Cafe Zest is located on the Fourth Floor of the House of Fraser Department Store in Manchester, and is one of two cafe's inside the department store, alongside one which is located on the top / sixth floor.
This cafe is slightly smaller in terms of size than the sixth floor, most of the menu options are the same but prepared items such as cakes and sandwiches are much less in selection, when compared to Kendall's upstairs however in some ways the selection is better with more of a kitchen, serving more hot food and "Chef's specials", as well as serving drinks such as Pepsi Max and Lemonade in 330ml glass bottles.
The staff here in most occasions seemed friendly enough.
On my recent visit, I ordered the gluten free haddock and pea fishcakes, I was told that I could have a jacket potato instead of the chips, which I liked as the staff recognised I was gluten-free due to my allergy and wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be ill, however the meal would normally come with chips as these fish cakes aren't just aimed at people who are coeliac and/or intolerant to gluten so this really needs clarification in the menu to let customers know before ordering.
The quality of my food was good, for a cafe it was slightly expensive at £7.40 but for the quality, portion size and nature of this meal, the value was made to feel a little bit more value for money.
The salad was fresh, good quality and came with a dressing, most of the food did taste fresh and my jacket potato was also good quality, and was a nice alternative to chips, one thing that is disappointing is how the chips upstairs are gluten free, meanwhile they are not here, with most of the selection in terms of menu-choice being the same, I can't really understand why they use different chips.
The gluten-free fish cakes were probably one of the best fish cakes I've had since being gluten free, and I did really like the breadcrumbs it was in and the quality of the fish, which I think was haddock inside, however sadly the addition of peas slightly ruined it, I really feel this should be optional or adding some riskier more flavoursome vegetables such as carrots would be a good idea, the fishcakes were fresh but they must have been premade earlier that day as I was told on a later visit that they would be impossible to make without the peas.
They also seem to make iced tea and coffee here, sadly this wasn't on the menu and I only noticed they did it after I got sat down at my table, I really feel this needs some sort of notice to let customers know it is aware, to suit both parties.
Overall, there are a lot of negatives surrounding Cafe Zest, but overall this is a decent cafe in the city-centre with some good hot food offerings for gluten free products, and although it lacks to the other House of Fraser cafe, Kendall's such as by not offering gluten free bread or chips, and having a lesser selection of cakes and sandwiches as a whole, I still feel his place deserves a three-star rating, yet it is probably towards the lower end of the three-star rating. read more