The Best Breakfast in Newcastle - The Dispensary Coffee House, Breakfast and Brunch Restaurant

I think I may have found the Best Breakfast in Newcastle! A bold statement I know, especially when there are so many fantastic places that offer a good brunch in the Toon, but if I asked you to think of somewhere in the centre of the city that serves up the best breakfast food all day long, I think you'd struggle. Well don't worry - last week The Dispensary, Newcastle's first ever Breakfast and Brunch Restaurant, opened its doors and the endless amount of amazing photographs popping up on Instagram was enough to get me curious - I needed to try this place for myself!

The Dispensary arrived on Newcastle's food scene with a huge bang. Their following on Instagram sky rocketed overnight and suddenly all I was seeing was pictures of amazing candy floss hot chocolates, smashed avocado and iced coffee experiments! I think sometimes when the photographs look that good and there are plenty of gimmicky dishes it is a bit of a worry that the actual food might not live up to the hype. Whilst everything looks great on instagram - is it good in real life?

Simon and I decided to bump The Dispensary to the top of our "must try" food list and went for our very first visit on Saturday morning. We arrived for doors opening, only a day after the official launch. I'm not sure we've ever been so eager to get ourselves somewhere. It's not often you'll find us that quick off the mark.

The Dispensary is a short walk from Eldon Square, tucked away on a side street just opposite St James and behind The Shark Bar. Close enough to be a convenient place for a pre shopping brunch but far away enough to avoid the tourist footfall. If this place gets busy it's going to be because of how insane the food is, it's not somewhere you're just going to casually stroll past. Unlike a lot of the other popular breakfast spots in Toon the place has a decent amount of tables so plenty of room for everyone and, if you are a party of over 4 you can reserve a table (music to my ears!) Walking in for the first time we really loved the furnishings - exposed hanging lights, snuggly booths and long tables, it's ideal dining for groups of friends, families or if you just fancy a cosy table for two.

Breakfast has to be my favourite meal of the day, and studying the menu at The Dispensary I honestly didn't know where to start. Two whole pages of the most delicious sounding dishes with Halal, vegetarian and gluten free options, I could have happily ordered anything off the menu. How on earth do you even begin to pick between Dirty Breakfast Fries (skin on fries topped with breakfast sausage, cheese and breakfast sauce - yes please!) and Brisket Beef on Crumpets!  It's going to take me a fair few visits to work my way through that menu.

Of course every great breakfast starts with a good cup of "wake up" and Simon decided to order a Flat White with Salted Caramel ... I'm sure coffee fans are screeching NOOOO reading that, but my boy has a sweet tooth and couldn't resist making his coffee extra special. If you're more about a good quality cup of coffee then don't worry The Dispensary has you covered and are working with Square Mile Coffee to source the best beans for their coffee.

I went for something a little different - Pink Tea! Did I order it just for the Instagram opportunity? Yes, probably (I'm so embarrassing aren't I?) Truth be told I had no idea what it even was but I was curious and had to give it a try. The most beautiful shade of Millennial Pink it appeared with pink wafers on the side and, luckily, it tasted absolutely amazing. I still couldn't put my finger on what it was so one of the lovely owners came over to give me a proper introduction to Pink Tea.

Pink Tea is actually Kashmiri Tea, a traditional tea drank in Pakistan its preparation is key and at The Dispensary they have their very own family recipe. The perfect cup requires boiling milk at the right temperature and mixing the right amounts of cardamom, sugar and salt (yes, salt!) - it was a really delicious sweet tea and I urge you to give it a go when you visit them.

Living up to its name there are plenty of pharmacy themed items on the menu, and as we waited for our food to arrive I enjoyed watching a Father and Son behind us playing with their Candy Floss Hot Chocolates, pouring their flasks of hot chocolate onto candy floss and giggling as it dissolved. The Dispensary is going to be such a huge hit with families, and apparently their kids menu is filled with fun little experiments for them to do!

It wasn't long before our food turned up and it looked incredible - fully loaded plates bursting with colour, the kind of dishes that even people who scorn those who take photos of their breakfast would never be able to resist taking pictures of.

I went for Sweet French Toast (£7.50) served with Blueberry Compote and Maple Syrup. Cut into perfect little triangles my French Toast was spot on, not too greasy, really fluffy and with exactly the right amount of toppings to work with the dish.

With no chance for Simon to try a single bite, I polished the whole lot off, and then immediately regretted eating so fast - if you're going to order this one make sure you savour every delicious mouthful.

Simon couldn't resist The Dispensary Pancakes (£7.50) and chose Vanilla ice-cream, Berry Compote and Maple Syrup (they also serve the pancakes with Milk and White Chocolate Sauce with Maple). This was going to be the real test, as much as I love the foodie scene in Newcastle I have never known where to send people when they ask me where to get proper pancake stacks in the centre of the city, so we were really hoping that these would be it.

They didn't let us down - a mammoth stack of pancakes piled high and dripping with toppings, wow! Simon couldn't manage it all so I did give him a little help and they were very very good! So happy we now have somewhere in Newcastle that we can get proper pancakes.

Our first ever visit to The Dispensary was a huge success, believe me, this place is the real deal! They have spotted a gap in the Newcastle food market and have filled it perfectly - something tells me this place is going to be so so popular so if I were you I'd get yourselves down there pretty fast! You don't want to be last to the party.

We'll see you there - there's a Chicken and Waffle dish with my name on it!

What you need to know:

The Dispensary is open:

Monday to Friday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
Saturday 09:00 am to 3:00 pm
They are closed on Sundays

Bookings are taken for tables of 4 or more

Find The Dispensary at:

Herber Street
NE4 5TN

https://www.facebook.com/thedispensaryncl/

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