The Pig and Pastry — Restaurant in Great Britain

The cafe is situated in a very vibrant part of York, with a great selection of independent cafes & shops. You know the cafe is good when the 'locals' are willing to queue to get a table. It is worth the wait. [We waited about 15 to 20 minutes - lunch time on a Saturdsy - again worth the wait] The cafe is only small seating about a maximum of 30 people. A friendly welcome and rustic seating and atmosphere. There were two 'specials' a multi-vegetable Bubble & Squeak, or a Bean soup with cream. The rest of the menu is either breakfast or brunch dishes. I had the meaty breakfast [£12] 2 x thick buttered toast, 2 x bacon, a very tasty sausage, black pudding (excellent) mushroom, tomato, baked beans and two eggs cooked to your choice. The wife had Guacamole on sourdough toast with lime, coriander leaf, and harrisa paste. Her first words "Oh! My God, my mouth is Zinging, it is so fresh" [£8]. Americano coffee [£2.50] for me. A pot of organic lemon & ginger tea for the wife i[£2.20] it smelt great. The ingredients were fresh & locals- whilst we were waiting in the queue, The cooks were popping into the green grocers next door to get fresh veg. Speaking to the people on the table next to us, they are local and eat there every Saturday. The cakes - you must try them - so tasty & freshly baked by a local artisan Baker- so much flavour. Will I visit again - yes and taking my friends next time as they will...

It is a nice looking place and really popular by locals. However, I wasn’t satisfied with my meal. I ordered eggs royale and it was nicely presented when brought to me. But the salmon was covered with lemon juice to an extend that you could NOT taste the salmon. When I had my first bite, I originally though that the salmon was off, because it was so acidic. But then I realized that it was just incredibly sour because it was covered with enormous amount of lemon juice.

Thinking about it know, from a sales perspective, it is a big issue. When a customer like me orders eggs royale it is because a customer wants to taste two main ingredients together - eggs and salmon. Like if a person wanted to eat just eggs, they would order just eggs, not specifically eggs royale. So if you can’t taste one of the two main ingredients of your meal - it is a problem.

To top it all up, the sour taste was so overpowering so it remained in my mouth for a good half an hour after I...

The Pig & Pastry is a seriously good cafe with a local vibe and plenty to recommend it. This is somewhere people often queue to get into, and it's not unusual to see a line form ahead of opening time. It can be tricky to get a seat, and especially hard if you're solo as you can't both hold a seat AND queue to order your food. I do wish they'd consider taking orders at the tables to make this less random. Because it's so popular, expect to have other diners sharing your table if there's a spare seat.

The food options (and there are many) are varied and I'm sure the fussiest eater will still find something to order. It's all well made, hearty fare and the service is friendly and quick. I've sadly docked one star because the coffee is not that great; Stanley & Ramona (opposite) has far better coffee if that's important to you.

Otherwise I'd strongly recommend Pig & Pastry, it's a wonderful local cafe and perfect for brunch or late lunch when the...