 The George 
It's A Cafe That Floats!
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Recommendation added: 13/09/2006 23:03
By: dewberry (YSUK rating +649)dewberry has been thanked 2 times for this contribution
"A wonderfully different place to grab a bite to eat in Birmingham is at The Floating Coffee Company, a café located on a barge which is permanently moored in the upmarket Brindleyplace canal area.
The barge makes full use of the limited space with narrow chairs and tables placed around all available wall space. The aisle between tables is wide enough for you to walk to a table without bumping into other diners, but not big enough for two people to pass making the café pretty much inaccessible to wheelchair users and families with pushchairs. I'd say twenty – twenty five diners can comfortably eat in the barge at any one and while the space does get slightly cramped, there's plenty of leg room beneath the tables and the seats are wide enough to be comfortable.
The café opens its doors at 9.30am sharp for breakfast orders and serves food and drinks throughout the day until around 5.30pm. The Coffee Company serves exclusively from the breakfast menu until 11am when baguettes, sandwiches and other light dishes are available.
A full English breakfast costs just £5.95 and it truly is lip smackingly good! When my brekkie arrived I was surprised at how big the meal was; arranged on my large oval plate was three rashers of rindless bacon, thick sausages, fried egg, mushrooms, fresh grilled tomatoes, hash brown and beans. This was served with a choice of bread & butter, fried bread or toast. The food was delicious. When I ordered I was asked how I'd like my bacon and egg cooked, opting for very crispy bacon and a sunny side up fried egg – I was mildly surprised when my food was brought to the table and everything was cooked to perfection! The ingredients of the breakfast are obviously high quality and fresh, every mouthful was bursting with flavour and another thing I liked was the fact that the food wasn't dripping with grease like a lot of other café breakfasts.
The Coffee Company also offers variations on the full English; my mum had beans on toast which looked great and my daughter went for a sausage sandwich which she said was delicious with lashings of ketchup! Prices for lighter breakfasts range from £1.50 up to around £3.25 with no special kids menu, although for these kinds of prices you don't mind buying for the children from the main menu.
The standard price for a baguette with small side salad is £2.95. Again, brilliant value for money as the baguette itself is huge with masses of filling. I didn't personally have one (I was scoffing a brekkie don't forget) but watched an elderly lady on the next table tucking into a delicious looking Prawn Mayo baguette and it looked absolutely delicious. She actually had to scrape some of the prawn filling onto her plate before biting into the baguette because it was so packed – yes, I really was watching her that hard!
A nice range of drinks are available to go with your meal; a selection of fresh coffee's, tea, hot chocolate and a small range of cold drinks are all reasonably priced. The hot chocolate is delicious, rich and thick with a generous sprinkling of cocoa powder to turn the drink into a chocolate indulgence. Mum had a pot of tea which was cheap at £1.25 for a good quality blend and there was easily enough to pour two cups from the porcelain pot.
The décor inside the Coffee Company is in keeping with a traditional barge; checked table cloths, narrowboat memorabilia and mock oil lamps give this barge a lovely boating feel to the interior which makes for a very relaxing atmosphere in which to eat your meal.
Because there's a maximum capacity allowed on the barge, be prepared to sit and wait for a table. There can be quite a wait too as diners aren't rushed from their table as soon as their meal is over, and staff actively ask if you'd like anything else before giving you the bill. There's a nice canal side pub directly in front of the barge where you can have a quick drink and a sit down in the sun while you wait for a table, a member of staff will call you when there's space so don't worry about someone jumping in before you if you wander away for a minute or two.
Staff are lovely. I got the feeling that nothing would be too much trouble to make sure I enjoyed my visit. Our food was served quickly and every member of staff I came into contact with was both friendly and polite, I was asked several times whether everything was ok with my meal and if I'd like another drink.
For a full English breakfast, beans on toast and a sausage sandwich (with two drinks each) cost £12.96 which, considering the quality AND quantity of the food, was a fantastic bargain. At a nearby pub a similar selection of meals would have cost me around the £20 mark, and even a nasty McDonalds breakfast for the three of us would have been £8 with none of the goodness of this hearty meal.
To find The Floating Coffee Company simply follow the signs from Birmingham City Centre to the ICC, skirt around this huge building until you see the mass of canals. You'll see a wide ramped bridge crossing the canal to your left, cross this bridge and you'll see the gorgeously painted black barge moored up a few yards away. The barge is called 'The George' and you really can't miss it. This canal area of Birmingham is largely pedestrianised, as is the surrounding area, so you really need to do the visit by foot. The closest train stations are Five Ways and Birmingham New Street, both on the Lichfield – Redditch line, although both are quite a walk away from the café.
The Floating Coffee Company
Brindleyplace
Birmingham
B1 2HL
Tel: 0121 6330050"
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