Toby Carvery Exeter Breakfast: All You Can Eat for £6.99 including Yorkshire Puddings!

Yorkshire puddings for breakfast? With gravy? It might sound more like Sunday lunch than the first meal of the day, but that is precisely what makes the all-you-can-eat breakfast at Toby Carvery a little different. We recently made the drive out from Exeter city centre to Toby Carvery at Middlemoor to try its breakfast buffet. At just £6.99 per person on weekdays, or £7.49 at weekends, it sounded like excellent value, especially with unlimited trips to the buffet counter included.

For this visit, we enjoyed ourselves so much that we had to exercise a little restraint before making yet another visit to the counter. Here’s what we thought of the Toby Carvery Exeter breakfast, what you can expect for your money and a few ideas for making the most of the buffet.

A Short Drive from Exeter City Centre for a Proper Breakfast

Toby Carvery Exeter is located on Rydon Lane in Middlemoor, a little way outside the city centre. We had to drive out to get there, but given the price of the breakfast and the generous selection on offer, it was a trip worth making. We arrived late in the morning on a weekday and found the restaurant remarkably quiet. There were only a handful of people around, which made for a very relaxed breakfast experience.

The ordering process was straightforward. We paid for our breakfasts at the bar, found ourselves a table and headed over to the buffet counter. If you have visited Toby Carvery for lunch or dinner, you will already be familiar with the serving area. This is where the roast meats, Yorkshire puddings and vegetables are normally served for the restaurant’s famous carvery dinners.

In the morning, however, the same counter becomes a help-yourself breakfast buffet. And the best part? You can return as often as you like.

What’s Included in Toby Carvery’s All-You-Can-Eat Breakfast?

The buffet has most of the ingredients you would expect from a traditional Full English breakfast, alongside a few additions that distinguish Toby Carvery from other breakfast venues. The selection includes bacon, pork sausages, free-range fried eggs, hash browns, baked beans, tomatoes and freshly roasted mushrooms. There is also a handmade potato, bacon, cheese and onion hash, together with the famous breakfast Yorkshire puddings and gravy. Bread, toast and a selection of jams and spreads are available at a separate station.

There was plenty to choose from, and because everything was arranged along the buffet counter, we could pick exactly what we wanted and decide how much to put on our plates. You could assemble a traditional Full English breakfast, keep things simple with eggs and toast, or take a more adventurous approach with Yorkshire puddings and gravy. We naturally had to try the Yorkshire puddings for breakfast.

Breakfast Yorkshire Puddings and Gravy: The Unexpected Stars

For us, the most enjoyable part of the Toby Carvery breakfast was unquestionably the Yorkshire puddings and gravy. Yorkshire puddings are something we usually associate with roast beef, vegetables and Sunday lunch. Finding them alongside fried eggs, sausages and bacon was a pleasant surprise.

These are Toby Carvery’s special breakfast Yorkshire puddings, made with roasted onion and bacon bits. They make an excellent addition to a cooked breakfast, particularly when accompanied by a generous serving of gravy.

There is something wonderfully indulgent about dipping a Yorkshire pudding into gravy while eating sausages, bacon and fried eggs. It introduces the comforting flavours of a roast dinner into a meal that is otherwise a traditional English breakfast. And because this is a buffet, you are free to help yourself to another Yorkshire pudding if one isn’t enough.

We thought this was a clever way for Toby Carvery to bring something distinctive to its breakfast offering. After all, Yorkshire puddings are one of the things the restaurant is best known for. Why shouldn’t we enjoy them in the morning, too?

Handmade Potato, Bacon, Cheese and Onion Hash

Another item that caught our attention was the handmade potato, bacon, cheese and onion hash. This is a welcome alternative to the more familiar hash browns, which by the way is also available. The combination of potatoes, bacon, cheese and onion makes it substantial enough to form the basis of a breakfast on its own, particularly when paired with a fried egg. It also works well as an accompaniment to sausages, mushrooms and beans.

For anyone who enjoys a savoury breakfast with plenty of flavour, this is definitely one to include on your plate. Personally, I like having both options available. Hash browns provide that familiar crispy potato accompaniment, while the handmade hash introduces a different mixture of flavours and textures. And, of course, there’s nothing stopping you from trying both.

Freshly Roasted Mushrooms and the Rest of the Full English

I particularly enjoyed the freshly roasted mushrooms. Mushrooms are one of my favourite components of a cooked breakfast, and when prepared well, they make a lovely accompaniment to eggs, toast and sausages. They also provide a welcome contrast to the heavier bacon, hash browns and Yorkshire puddings.

The other familiar breakfast items were available too, including sausages, bacon, baked beans and tomatoes. One thing we noticed, however, was that fried eggs were the only egg option available at the buffet counter during our visit. There were no scrambled eggs on display.

For those who prefer scrambled eggs, Toby Carvery’s breakfast menu also lists them as a freshly cooked-to-order option, so it is worth asking at the bar. We didn’t try ordering them ourselves. It is a small consideration, particularly for anyone who likes their eggs prepared a certain way, but it didn’t detract from our enjoyment of the breakfast.

Five Ways to Build Your Perfect Toby Carvery Breakfast

One of the pleasures of an all-you-can-eat breakfast is being able to experiment with different combinations. You don’t have to pile everything onto one enormous plate. In fact, I would suggest the opposite. Start with something you particularly fancy, enjoy it, and then return for a different combination. Here are five ideas using the ingredients available at Toby Carvery.

1. The Big Full English Breakfast

Start with the classics: bacon, sausages, fried eggs, baked beans, roasted mushrooms, tomatoes and hash browns.

Add a slice or two of toast and you have a generous traditional Full English breakfast.

This is the ideal first plate for anyone who wants all the familiar breakfast favourites without the Yorkshire puddings and gravy.

2. The Toby Carvery Roast Breakfast

This is our favourite and the combination we would particularly recommend trying.

Take a breakfast Yorkshire pudding, add sausages, bacon, a little potato hash and some roasted mushrooms, then finish with gravy.

It is something of a Sunday roast and Full English breakfast rolled into one. You could even tuck some of the ingredients inside the Yorkshire pudding for a makeshift breakfast Yorkie.

3. The Potato Hash and Fried Egg Breakfast

For something different, make the handmade potato, bacon, cheese and onion hash the centre of your plate.

Top it with a fried egg, then add some roasted mushrooms and grilled tomatoes.

This creates a hearty potato-based breakfast without needing quite so many sausages, rashers of bacon or slices of toast. It would be particularly appealing to anyone who enjoys a good breakfast hash.

4. The Beans and Mushrooms on Toast

Sometimes the simplest combinations are the most satisfying.

Toast a couple of slices of brown or white bread, spoon over some baked beans and add a generous helping of roasted mushrooms.

A fried egg on top would complete the dish nicely.

This makes a lighter alternative to a full plate of fried breakfast items, and it’s a good way to leave some room for a second visit to the buffet.

5. The Sweet Breakfast Finish

After all those savoury dishes, you might fancy something a little sweeter.

Head over to the bread and toaster station, toast a slice or two of bread and finish with your choice of jam or spread.

It is a simple way to round off breakfast, particularly with a cup of tea or coffee.

Although, by this stage, you might discover that you are already rather full!

Here is our custom creations:

Unlimited Tea and Coffee for an Extra £2.99

Drinks are not included in the basic breakfast buffet price. During our visit, unlimited refills of tea or filter coffee were available for an additional £2.99 per person. There is a separate self-service station for tea and coffee, so you can top up your drink while enjoying breakfast.

The toast station is nearby, with brown and white bread, a toaster, and a choice of jams and spreads. I like this arrangement because you can help yourself without having to wait for someone to bring another slice of toast or refill your cup.

The additional charge for hot drinks is worth bearing in mind when working out the total cost of your breakfast, but with unlimited refills, it can still represent reasonable value if you enjoy more than one cup.

Is the Toby Carvery Exeter Breakfast Worth £6.99?

For us, the answer is yes. At £6.99 on a weekday, the Toby Carvery breakfast offers a substantial selection of familiar cooked breakfast favourites, together with some more unusual choices.

There is a 50p supplement at weekends, bringing the price to £7.49 per person, which still seems very reasonable for unlimited visits to the buffet. The value comes partly from the quantity of food available, but also from the freedom to choose.

If you enjoy sausages, bacon and eggs, you can have a generous Full English. If you prefer mushrooms, beans and toast, you can concentrate on those instead. And if you want to try the breakfast Yorkshire puddings and gravy, you can do that too.

We especially appreciated being able to try different combinations without having to order additional dishes.The restaurant was also pleasantly quiet during our late weekday visit, so there was no rush to find a table or queue at the counter. We could take our time and enjoy breakfast at our own pace.

A Breakfast Worth Driving Out For

We set off from central Exeter hoping to find a good-value cooked breakfast and ended up enjoying something a little more memorable. The freshly roasted mushrooms were a favourite of mine, and the handmade potato, bacon, cheese and onion hash was a welcome addition to the usual breakfast selection.

But the real highlight had to be the breakfast Yorkshire puddings and gravy. It isn’t something you come across every day at a breakfast buffet, and we thoroughly enjoyed the combination.

There were a few limitations, including the absence of scrambled eggs at the buffet counter (you need to ask for this to be prepared to order), but the generous selection and affordable price more than made up for it.

As with most all-you-can-eat meals, the difficult part was knowing when to stop. By the time we had finished, we were thoroughly full and had to resist the temptation to return for just one more helping.

For anyone visiting Exeter and looking for a substantial breakfast that won’t cost a fortune, Toby Carvery at Middlemoor is worth considering. Our advice? Arrive hungry, take your time and make sure you save room for a Yorkshire pudding with gravy. We certainly wouldn’t mind making that drive again.