Cafes / Reviews
St Paul’s Cafe – cafe review
Perfectly good food is thrown away every day by the food industry for reasons as mundane as having the incorrect barcode or restaurants over-ordering. It remains a scandal – but not all is going to waste.
It’s possible to have a very enjoyable lunch at St Paul’s Cafe without realising the inspiring story behind it, with The Surplus Supper Club – the event catering brainchild of FareShare South West, an independent charity committed to tackling the issues of food waste and food poverty – transforming this ‘waste’ food into imaginative menus, cooked up by chefs and volunteers.
The cafe has a prime people-watching spot within St Paul’s Learning & Family Centre overlooking a small patch of grass, with locals enjoying free internet access on the computers around the edge of the room and the mismatched cafe tables and chairs taking up the rest of the space.
is needed now More than ever
Overhead dangle candied fruit, while on the tables fresh flowers in tea cups jostle for position with the menu displayed in jam jars.
On a recent Friday lunchtime, the specials were a chicken and chorizo paella (£3.50), veggie jalfrezi with flatbread (£3), and an olive and artichoke tart (£3). Favourites include beans on toast (£2), a bacon buttie for £2.50 and soup for £2. Drinks include £2 for a coffee and £1 for a tea.
And the incredible thing about this food is that it would have gone to waste if it were not served here.
The paella with fluffy rice was accompanied with sprigs of locally-grown parsley. The chicken was chunky and juicy but the chorizo meagre and scarce. It was still a damn fine dish, however, especially for its price tag.
A slice of cherry and coconut cake for £1 was beautifully moist with a lovely glaze on top, and I was fortunate enough to be presented free of charge with a well-made cappuccino which had just been used as a prop on the cafe’s Instagram account.
Waste not, want not. And eat well at the same time.
St Paul’s Cafe, St Paul’s Learning & Family Centre, 94 Grosvenor Road, St Paul’s, Bristol, BS2 8XJ
www.surplussupperclub.org/home/catering-services/st-pauls-learning-centre/
All photos by Darren Shepherd