Breakfast Nomination #6 - the Ship on the Shore, on the Shore (obviously)

Nomination  #6 - the Ship on the Shore, on the Shore

Nominated by our supervisor, Strevs

Originally reviewed on November 8th, 2015 

His score: 5/6
My score: might not go back for breakfast but I'd definitely go back for other meals

He ate: the Ship's Classic Breakfast (essentially a full cooked breakfast) (£9) and an English Breakfast tea (£2.50).
I ate: the Ship's Eggs 'Royale' (eggs Benedict with salmon) (£9) and also a tea (£2.50).
Total cost: £23

Our pros: good, attentive customer service; nice, cosy interior; quite a fancy selection of food but not so fancy you wouldn't know what you were ordering; fresh food and everything seemed to be locally sourced, especially the salmon which was probably the best salmon I've ever had - smoky and delicious; breakfast felt quite light which can sometimes be rare when you're having a cooked breakfast as it usually winds up sitting in your stomach all day, also the restaurant was in a nice area, though a little out the way, so it was nice to go for a walk along the waterfront after breakfast. 
Our Cons: my poached eggs were completely flavourless and I felt like all I could taste was the water they'd been boiled in; Gary's fried egg was overcooked and also flavourless and the breakfast felt expensive for the portions we got but it has to be noted that the quality of most parts of the meal were pretty high i.e. Gary's bacon was perfectly cooked and had no fat on it and he also said the sausages were great and he even enjoyed the black pudding which he doesn't normally even like, it was just that when you look at the portion you get for paying £9 it could feel a little like you're getting ripped off. 

Our experience: It took us 3 months, but we finally did it! 

During the past 3 months, Gary and I have been going to other breakfast spots (because we were too lazy to go to Leith to do this nomination and there was confusing information on the website for this place saying the serve breakfast until 11:30am but served FOOD from 12pm-10pm) and it felt like we'd been cursed because I cannot name one place we've been to since our last nomination that gave us quality breakfast or even good service.
One of the worst places we visited back in October was Bruno's 7-7 Diner in High Riggs. We got rude, slow service and the food was disgusting and shockingly over-priced. I'm not over-exaggerating when I say that we felt literally robbed when we were given the bill for the slop that we barely ate and had waited over 40 minutes to even receive it. We nearly walked out, and I wish we had because it really ruined our day and leaves a bad taste in our mouths even now.
We were chastised by an employee during our visit to Bruno's then insulted after leaving a review for the place online so we were in desperate need to go to a place that served nice food and gave service that was something even just slightly above 'appalling' to make up for the experience.
So hopefully now we've done *this* nomination, we will have broken the curse! 

The service was lovely here and compared to that shithole (Bruno's Diner) that we went to last Sunday, it wouldn't be hard to beat. 
The waitresses that served us were attentive and nice but not overbearing - they gave us space but made sure they checked back on us at regular intervals. 
At one point I stupidly knocked my knife onto the floor and the waitress quickly came over and offered me another one straight away even though I was just being a clumsy oaf. 

Initially the place seemed perhaps overly-fancy, there was actually cutlery on the table that neither of us knew what to do with but thankfully the waitress promptly removed them after we ordered - either cos she knew we weren't going to need them or she could sense we were uncultured swine who wouldn't know what to do with them even if she had left them behind. 

The biggest let down for me just had to be my poached eggs because they tasted of nothing but the water they'd been boiled in, and I think my muffins could've done with being more toasted as they got soggy quick under the mountain of Hollandaise sauce they were delivered with. 
But the salmon was delicious so perhaps they were just having an off day eggs-wise. 

Gary and I agreed we might not go back for breakfast, or if we did we'd maybe order something different, but we would definitely go back for lunch or dinner because the food quality was high and it felt welcoming despite seeming quite fancy on the surface. 

If you were feeling particularly fancy one day, you could order a champagne breakfast for £22 - that gives you a glass of champagne, any breakfast on the menu, a tea or coffee and a basket of toast is included. 

What’s next: Our next nomination is the Tower Restaurant in the National Museum on Chamber Street, nominated by Claire Wheelan. Hopefully it won't take us 3 months to go do that one... I also hope we've broken "the curse" now as I swear we've had nothing but shit food and service everywhere since we went to Patisserie Valerie (obviously I mean outside of this breakfast challenge)!