Gustoso
11 Queen Victoria House, Victoria Road SN1 3BG
 

Tel: 01793 978342

ASK most people what the best bit about a BLT is, and without a doubt they would say the bacon.

But ask me what stole the show in my BLT from Gustoso in Old Town, and without any hesitation I’d tell you it was the fried egg.

Of course, the delicious layers of bacon, lettuce and tomato were all present and correct, but the addition of the egg and a generous helping of cheese turned it into a lunchtime marvel.

My boyfriend and I popped into the café bar on the edge of Wood Street for our lunch. The menu offered us just about everything we could have wanted to eat-in or takeaway, including salads, jacket potatoes, soup, lasagne and even ham, egg and chips.

Scott went for the Gustoso burger (£6.95), which came with chips, while I asked for a BLT. It was only when I gave my order to the man behind the till that I was introduced to a whole new breed of BLT, the BLT brunch toastie (£4.95) with egg and cheese.

I couldn’t resist... but to compensate for this calorific overload, I also opted for a grape, banana, blueberry and strawberry smoothie (£2.95) in a bid to remain healthy.

The smoothie was ready first. It was absolutely delicious and had been made fresh. I particularly enjoyed the small chunks of strawberry and banana that hadn’t blended properly as it added a lovely homemade texture.

After five minutes, our order appeared in carrier bags. We still hadn’t seen our meals, so I was keen to see my (EC)BLT.

The bacon was cooked to perfection, the lettuce and tomato were fresh and crisp and the yolk in the egg was just hard enough that it wouldn’t be too runny as I ate it. Being picky, there was a little too much cheese for my liking, but I’m sure a cheese fanatic would disagree with me.

Scott was full of praise for his burger and said it was good quality, well seasoned meat. I was rather jealous of his chips, as they were golden and had those delicious crispy and crumbly edges.

Our lunch, which included a bottle of Coke (£1.50) came to £16.35, which isn’t bad at all when you consider how much we ate.