(Sananda Maotreya) – Jamaica Blue, Bond Street, Chelmsford
I had a morning meeting in central Chelmsford, it finished at about eleven so I strolled into the new Bond Street development for a late breakfast. I hadn’t visited ‘Jamaica Blue’ so thought I’d give them a try.
Jamaica Blue is, perhaps unexpectedly, an Australian chain with over 130 outlets across 7 countries. Chelmsford was their second British outlet, and a third has already opened in the six months since Bond Street opened.
The first thing that struck me was how busy they were, it was rammed, but they found me a ‘billy no mates’ table in the corner.
I ordered their ‘Jamaican Signature Breakfast’ and a black coffee. The coffee arrived swiftly, but I had to wait a full half hour for my breakfast.
The coffee was excellent, as one might expect from a chain that takes its name from Jamaica’s Blue Mountains, but the breakfast (priced at a trendy 9.9) – which comprised two poached free-range eggs ( they’re offered ‘any way you like’) with smoked streaky bacon, Cumberland sausage, roasted plum tomatoes, sautéed mushrooms, hash brown, baked beans & sourdough toast – was slightly less impressive.
‘Signature Breakfast’
The ‘Cumberland Sausages’ were pretty bland, and had that glossy, taut look that suggested that they’d been deep-fried alongside the hash browns. The poached eggs on sourdough toast were well cooked and runny, the bacon, beans and mushrooms were fine, but those sausages really disappointed.
I mentioned that it was busy, the furnishings – nothing ‘soft’ – did nothing to reduce the noise, making the whole place almost uncomfortably noisy.
Coffee was £2.80 (or 2.8) for a medium sized cup, a bit pricey, meaning the total bill – £12.70 – was a bit over the top; there are better breakfasts, better priced, available in central Chelmsford.
Nice, but I won’t be going back.
Rating: 
Oh, and the sign stating ‘4696 Miles to Jamaica’, so artfully stencilled on the ceiling, reminiscent of London’s Hard Rock Cafe, is pointing in the wrong direction!