While bowling might normally be seen as an evening or late-night activity, there is now a place in Manchester where you can bowl as you brunch.
Apparently in response to popular demand by early-rising, brunch-loving, bowling-enthusiast customers, Black Dog Bowl on Whitworth St West has created an all-new breakfast menu. The idea is, you can tuck in to a selection of American-inspired breakfast dishes before battling it out with your friends and family in the bowling alley.
We went down to road-test this new ‘breakfast and bowl’ experience. Their signature dish (or ‘breakfast bowl’) is the Full American Breakfast (£9). It is served in a wide, shallow bowl and contains two fried eggs, two sausages, two rashers of bacon, BBQ beans, grilled tomato, tater tots (little fried potato balls) AND a large waffle with maple syrup.
Everything was cooked really well, crispy bacon, runny egg yolk and the BBQ beans packed loads of flavour. The portions are certainly hearty, but it wasn’t as greasy-looking or enormous as you’d expect. The coffee was good too! We got large steaming mugs of American-style coffee – exactly what you want to wash down a big brekkie like this.
I’m personally a big fan of salty-sweet dishes, but I can’t say I’m used to having all these separate elements side-by-side and on top of each other in a bowl. A woman on the table next to us asked for a side plate so she could separate her waffle and maple syrup and have it as a dessert. Not a bad idea – two course breakfast.
After initially trying to keep things relatively separate, I eventually gave in and just starting getting everything on one fork. Egg, bacon, sausage, waffle and maple syrup – tick. The only thing I’m still unsure of is adding beans and tomatoes into the mix. Salty-sweet is one thing but tomatoes bring an extra flavour combination to get your head around.
Saying that … I would eat it again.
Some more salty-sweet options include ‘Chicken & bacon waffle’ (£7) and ‘Sausage & waffle’ (£7), both covered in maple syrup, of course. For those who like to keep their sweet and savoury separate though, there is ‘Salmon Benedict’ (£7), ‘Ham and Eggs’ (£7) or the ‘Breakfast Bun’ (£8) – a bacon, sausage, fried egg, tater tot and cheese sandwich. Sweet options include the ‘Cinnamon Roll’ (£5), brandy soaked ‘French Toast’ (£7) or the ‘American Pancakes’ (£6) served with strawberries and blueberries, cream and maple syrup. The new breakfast menu is available from 10am-12pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
Everything was cooked really well, crispy bacon, runny egg yolk and the BBQ beans packed loads of flavour. The portions are certainly hearty, but it wasn’t as greasy-looking or enormous as you’d expect.
With full bellies, it’s time for a post-breakfast bowl. I thought it’d be a bit weird to be sat in this bar/bowling alley at 10 in the morning, but it’s actually a really fun morning activity.
The bowling costs £8 on Saturdays and £6 on Sundays. And bowling for children under 12 costs £4. So for adults, you’d be looking at a spend of between £11 and £17; depending on what you choose for breakfast and what day you come.
It’d be a great place to come with the family, a bunch of friends or on a morning date, if that’s your thing. And, if you hit it too hard the night before, a large portion of fried things and some light exercise could do you wonders.
