"Which came first, the vegetarian or The Egg? Because while it's a veggie café, I can see no carnivore resisting the insanely great value delights that come part and parcel with this place. I thought it was only in greasy spoons that you'd leave with a gigantically full belly after spending less than a fiver. The Egg proves you can do the same with none of that bacon or sausage repeating on you throughout the day. The format of The Egg is simple. Once you've found it hiding off Bold Street, you hop up the kitsch purple stairs and enter a world of boho decor, creative types with laptops, artsy posters left right and centre, and a counter filled with more moreish delights than you could imagine. You queue up at the counter and you place your order, kind of like a fast food restaurant. But instead of getting your gungy cardboard boxed food in a tray immediately, you're given a sweet little ticket and your drinks to take to one of the many long benches or cosy tables in the vicinity, with extra seating upstairs. I plumped for orange juice, Mum for a cappuccino, and tap water was free in water filter jugs on the counter to help yourself to. Brilliant. You don't need to keep asking for it. I'd plumped for the spicy bean burger served with their own relish (heck, everything here is homemade) which is served with a side salad, as is the cheese on toast Mum ordered, thinking she was going for a lighter bite. Ohhh, how wrong she was. Can I just say once and for all that The Egg is a student's wet dream. Our food was brought over. For £3.50, my mother not only had pasta salad, bulgar wheat, lettuce, chickpeas, tomato, kidney beans, butter beans and more besides, she had two ENORMOUS, thicker than your average brick doorstop slices of wholesome granary bread topped with the ultimate perfect cheese topping, you know the kind, where it goes brown and speckled and sits perfectly even on top of the bread. Cripes. She'd spent less than me, she got more. Again. She thought she was going for the smaller option. My bean burger was not so much patty-shaped as completely spherical, which I loved about it. It was so quirky I almost didn't want to spoil it by eating it. But down it went. Into my belly. I got the same side salad which is packed with so many goodies, you could easily have it on its own. For like, £1.50 or something. How does this place turn a profit? The pitta breads on the side where lovely and warm and fresh but I merely nibbled on those and dunked them into my relish, concentrating more on helping Mum out with that Doorstep Challenge. The Egg has a great atmosphere to it, nice tunes, kitsch surroundings and food so fresh, tasty and plentiful you could eat here every day. And you don't find yourself missing meat in the slightest. There are also cakes and a plethora of hot drinks to choose from, so don't think you have to rock up here and order a main meal. But you should. They have to be seen and tasted to be believed."
