Although I’ve never been a fan of all-you-can-eat restaurants, I’ve always found a great comfort in buffet breakfast at hotels. I think it reminds me about my childhood when I used to travel to exotic countries with my parents. That moment of the day was my favourite part, no matter where in the world.

I remember a hotel in Tunisia, where I discovered the difference between soft and hard boiled eggs could be a matter of minutes. They labeled them as 3′ and 5′ in order to be sure you took the right one for you. I was delighted to know I was an egg person in the morning. Because before that, I must confess, I had never had an egg for breakfast.
As I kept travelling with my parents, I kept trying new food and new buffet breakfasts in different countries. I realized buffet breakfast was almost the same everywhere we went. Cold meats, cheeses, eggs, sausages, bacon, pastries, cereal, fruit, yogurt… You have bad and good buffet breakfast, though. A bad buffet breakfast would be the one in which you only have toasts, cereal and some pastries. Sweet stuff mainly and not good quality stuff. I found those kind of breakfasts as an adult, travelling around Europe, backpacker style. I must say I did’t complain, they offer you a breakfast for less than 3€. At least you grab something to eat in the morning. But I’m not a sweet tooth, and having continental breakfast for me is like watching TV all day: boring and familiar. 

I love savoury foods. Travelling and hotels with buffet breakfast offered me the opportunity of knowing what I liked best in the morning. I discovered eggs were a must, as I said before. I would rather go for soft boiled eggs, but they don’t have them everywhere. Actually I only remember them in Tunisia, Egypt and other places I’ve been with my parents. Although not so long ago, after a gig in Vigo, I was delighted to find them at Zenit Hotel breakfast room (which by the was, I remember was a great one)

I remember the best buffet breakfast I’ve ever had was in Bilbao at Abando Hotel. I had a room for a couple of days when we played at the BBK Festival with Glen Hansard. I remember being wrecked after all that playing, partying and not sleeping. Anyway, some of the guys from Glen’s band (The Frames) and I made pacts late at night to go downstairs in order to make it in time for breakfast. The first day, some of us made it. The second, it was just me. No Carlos, no Rob, no Justin…yes Sílvia. That breakfast has been haunting me ever since I go to a nice hotel. I remember starting with pa amb tomàquet (bread and tomato) with ham. Of course, scrambled eggs and paprika sausages. But the quality in this hotel was supreme. They also had smoked salmon, which was something nice and I even remembember the selection of teas being very good.

Well, today I am staying at Silken Diagonal in Barcelona. The hotel staff has been so kind when I arrived that they’ve offered me a suite, which after so much work is something I really appreciate. The room is amazing, loads of light and a really cool hydromassage bathtub (perfect for a drummer that’s been driving for days, believe me). And the breakfast was a good one. I must say it still can’t win in thr battle with Abando, but the rooms are much better, so it’s well balanced. The breakfast is very good, don’t get me wrong. I had my scrambled eggs, which by the way were creamy and perfectly cooked. 

As you can see in the pictures, I took this breakfast as a whole meal. I’ve never done that. I got up really early in the morning, after sleeping for a couple of hours and I was hungry. The menu went like this: 

– Entrées: Water, pa amb tomàquet, fuet, butifarra and other cold deli meats and cheeses.

– Main course: Orange juice with half English breakfast (scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon and baked beans)

– Dessert: Sparkling white wine (cava), doughnut holes filled with Nutella and some other pastries. 

– Coffee.

It was my first time having cava for breakfast. There’s been times in my life I’ve had Gin&Tonic, beer or red wine. But cava felt better. Maybe because it’s been a while since I had a glass of bubbles, or maybe because of the time of day…I don’t know why, but I enjoyed it. 

There you go. I leave you with this ode to the buffet breakfast, who’s been in my life for ages. I’m glad I’ve shared many mornings next to him (I’m still talking about breakfast, yes). 

What about you? Do you have any particular preference when you have buffet breakfast? do you usually have the same for breakfast at home and outside? What’s the meaning of life? All these questions won’t be answered in th next episode. Have fun!