A food critic recently compared a £1 full English breakfast at IKEA to a similar dish at a restaurant owned by a well-known British celebrity chef. Gary Hanna, the creator of the food review channel Gary Eats on YouTube, embarked on a quest to find the most budget-friendly meals in the UK. At IKEA, he discovered the Full Swedish breakfast priced at an incredibly low £1 for family members on Saturdays between 9.30am and 11am until December 20.
Gary sampled the breakfast, which included bacon, sausage, hash browns, omelette, and beans. He also tried additional items like black pudding for 75p, a vegetarian breakfast for £1, and a bacon roll for £1.75. While he found the sausage to be “lovely and hot” but not the most flavorful, he commented on the bacon being good but slightly tough.
The critic expressed mixed feelings about the egg, describing it as hard and somewhat artificial. He deemed the hash browns as average and the beans as small and lacking in tomato flavor. Despite his disappointment with the black pudding, Gary rated the breakfast highly for value, acknowledging that although it may not offer top quality, it is satisfying. Ultimately, he gave the meal a respectable seven out of 10.
In contrast, Gary’s experience at Gordon Ramsay’s Bread Street Kitchen and Bar, where a similar English Breakfast costs £19, was less impressive. While he enjoyed the sausage and scrambled egg, he found the bacon to be tough and salty. His overall assessment of the meal was lukewarm, awarding it two and a half/three stars.
Gary’s comparison of the two breakfasts highlighted the surprising value of IKEA’s budget-friendly option despite its imperfections.