finding myself home sick and frankly feeling more than a little sorry for my sore head and achy body i thought dinner should be a nice treat. knowing i couldn't go very far i decided the perfect place to go would be Gaia, a short stroll up the street from my flat.
I won't lie, i've been a big fan of this place for awhile now after i stumbled into the quaint little cafe about two years ago. i used to enjoy going for saturday lunch to catch up on some trashy magazine reading and i had a spell of picking up dinner here for quite awhile last winter as well. recently, i've only been in a few times but that's nothing to do with the quality of what they have on offer.
each day they have about 4-5 pasta specialities made fresh, a list of speciality sandwiches and salads and two soups. these options are all available for eating in or taking away and if you see something you like but think there is an ingredient missing they are more than happy to add it in for you.
their salads are so good!! loads of veggie goodness with the addition of cured meats, cheese, or their homemade pesto that is just gorgeous! their pastas are equally as good and one of my favourites is the oreccheite pasta with cherry tomatoes and a pine nut pesto sprinkled with parmesan cheese. they appear to have this fairly often on their special list, so it must be a popular choice.
in addition to the yummy freshly made food, there are two reasons that really make me love this place. the first is the price, i've never spent over a £10 on getting a meal. their pastas, salads, and sandwiches are all under £5 which is a great price for the amount of food you get and the quality ingredients! i sometimes add a coffee to my order of if i'm waiting a treat a slice of cake or a pastry, and my total still comes in under £10!!
the second reason is the people that run this lovely cafe. they are friendly, helpful, and always smile when they see people come in. they're happy to make suggestions or offer to add a meat or cheese to your pasta and salad (for a small fee). they offer you a carrier bag (without charge) and even a side of parmesan cheese for your pasta or oil and vinager for your salad which they wrap up in cling film to avoid spills. it's clear that they take pride in their business and want to keep their customers happy and coming back for more, which i certainly will be doing! read more