The Best Breakfast in Leeds? The Greedy Pig circa 2016?

It was never our intention to be labeled as serving the best breakfast in Leeds. Of course some would say we didn’t. Because the thing about a cooked breakfast is that everyone has their strongly held opinion on what makes a good one. From the type of sausage or the cut of bacon, to the addition of black pudding or a fried slice. Where do you place the beans – is it sacrilege to put them in a ramekin or should you allow the bean juice to contaminate the egg. Which brings me to the egg – Fried? Poached? Scrambled? What about the bread? The humble white sliced or the wholesome artisan sourdough. Who knew that bread would cause such controversy?

Everyone had their opinion on what made a good cooked breakfast and we certainly sparked the debate!

We never served the largest breakfast. We never sold the cheapest. But we used good quality ingredients and we cooked to order. I think thats what made us so good. The ingredients came off the griddle and were on the plate in front of you within 30 seconds. On a Saturday we had queues round the block. On one of our busiest days we reckon there was a period when Stu had cooked one breakfast every minute for a couple of hours straight. Whether it was takeaways for the residents upstairs or the people crammed into our tiny cafe. He was a one man egg flipping machine.

Do I miss those days? I don’t miss the 6am starts, I can tell you. And I don’t for a second regret where we are now. But maybe there is a little nostalgia for the past. I’m proud of the reputation that we had. That people thought us good enough to get up on a Saturday morning and stand in a queue on North Street waiting for a table to free up.

 

And so it’s with a little bit of bit of trepidation and some excitement that we launch our Sunday Brunches at The Swine on Otley Road. Is it a full circle moment? When I look over the draft menu and see fried chicken and pancakes on there I think maybe it is. But of course we’ve evolved since then. We’ve grown. And so has the customer and what they expect. Nobody was putting avocado on toast when we started out. And when it did arrive it quickly became the preserve of the indie coffee shop and we were certain that wasn’t us. When we did stray from the traditional fry up we chose a slightly different route. We made Ox Tongue Rubens, Duck Hash and Treacle Glazed Bacon with Smokey House Baked Beans. Our cornbread became the stuff of legends. We still get asked for the recipe now.

For a tiny cafe at the arse end of town we punched well above our weight. I look back now and think about how mad it all was. We got mentions in the national press. I did interviews on radio talking about the secrets to the perfect pancake. And The Pig developed a kind cult status. It was just all a bit crazy. The day we closed was a sad day for many. I think some people have never quite forgiven us.

So is Brunch at The Swine a return to the old GP days? Are we going to stand over Stu at the griddle with a stop watch and drill him on how fast he can plate up a fry up? I don’t think he’ll mind me saying that maybe he’s a bit long in the tooth for that. And do the days when people rolled out of bed for a fry up even still exist? I read young people drink less these days so maybe less hangovers mean less hangover brekkies.

So is there a place in this world for a revived, revamped Greedy Pig?

A PR friend warned me when closing down The Pig to say “so long for now” rather than “goodbye forever”. At the time I couldn’t ever imagine returning to serving bacon and sausages. I’d had my fill of pancakes and chicken. And yet we never really let them go. Stu regularly puts a sausage on The Swine menu, albeit one he made in house. The biggest seller on The Bun’s menu is fried chicken. And here we are now writing a menu that will undoubtedly have some form of breakfast hash on it.

So can you go back? No of course you can’t

But you can remember with fondness. And maybe hope that just a few of those old GP customers will remember the folks who served up the best bacon sarnie in Leeds and will maybe give decide to give their new Brunch venture a try.

The Swine starts serving Sunday Brunches from the 4th October, 11am-3pm. Go to the “menus” page to see what’s on offer and to make your reservation.