A recent trip over to Dover, New Hampshire resulted in us looking for breakfast options around the greater Hooksett area (the region between Concord and Manchester, NH, straddling the Merrimack River). Until very recently, this would have been an almost automatic choice of The Robie Store for breakfast sandwiches… but The Robie Store closed permanently a few weeks ago. So, after taking a look at various online reviews, I ended up picking Shirley’s Kitchen in Suncook Village as a good option. Their online media showed a mean-looking Benedict with some decent home fries, and I always have rather liked Suncook Village (just around the corner from Shirley’s is Oddball Brewing, which we’ve previously visited and enjoyed).
As I learned recently, Suncook isn’t actually it’s own town in New Hampshire, it’s actually a village spanning the Suncook River split between Pembroke (N) and Allenstown (S). On their nice Main Street, across from a cool older clock tower, Shirley’s Kitchen opened in July of 2023. Owners Bonnie and Jae had nicely refurbished a Main Street storefront with new floors, walls, and decor, making a nice, airy, and welcoming dining room with plenty of seating.
As I mentioned above, we had picked Shirley’s from many options since several people had posted some good pictures of pancakes and Benedicts… But when I picked up the menu, my plan of getting a Benedict went right out the window. Not because they didn’t have one; Shirley’s has quite a complete menu of classic American diner fare like omelettes, pancakes, and even Bendedicts, but they also have quite a few bAsian-inspired breakfasts on the menu, both classic dishes and American-Asian fusion. I ended up going with a Korean item on the list: the Omurice: a thin omelette served over fried rice. This isn’t my first omurice (it’s a not-uncommon breakfast dish in Korean and Japanese places), and this version had everything right: a perfectly-done thin-style omelette, draped over a nice fried rice with several veggies, some pulled pork, and finished with a gochujang sauce. Just the right amount of classic omelette, fried rice, and pork flavors to tie everything together.
Carol, meanwhile, decided to order one of the breakfast specials: a classic breakfast sandwich on Texas toast, but in this case, it was with bulgogi beef, egg, and cheese. A nice, flavorful, and well-composed sandwich, served up with some good double-cooked home fries. Another solid winner.
So, I ended up really enjoying Shirley’s, and was pleasantly surprised with their substantially broader menu than I originally inspected. I’ll definitely need to come back, if not for one of their good-looking Benedicts, for one of their other Korean fusion breakfasts, like the Gyeran Bap (Spam and egg scramble) or the Seoul Bowl (poached eggs and brisket over rice). It’s definitely a great spot.
