Displaying items by tag: cafe

Cradle has got a real Hoxton/Shoreditch look about it and also the kind of place you could imagine finding Gwyneth or Madonna. The tiny cafe/bakery was buzzing with activity when we went for lunch last week and it's obviously quite the meeting place for the yummy mummies and the cool vegans of Sudbury. Simple and stylish, it's completely plant based with everything made from scratch on site, including nut butters and an excellent rooibos based fermented kombucha (so hipster, so refreshing).  Bread is baked on site, with house milled rye, wheat and spelt flour used in the proper crusty loaves. There's also some very tempting patisserie on display. A small blackboard menu offers an interesting and surprisingly fancy range of dishes with thankfully no fakin' bacon but just prime, fresh ingredients superbly cooked.

• the kombucha story
• a simple blackboard menu
• a glass of kombucha and juice of the day (parsley,kale,apple, lemon and coco)
• kombucha fermenting
• pan fried polenta, spinach, bechamel and toasted hazelnuts
• pear danish pastry
• mushroom a la grecque with dill cream cheese, herbs on toasted sourdough - the house tartine
• drum roll please for a classic brioche Tropezienne with a creme anglaise ( and yes, even without eggs and cream it tasted better than most creme anglaises we've been served elsewhere)
• walnut and caramel tart with vanilla icecream
• hummus of wild garlic, half a loaf, olive oil and beet balsamic
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With the help of my amazing niece Afiya Frank (pictured) I'm in full swing with my Little House of Cooking Cafe. For those of you that don't know I get stuck in for a couple of months from the end of October until Christmas running the cafe during the Christmas Festival at Blackthorpe Barn, Rougham. It's been so busy, baking madly with no time to blog and hardly time to sleep. Come and visit us if you get time, we are open from 10am until 4pm everyday up until and including 22nd December. It's not just cakes, we serve a very good Welsh Rarebit too!

• Home made soup every day
• Citrus almond and polenta cake ( no gluten)
• Pecan tarts
• Hot chocolate ... the works
• Al fresco on craft weekends
• Mulled wine caravan for craft weekends
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The Cafe never fails to impress and close enough for me to nip in for an early lunch of Cromer Crab Benedict.

Darsham Nurseries. The best and most interesting breakfast I have eaten for a long time. Shakshuka ... baked eggs in spiced tomato and pepper stew with feta cheese and lots of lovely fresh herbs including my favourite dill.

 

 

 

On Brick Lane, of course it's complete madness, but only because you didn't think of it first - and they have jobs!

I found Hudson and Hudson in Colchester when I parked in Williams and Griffin car park and walked through to North Hill.  In the most surprising location(although I admit to not knowing Colchester very well, so it might be a prime location)you can actually walk through it, in one door and out of the other, if you are not superstitious. The in house chefs prepare everything that is on the deli counter and on the menu. I had eaten a full English breakfast before I discovered it so I decided on a coffee and a takeaway pork pie and black pudding scotch egg. They were both really good. But I wished I had bought a fish cake too.  The deli is licensed and stocks all locally produced food and larder items.

• al fresco dining
• chef in the open kitchen
• deli counter
• larder shelves and it's all local
• Rosie the owner
• black pudding scotch egg
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Fancy a drop of camel milk in your coffee? Well head down to Taylor Street Barista's at 125 Old Broad Street, London this week and 28 Queens Street, Brighton next week and you will find the United Arab Emirates produced camel milk "Camelicious" on the menu.

We are not ones for advocating produce that has travelled half way around the world, but this is in aid of Farm Africa, with customers encouraged to give a £1 donation for each coffee purchased.

Camel milk is very popular in the Middle East and North Africa and has five times the Vitamin C and half the fat content of cows milk. New rural enterprise anyone?

 

 

Maria Crick has always wanted to run her own restaurant and now her dream has come true.  The new Cafe del Mar in Bury St Edmunds offers a tapas/meze menu with 3 dishes for £10.  At the moment it is BYO wine, allowing for a very affordable night out.

• inside the cafe
• greek salad
• panna cotta with blackberries
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This is the bowl of soup that I bought for my lunch at Morrisons cafe in Beccles yesterday. Presentation is obviously not high on the list!

Elmswell W.I have held their first Pop-Up Village Cafe in the Wesley Hall at Elmswell. The small village hall looked  stylish with gingham tablecloths and hand made bunting.  The W.I know how to do things well. Not only were there homemade cakes, soup, quiches and sausage rolls but also the daily newspapers, magazines and even paper and crayons for the children.  I hope they do another one because this is where we get the best home baking - who wouldn't travel to Elmswell for a Janet Baker sausage roll?