Matthew Johnson is on a campaign to ensure that folks in the Corporate Area never have to skip the most important meal of the day.

Mr Breakfast, located at 17 Holborn Road (atop Shades of Africa), offers up delicious breakfast items seven days a week. Johnson’s menu is replete with breakfast classics such as waffles, pancakes, omelettes, and smoothies. However, operating with a tag line “Say goodbye to boring” one has to wonder if Mr Breakfast can live up to that promise. It does!

There is something beautiful, and confident, about offering a simple menu of well-executed items. You can’t hide behind a demi-glace, fondant, béarnaise or distinctive grill marks when you’re dealing with straightforward breakfast items. Therefore, the execution of each dish has to be on-point. Every time.

When we visited Mr Breakfast last Saturday, despite the threat of rain, there was a group of young professionals gathered to celebrate the birthday of a friend. Some teens popped by to grab smoothies, couples came by for takeout, and friends caught up to discuss business plans. The rain could not thwart the dates that patrons had with Mr Breakfast.

Besides the deliciousness of the food, the price points are very attractive, and this really resonates with young people. The Double Up Combo that comprises two pancakes, two strips of bacon, two eggs and a hot beverage is only $600. A cheese omelette is only $250, and the ever-popular mango-pine cooler is $350.

Thursday Food opted for the egg, bacon, and plantain waffle sandwich, chicken and waffles, strawberry cheesecake pancakes, a veggie omelette, a Croque Madame, and the French toast breakfast combo. Where to begin?

The waffle sandwich sees two pillowy-centred waffles holding together maple-cinnamon fried ripe plantains, scrambled eggs and crispy bacon. Fun fact: if you’re not a fan of pork, Mr Breakfast offers guests the option of turkey bacon for a nominal surcharge of $50. When the strawberry cheesecake pancakes arrived, generously drizzled with housemade strawberry coulis, we wondered where the cheesecake bit was. Notwithstanding we dove in, and what a surprise! There between the top two pancakes lay an incredibly moreish layer of cream cheese filling that was, believe it or not, not too sweet.

The veggie omelette was oozing with mozzarella cheese and callaloo, and was perfectly seasoned — no need for extra salt and pepper. The French toast combo came with four pieces of French toast, two strips of bacon (guests can substitute bacon for ham at no extra charge), and two scrambled eggs. A note about scrambled eggs. Many people tend to overcook these to the point of being as crumbly as feta. Not Mr Breakfast. Even after grazing for an hour and going back to the scrambled eggs, they were moist despite being cold.

The standouts, however, were the Croque Madame and the chicken and waffles. My word! The Croque Madame (a grilled cheese sandwich with ham topped with a fried egg and béchamel) was, in a word, sensational. The spicy béchamel was a nice touch and cutting into a perfect fried sunny-side-up egg was a delight. The chicken in the chicken and waffles was well-seasoned, expertly fried, and not greasy. The red velvet waffles were not just shutterbug-worthy, but were also tasty and received interested glances from other tables.

When Johnson opened Mr Breakfast in July 2018, he wanted to fill a void within the breakfast offerings in Kingston. According to him, Mr Breakfast was “created from the need to introduce new, fun and exciting breakfast offerings to the palate of the Jamaican people at affordable prices. We always envisioned having an IHOP franchise in Jamaica, but after consideration we thought, Why not build one?”

The popularity of the venture resulted in his moving from across the road to his current larger digs because, of his simple culinary movement — saying goodbye to boring breakfasts.

Mr Breakfast

17 Holborn Road, Kingston 10

876.649.9468

Monday to Friday 6:00 am – 2:00 pm

Saturday and Sunday 8:00 am – 2:00 pm