Lots of changes occur when you have a child. The biggest change that happened to me aside from the obvious physical things that people rarely mention and I don't want to think about ever again, was that my social life pretty much ground to a halt. Pre-child, I would be out on average 3 nights a week. Post-child, I'm lucky if its 3 nights a year. So instead of going out restaurant-ing (and boozing) in the evenings, my other half and I found ourselves going out for breakfast a lot instead. We were up early anyway and only ever seemed to have full fat milk, Peppa Pig Fromage Frais and off Houmous in the fridge so it was almost a matter of survival to go out looking for food.
When we first came to Colchester we felt frustratingly limited in the choice of places to go in the mornings and this was one of the things that made me feel like an idiot for leaving London. I felt like we had moved to the land that time forgot. I wanted to open my own Coffee shop just so I had somewhere to go. However, we then had to remind ourselves that it was only in the last 18 months of us being in Hackney that we had breakfast on our doorstep. The Picture House was great (but often didn't serve breakfast until 10:30am), Wiltons was another favorite (but only had 3 options-bacon roll, goat curd on toast, yoghurt). So my knee jerk reaction to look back and think everything was rosy in London Town, wasn't helpful. And if there is 1 thing I should have learned form 18 years of living in East London it is that places can change. When I first moved to Hackney Black Cab drivers would refuse to drive me home after work from Soho, but by the time I left in 2012, Hackney had hosted the Olympics and is now one of the most expensive and desirable places to live in the UK!
So it was only a matter of time that things would start improving here. We just had to bide our time, and you can imagine my joy, when in January, I discovered an awesome new food place - Hudson & Hudson. I was so happy, I probably cried (I used to do that in Hackney when new places opened up, I can't help it). Again, it is another example of a place here that keeps a low profile and doesn't really like to let people know it exists. I don't know why that is. I think it had been open about 6 weeks before we found it. When I am not working I plod the mean streets of Colchester daily so its pretty hard to open anything round here without me sniffing it out! If this was my place I would be telling everyone about it, via Social Media, by having a mobile coffee cart at the station in the mornings, by leaving loyalty cards around, that kind of thing. I don't know why they don't but it doesn't take away from the fact that it is our favourite place to go for breakfast..
Hudson and Hudson is built in an old Joinery shop, just off of North Hill and behind Williams + Griffen's. It is a Deli and Restaurant with a great outside courtyard and a small function room that can be hired for private events. We go here at least once a weekend for their awesome breakfasts. £6.50 for a Full English made from delicious local produce. The Chef here is GREAT. When we were there for breakfast last week we saw him making the bagels for the lunchtime Salt Beef Bagels. Imagine that! He was making the bagels in house! He also makes the bread, all hot drinks are served with a complimentary home made biscuit, the home made sausage rolls are sensational, it's basically all very good. On Sundays they do Roasts, and when the weather is good they have BBQ's in the courtyard. Obviously we have never experienced anything other than the breakfasts due to us still living in a semi twilight zone with our toddler, but I have heard its really great in the evenings.
The other reason why we love it, apart from the standard of food, is that all of the staff are super nice and very friendly to my son. He often tells me he is going to Hudson & Hudson and that he will see me later. He is not of course, he can't open the front door, but it's places like this that are quite special when you have a small child. They make it so easy for us to go there, we don't really need anywhere else. They have highchairs (yay), they always make a fuss of our son (complimentary Babycino's) and there is a room upstairs that we can go in if we meet our other 'baby friends' for coffee.
It is definitely worth a visit, well done Hudson & Hudson, thank you for being you.
When we first came to Colchester we felt frustratingly limited in the choice of places to go in the mornings and this was one of the things that made me feel like an idiot for leaving London. I felt like we had moved to the land that time forgot. I wanted to open my own Coffee shop just so I had somewhere to go. However, we then had to remind ourselves that it was only in the last 18 months of us being in Hackney that we had breakfast on our doorstep. The Picture House was great (but often didn't serve breakfast until 10:30am), Wiltons was another favorite (but only had 3 options-bacon roll, goat curd on toast, yoghurt). So my knee jerk reaction to look back and think everything was rosy in London Town, wasn't helpful. And if there is 1 thing I should have learned form 18 years of living in East London it is that places can change. When I first moved to Hackney Black Cab drivers would refuse to drive me home after work from Soho, but by the time I left in 2012, Hackney had hosted the Olympics and is now one of the most expensive and desirable places to live in the UK!
So it was only a matter of time that things would start improving here. We just had to bide our time, and you can imagine my joy, when in January, I discovered an awesome new food place - Hudson & Hudson. I was so happy, I probably cried (I used to do that in Hackney when new places opened up, I can't help it). Again, it is another example of a place here that keeps a low profile and doesn't really like to let people know it exists. I don't know why that is. I think it had been open about 6 weeks before we found it. When I am not working I plod the mean streets of Colchester daily so its pretty hard to open anything round here without me sniffing it out! If this was my place I would be telling everyone about it, via Social Media, by having a mobile coffee cart at the station in the mornings, by leaving loyalty cards around, that kind of thing. I don't know why they don't but it doesn't take away from the fact that it is our favourite place to go for breakfast..
Delicious wines.
Deli counter.
Babycino and complimentary biscuit.
I didn't know what Nescafe instant was until I was 21 so my son really is living the dream!
Bacon + Egg butty. The breakfast of kings. And tired parents.
The upstairs room.
The Courtyard.
The dining area.
I believe they used a lot of the old materials from the Joinery shop to make the tables.
Hudson and Hudson is built in an old Joinery shop, just off of North Hill and behind Williams + Griffen's. It is a Deli and Restaurant with a great outside courtyard and a small function room that can be hired for private events. We go here at least once a weekend for their awesome breakfasts. £6.50 for a Full English made from delicious local produce. The Chef here is GREAT. When we were there for breakfast last week we saw him making the bagels for the lunchtime Salt Beef Bagels. Imagine that! He was making the bagels in house! He also makes the bread, all hot drinks are served with a complimentary home made biscuit, the home made sausage rolls are sensational, it's basically all very good. On Sundays they do Roasts, and when the weather is good they have BBQ's in the courtyard. Obviously we have never experienced anything other than the breakfasts due to us still living in a semi twilight zone with our toddler, but I have heard its really great in the evenings.
The other reason why we love it, apart from the standard of food, is that all of the staff are super nice and very friendly to my son. He often tells me he is going to Hudson & Hudson and that he will see me later. He is not of course, he can't open the front door, but it's places like this that are quite special when you have a small child. They make it so easy for us to go there, we don't really need anywhere else. They have highchairs (yay), they always make a fuss of our son (complimentary Babycino's) and there is a room upstairs that we can go in if we meet our other 'baby friends' for coffee.
It is definitely worth a visit, well done Hudson & Hudson, thank you for being you.
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