Sunday 26 February 2012

Week beginning February 27th - Can I bring my own?

So what do you do? You are running an independent business, one which your family relies on to make ends meet, one on which your employees rely on to provide them with a wage and a good place to work.

You are very proud of your products, your company, your branding and your staff and rightly so, a lot of hard hard work has gone into it. Your staff are proud to work for you, and equally proud of the products they serve and the place they work.

Then, a customer brings into your store, another coffee, or tea, or food, from another business, perhaps a chain store, and promptly sits down and starts to eat or drink it. Sometimes they are meeting someone else and have 'just happened' to have bought that drink on the way. Other times it is a blatant 'let's eat my lunch here as well while I have a coffee'.

We see this is being a bit funny really, the cheek of some people, while some of our customers who do it have a bit of an embarrassed laugh and ask us to throw it out. 'Ha ha, oops, yes it's a Costa, yes please throw it out'

We deal with it in two main ways. Firstly, I'm sorry, but it's not allowed. I mean seriously. If I was to take my own lunch or bottle of wine into our esteemed and respected friends across the road at Riding House Cafe, or any reputable establishment for that matter, and sit down and eat/drink it, I'm sure they would be the same. Like...'What is he doing??'

We are, as we always try to be, polite and respectful to the customer. If they have met someone else who has bought one of our drinks, we will ask politely if the person will kindly empty their drink into one of our own branded cups and then they are fine to continue with their meeting.

If they have brought their own food, then I am sorry but I must ask you to pack that away and eat it elsewhere.

We do not try to embarrass, we do not belittle and we do not try to offend. Twenty five years of experience in dealing with customers in hospitality comes to the fore as well as staff trained how to deal with the situation. However, there is no way that you are going to sit in our cafe, in our business with another branded cup of of coffee or your own lunch and think it's okay. We will approach you and ask you politely to either remove the said item, or continue on your way. I think that's fair, don't you?

And with that we say thank you, please enjoy our menu for this week.

Breakfast
Porridge - served w choices chopped dried fruit, muscovado sugar, golden syrup or honey 2.70
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.30
Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.30
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 3.50
(add 30 p for granola or yoghurt)
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.70
Ciabatta Roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.70
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.70
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.90
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Cinnamon and raisin toast 2.30
Banana Bread 2.20


Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.70
Pain au chocolat 2.30
Almond croissants 2.70

Baked Treats
Lemon curd and cream cheese muffins 2.00
French onion and cheese muffins 2.00
Passionfruit friands 2.00
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.30
White chocolate blondies 2.30
Portuguese tarts 1.90
ANZAC cookies 1.70
Afgan biscuits 1.70
Lamingtons (Thurs/Fri/Sat only) 2.50

Lunch

Soup 3.70 or 4.20
Spiced carrot, chilli and coriander

French retro baguettes 4.70
Pancetta, apricots, brie and spinach
Aubergine, sweet chilli, goats cheese and rocket

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.90
Ham, white bean and sage sauce, gruyere, pommery and spinach
Plum tomato with oregano, roasted chillies, mozzarella and rocket

Salads 4.90/5.90
Crab, pomelo, kohlrahbi, pickled horseradish, frisee & parsley & lemon dressing
Sharon fruit with gherkins, parmesan, red onion and mustard dressing
Roasted sweet potato with yellow curry dressing and coriander

Tart 4.00 or 6.90 with salad
Red onion tarte tatin

Friday 17 February 2012

Week beginning February 20th - The blackboard of knowledge

The blackboard of knowledge is what is has come to be known as, our A frame blackboard outside that we use not just to advertise our wares, but to try to make someones day as they walk past, or, to attract attention in some sort of abstract, out there way.

I started off by downloading about ten pages of coffee quotes from the internet, everything from Seinfeld to Napoleon to Star Trek. We could not use all of them, as there may not have been enough space, or we just did not like them.

As time has gone on, we got a bit more inventive, and basically made things up that, for example, if a certain famous person came in, what might they say in relation to coffee, or we go off by misquoting a famous line from a movie.

People stop and take photos, others stop, look and then come in, others have actually asked, 'who comes up with all your stuff?'

We try very hard to not be repetitive, some places I know have the same thing every day (their menu), others follow a same theme. Our goal is to add a bit of personality and thought into what we do with it, and to perhaps make people think. On top of the ten internet pages, we know have about three pages of our own quotes to use and we come up with different stuff all the time. We find it a lot easier to come up with stuff after work at 7 pm, rather than before work at 7 in the morning.

I find myself thinking of ones at all different times, on the tube, watching tv, reading books to my daughter, so I put them in my phone straight away otherwise I forget.

Here are some of our favorites.

"She's got a smile that it seems to me reminds me of childhood memories"
(this had a number of people come in and say, fantastic, I will sing this all day now)

"You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge"
(opening line from Straight outta Compton by NWA - used to try and show that we are the street, but others (chains?), are not)

I only love you because you make good coffee

Oh help, oh no, it's a piccolo

If I promise to make you great coffee will you love me forever

On a hot summers night, will you offer your throat to the wolf with the iced coffee
(Meatloaf, Bat out of Hell)

Local evacuation point

Sticks and stones will break my bones but coffee will never hurt me

And on the first day He made coffee

Let's get out of these wet clothes and into a dry cappuccino
(James Bond)

You'll always find us making coffee at parties
(IKEA advert)

Nobody puts coffee in the corner
(obviously, Dirty Dancing)

If you have any good ones, please let us know, get your saying up in lights....

And with that we say thank you, please enjoy our menu for this week.

Breakfast
Porridge - served w choices chopped dried fruit, muscovado sugar, golden syrup or honey 2.50
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 3.30
(add 30 p for granola or yoghurt)
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.50
Ciabatta Roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.50
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.50
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.50
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Cinnamon and raisin toast 2.00
Banana Bread 2.00


Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.60
Pain au chocolat 2.20
Almond croissants 2.70

Baked Treats
Yellow Plum muffins 1.80
Courgette and Cheese muffins 1.80
Passionfruit friands 1.90
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.20
White chocolate blondies 2.20
Portuguese tarts 1.80
ANZAC cookies 1.60
Afgan biscuits 1.60

Lunch

Soup 3.50 or 4.00
Ribollita (Tuscan bean soup)

French retro baguettes 4.50
Manchego with pear, aioli, tomato and basil
Ham, gherkin, gruyere, dijon, red onion and spinach

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.70
Roast aubergine and butternut with Salmoriglio and rocket
Roast Beef tomato and apple ketchup, aged cheddar and spinach

Salads 4.50/5.50
Roasted Vegetable salad with rocket and tomatoes
Pecorino with raw sprouts, celery and pancetta
Edamame with Chilli and sticky sesame

Tart 4.00 or 6.50 with salad
Red onion tarte tatin

Thursday 9 February 2012

Week beginning February 13th - Rare Tea Lady

We are very happy this week to announce that we have begun a partnership with the Rare Tea Company to supply us with some of their wonderful loose leaf teas.

One of the big challenges we have is to be able to provide an amazing tea, that we are proud to serve, but also to be able to provide it is a takeaway format. We also want our customers to be able to experience a wonderful tea in the store so we have special teapots just right for the purpose.

We will be using special pouches for the takeaways and tea pots in house that we will portion the loose leaf tea each time.

Our first tea that we are serving will be the RAF blend tea, a good strong tea which was made specifically for the RAF and which Henrietta donates 10% of proceeds to the RAF itself.

More details will come about over the next few week as we bring in the blends. If you do come in, please ask our lead barista James about them, he is now as passionate about tea as he is about coffee.

We are very happy indeed.



Breakfast
Porridge - served w choices chopped dried fruit, muscovado sugar, golden syrup or honey 2.50
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 3.30
(add 30 p for granola or yoghurt)
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.50
Ciabatta Roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.50
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.50
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.50
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Cinnamon and raisin toast 2.00
Banana Bread 2.00


Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.60
Pain au chocolat 2.20
Almond croissants 2.70

Baked Treats
Blueberry muffins 1.80
Tomato, herb and cheese muffins 1.80
Passionfruit friands 1.90
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.20
White chocolate blondies 2.20
Portuguese tarts 1.80
ANZAC cookies 1.60
Afgan biscuits 1.60

Lunch

Soup 3.50 or 4.00
Mushroom and Tarragon

French retro baguettes 4.50
Tomato, mozzarella, rocket and chimichurri
Ham, apple butter, gherkin, gruyere and spinach

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.70
Roast chicken, apricot, brie, spinach
Aubergine, sweet chilli, goats cheese and rocket

Salads 4.50/5.50
Chicken Adobu with red rice, coriander and rocket
Roast kumara with yellow curry dressing
Blood Orange, feta, pomegranate, radicchio and poppy seeds

Tart 4.00 or 6.50 with salad
Fennel gratin

Tuesday 7 February 2012

This week we celebrate Waitangi Day, the day that they signed the treaty of Waitangi, New Zealands' founding document, back in 1840. Like Australia Day, it is also a public holiday and a very significant day in New Zealand history.

This week we have a menu that has a touch of the home land to it, along with our regular Afgan biscuits, the recipe of which we have below.

In the meantime, please enjoy our menu for this week.

Afgans

Equipment
Small mixing bowl
Medium mixing bowl
Sieve
Greaseproof paper
Baking tray 12 x 9 inch
Baking paper \
Oil Spray
Butter knife for spreading icing

Ingredients Amount Cost

Butter, softened 400 grams
Sugar 250 grams
Flour 500 grams
Cocoa 100 grams
Cornflakes 200 grams

Icing sugar 500 grams
Cocoa 4 tbsp
Butter 1 tsp
Vanilla Essence 1/2 tsp


Method
In small mixing bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy
In large mixing bowl sift flour and cocoa
Stir creamed mixture inbto dry mixture
Fold in cornflakes
Grease baking tray and line with baking paper
Roll into golf ball sizes
Place on tray approx 4 to 5 cm apart
Press down with floured fork

Icing sugar
In small mixing bowl sift icing sugar and cocoa
Add butter and essence
Add sufficient boiling water to mix to spreadable consistency

Cooking
180 degrees for 15 minutes on middle or bottom shelves

Allow to cool on wire racks.
Spread icing sugar on top and garnish with a walnut



Breakfast
Porridge - served w choices chopped dried fruit, muscovado sugar, golden syrup or honey 2.50
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 3.30
(add 30 p for granola or yoghurt)
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.50
Ciabatta Roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.50
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.50
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.50
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Cinnamon and raisin toast 2.00
Banana Bread 2.00


Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.60
Pain au chocolat 2.20
Almond croissants 2.70

Baked Treats
Nectarine mufins 1.80
Four Cheese muffins 1.80
Spiced apple friands 1.90
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.20
White chocolate blondies 2.20
Portuguese tarts 1.80
ANZAC cookies 1.60
Afgan biscuits 1.60

Lunch

Soup 3.50 or 4.00
Broccoli Soup

French retro baguettes 4.50
Coppa Cotta Italian Roast ham with apple butter, gherkin, gruyere and spinach
Aubergine with goats cheese and sweet chilli jam

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.70
Coppa Cotta Italian Roast ham with oregano, bufala mozzarella and rocket
Mushrooms, welsh rarebit and spinach

Salads 4.50/5.50
Roast lamb with mint, hummus, cucumber, feta and spinach
Roast kumara with yellow curry dressing
Quinoa with roast olives, orange segments, feta and coriander

Tart 4.00 or 6.50 with salad
Sweet corn, jalapeno and goats cheese

Wednesday 1 February 2012

Week beginning January 30th - Nothing to say here, move along

This week is just all about getting work done as I am a bit late in getting the menu to you, so I will leave you to it, (yes, I'm in trouble) and we hope you enjoy it in this cold weather. BRRR.

Thank you for reading.......


Breakfast
Porridge - served w choices chopped dried fruit, muscovado sugar, golden syrup or honey 2.50
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 3.30
(add 30 p for granola or yoghurt)
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.50
Ciabatta Roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.50
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.50
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.50
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Cinnamon and raisin toast 2.00
Banana Bread 2.00


Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.60
Pain au chocolat 2.20
Almond croissants 2.70

Baked Treats
Nectarine mufins 1.80
Four Cheese muffins 1.80
Spiced apple friands 1.90
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.20
White chocolate blondies 2.20
Portuguese tarts 1.80
ANZAC cookies 1.60
Afgan biscuits 1.60

Lunch

Soup 3.50 or 4.00
Chorizo, shallots, fennel

French retro baguettes 4.50
Bufala mozzarella with tomatoes, aioli and rocket
Tuna with rouille, capers and spinach

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.70
Italian roast ham with tomato, onion jam, spinach and gruyere
Roast chicken with salsa verde, brie and rocket

Salads 4.50/5.50
Chicken adobu with wild rice and coriander
Figs with pecorino, blossom honey and basil
Broccoli with oyster sauce

Tart 4.00 or 6.50 with salad
Gorgonzola with walnuts and chicory