Friendly town-centre cafe which changed hands autumn 2011, offering an interesting range of fairly upmarket cafe choices during the day turns into a bistro restaurant for the evening.
Comfortable surroundings with several bench-style seats up against the walls, scatter cushions, big mirrors, chunky woodwork and stylish seascape paintings.
Interesting menu covers the normal cafe basics with daily specials for an extra twist; pie of the day very tasty, creative use of local ingredients. Day menu includes full range of breakfasts, excellent baked potatos (done in a proper potato oven), chunky sandwiches (they're gigantic), with varied range of fillings including brie, avocado, steak, free range egg, etc, alongside chilli, baked beans and cheese, and so on.
Smaller portions on offer for folk with smaller appetites. Lunch specials stop serving at 3pm. Usual choice of modern frothy coffees, hot chocolate, flavoured syrups etc, even 'spiced chai latte'. Evening menu rather more adventurous (sea bass, belly pork, chick pea fritters, etc). Not open all evenings; have special event nights for Mother's Day, Easter, etc, so worth booking / checking in advance. Can by very much quieter than the franchise coffee bars on the pedestrianised main street in Barnstaple (and only 2mins away). Does get busier in school hols, but still has less frantic atmosphere and much better range of food than Costa or Cafe Nero. Staff very happy to adjust orders to suit the customer, and never rush us out (even if we arrive late in the day). Overall, a very comfortable and welcoming independent cafe, with a broader than average range of well-prepared, creative meals and snacks. Should be something on the menu for most tastes plus plenty of veggie options.
One of our regular watering holes! 8/10 read more