The World's Largest Breakfast at the Hard Boiled Egg Café Cavan: “We had a professional eater come over specially from America in 2009 to try and finish it"

What do champion racehorse Arkle’s saddle, Phil Collins’ Face Value album, a Guinness World Records trophy and Hollywood star Jeff Bridges’ old car licence plate have in common?

Give up? Well, they’re all proudly on display in the Hard Boiled Egg Café, a much-loved Cavan restaurant which is currently celebrating its 20th birthday.

It has a classic American breakfast house feel, albeit shot through with the warm Irish hospitality that husband and wife owners Johnny and Liz Gaughan are famous for.

“We lived in Massachusetts for a year and then moved to Cape Coral in Florida where we were in the restaurant trade and fell in love with that whole breakfast house culture,” Johnny tells us. “We moved back, opened first in Kells and then moved to this place, which is the best decision we’ve ever made. Cavan people are just fabulous and so appreciative of what we do. We get the holiday trade but it’s predominantly local people and their families who eat here. We’re really rooted in the Cavan community.”

The Hard Boiled Egg in Cavan Town on April 28th, 2025. By Abigail Ring

Johnny and Liz’s travels are reflected in the Hard Boiled Egg’s family friendly menu, which is presented in mock The Eggspress newspaper style and contains over sixty tried and tested items.
From the Don Corleone ‘Godfather Of All Sandwiches’, classic Fish N Chips and Roast Chicken with all the trimmings to the Cajun Chicken Caesar Salad, Steak N Eggs and Tennessee Jack Burger, it really is all good and great value too.

It was also love at first bite when we sampled the Boxty Benedict, Liz’s twist on a New York City classic which is two poached eggs and crispy bacon perched atop a traditionally made local potato boxty pancake. Slathered in Hollandaise sauce and served with a hash brown on the side, it really does taste as good as it sounds!

The Hard Boiled Egg in Cavan Town on April 28th, 2025. By Abigail Ring

Other brunchtime favourites include an epic Breakfast Burrito baked golden brown with a cheesy top; French Toast with Streaky Bacon; and their light, fluffy golden brown Pancakes served with a variety of delicious toppings including – cue fanfare! – Moose Bros’ world famous pure Canadian maple syrup.

The Hard Boiled Egg is also justifiably proud of its sodas, shakes, smoothies and ice cream sundaes with the Frozen Mudslide top of the Best Of Ireland must-try list.
Something which immediately strikes you is how friendly the restaurant’s team are.

“We’ve thirty people working for us who are all brilliant!” Liz enthuses. “We make it a good environment so that they stay and get to know the customers. There’s often a bit of craic going on behind the scenes, which I think people coming in pick up on.”

They most certainly do. That Guinness World Record trophy is in honour of the Hard Boiled Egg officially being home to the World’s Largest Breakfast. Dreamt up by Johnny and Liz’s daughter, Aoife, it comprises ten sausages, ten rashers, ten large eggs, five hash browns, five slices of white pudding, chips, a hill of beans, three grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, ten slices of toast and all the tea you can drink!

Weighing in at a whopping 8lb 10oz, it’s yours for free if you can eat it in an hour or less.

which he did in a record-breaking twenty-eight minutes,” Johnny reveals. “We’ve had close to 2,000 people try, but no one’s managed to better Randy’s time since. It’s really grown legs with newspapers and radio stations from as far afield as Australia picking up on it.”

The Hard Boiled Egg in Cavan Town on April 28th, 2025. By Abigail Ring

That Phil Collins album we mentioned earlier is part of Liz’s treasured cassette collection which customers can pick from and get played on the restaurant’s retro Walkman.

She’s also responsible for the Hard Boiled Egg’s all killer, zero filler Spotify playlist which when we popped in included the Rolling Stones’ ‘Sympathy For The Devil’, Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s ‘Relax’, Alicia Keys’ ‘Fallin’’ and Kneecap’s ‘H.O.O.D.’

The restaurant’s rock ‘n’ roll credentials don’t end there with local grunge heroes Jobseekerz, who are currently on a 32 county tour, rehearsing in their basement which used to house a tractor workshop.
When the Hard Boiled Egg closes for the night, its kitchens are taken over by Johnny and Liz’s aforementioned daughter Aoife who’s been wowing Cavan with her Ghost Pepper Mexican takeaway.

Having completed a degree in nutrition and gone on a foodie fact-finding mission to Mexico, her burritos, tacos and nachos are the real south of the border deal with orders taken at 087 747 6244.
Whether you’re a hungry local or just passing through the Breffni County, make sure to join in with the Hard Boiled Egg Café’s 20th birthday celebrations and maybe bag yourself a Guinness World Record!

• Hard Boiled Egg Cafe, Dublin Road, Townparks, Cavan H12 XFW5
Tel: (049) 432 6523
instagram.com/thehardboiledeggcavan