Go brunching at Lincolnshire's bright breakfast cafe Strawberry Field

The former site of Asian bistro Simon Lin's has been transformed into a bright and sunny breakfast café called Strawberry Field Pancakes & Café. Now, the Lincolnshire restaurant has an upscale diner feel, complete with minty green walls, counter dining seats and a display of the restaurant's own organic coffee lined up on the shelf.

The menu has the best of an all-American breakfast (eggs, pancakes, waffles, French toast and skillets) plus a hefty selection of lunch options - salads (beet and goat cheese, horiatiki), sandwiches (prime rib French dip, tuna melt Florentine), wraps (Mexican steak, B.L.T.A.), paninis (chicken artichoke, veggie) and burgers (Humpty Dumpty is topped with a fried egg). Diners can order specialty coffee drinks to go with their meals or get fresh-squeezed juice or a smoothie.

My parents and I went to breakfast for my mom's birthday. The restaurant wouldn't take reservations because they didn't want to hold a table, but we had no problem getting a seat at 9:30. It was full-up by 10, so get there early.

I had the mini waffle flight, a group of four small Belgian waffles each piled with a different type of fresh fruit: blackberries, blueberries, bananas, strawberries, and a group of cinnamon apples in the middle. The waffles themselves were fairly sweet and soft - they were definitely fresh and never frozen. It came with maple syrup, but I didn't need to use it because the food sits on a swirl of the cinnamon sugar syrup covering the apples.

My favorite thing about this dish was the fruit. It was all fresh; the owner told us he buys the berries for the restaurant at the market every morning. My only issue with the waffle flight was the blackberries - they were a little too mushy for my taste, but my dining companions loved them.

My dad ordered the Miami Beach, one of the specials for the day. We were all initially struck by how beautiful it was: half a whole pineapple, complete with greens, hollowed out and filled with Greek yogurt, strawberries, pineapple chunks and granola. Again, all super fresh fruit. I enjoyed that the granola stayed crunchy throughout the entire meal - no worries of soggy, yogurt-soaked morsels. It was surprisingly filling, too, with huge fruit chunks and well, a pineapple-size filling of yogurt.

Mom's birthday breakfast was a custom-built omelet with ham, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions and cheese. The restaurant serves three-egg omelets, but on the plate it seemed humongous. It was buttery and filling - she was only able to finish about half before boxing it up. We also ordered a side of corned beef hash. It's a real treat at Strawberry Field. The hash is made from scratch right in the kitchen and you can tell by the taste. The grind is small, so no overly big potato chunks like you'd find in canned hash, but everything else is there. Including a mixer of parsley for extra freshness. The hash was among the first things at the table to be devoured - it's possible we loved it even more than our meals.

Service at Strawberry Field was top-notch. The owner, Gus Romas, stopped at every table while we were there, introducing himself and shaking hands. At our table, we discussed the special Avgolemon soup - it was his father's recipe. We asked for a sample and got two full cups to try, free of charge. They also brought out a complimentary rice pudding for my mom's birthday, which she loved. We will definitely be back.

<i> Restaurant reviews are based on one anonymous visit. The Daily Herald does not publish reviews of restaurants it cannot recommend.</i>