, the Bakery was already packed with happy customers and plates of rainbow coloured foods, luckily we managed to find a table. It’s quite a small space, there’s only a couple of tables and window seats, so a Saturday drop-in you may need to think about popping in the early morning to avoid disappointment. What first lit up my eyes were the array of cakes on display from tarts to cronuts all glistening in the display cabinet and of course, my Mom was the first to window lick the deserts on display, steady on Mom first things first, let’s check this menu out.

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Quite a small weekend menu however offering a wide variety of lunch options, all different and unique with a bucket load of ingredients in each dish. Sweet potato hash brown, house-cured salmon bagels, toasties, and sweet and sour cabbage hummus, this isn’t your typical lunch at Weatherspoon’s. The Menu just oozes creativity, and whilst it took me a little while to work out what I fancied, I was quite fascinated and intrigued to see how these varieties of ingredients would go together in the dishes. The drinks menu is on a board on the wall offering a range of coffees, teas and soft drinks for all. Please note that the food menu changes regularly.

I decided to go with the ham hock & winters greens toast with a poached egg, my Sister ordered the house-cured salmon bagel, my Dad ordered the mushroom toastie and my Mom ordered a apple pecan bun. Its order at the till service and our drinks came within 5 minutes of ordering. My tea arrived presented lovely on a wooden board and it tasted as good as it looked. Looking around the Bakery, it’s very clean and simplistically decorated with a splash of rustic interior here and there. Within 10 minutes of ordering, plates of food were making there way over to our table and all of our eyes lit up.

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The food is beautifully presented, full of colour and full of life. The one thing that spoils my dining experience is a stubborn egg, so a yolk test is essential when ordering eggs and it passed alright with flying yolky colours, it was a beauty. My dish held a variety of flavours, it was so delicious, I could taste the caramelised onion and mustard puree with hints of lemon and mint, it all blended so well. I always have a problem with sourdough, some places just get it completely wrong where it’s just impossible to cut into but the sourdough at The Early Bird was bang on, kudos to you guys it stayed well on my plate and didn’t go flying out the door. My Sister enjoyed her bagel, I managed to grab a bite and again, full of flavour, refreshing and not so heavy, it was perfect. I, unfortunately, didn’t manage to get a photo or try my Dad’s mushroom toastie as I was obsessing over mine so much but my Dad’s comments were “Great meal, won’t be expecting dinner from your mother tonight, that’s done the trick” I take that as a positive.

The prices are very reasonable, my dish cost around £8 and I think that’s a very generous price for such a high-quality fantastic dish. After a table full of spotless cleaned up plates, we were asked if we enjoyed it and of course, we did, it was great to feedback to the staff who are very pleasant and caring towards their customers. Before we left, my Mom couldn’t leave without another cake, so we got a round of cakes in to take home with our brews before settling down to Sundays car crash Tv. We ordered the passionfruit cruffin which was very appetizing and luscious, I saved the other half for work the next day but almost lost it to a pack of vultures when it popped out my bag. I’ll fight a seagull any day for an The Early Bird Bakery cake.

The Early Bird Bakery was such a wonderful experience, the food is different but unique and more importantly, it works. I wish they would branch out and open one in the City Centre, but that’s just me being a bit selfish as I want it for myself so I will be making the journey to Kings Heath more often! Watch out fellow West midlands Bakery’s you have competition here.

AMY ELIZA