hobson street cambridge – New in Cambridge

From cosy cafes to fine dining restaurants, we are lucky to have a wealth of places to eat delicious food here in Cambridge. Now Cambridge BID is celebrating our foodie scene in the city’s first Restaurant Week which runs from 1 – 7 April. Cafes and restaurants will be offering menus at £5, £10 or £15, giving you a chance to try their food and experience their ambience. It’s a great opportunity to check out a restaurant you’ve been meaning to try and to discover new styles of cuisine.

Love Cambridge Restaurant Week — Image credit: Cambridge BID

Taking part in Restaurant Week couldn’t be simpler. Go to the website (details at the end of this post) for info on the places that are participating. Just click on the restaurant or cafe of your choice to check out their offer and download a voucher which you can print out or show on your phone when you get there. For some restaurants, advance booking is recommended.

I caught up with a couple of old friends of this blog who are taking part in Restaurant Week to find out how they’ve been getting on since I wrote about them as they opened.

Amelie Flammekueche Cambridge — Regis and Alex Crepy

Over in the Grafton Centre, Alex and Regis Crepy are delighted that Amelie Flammekeuche continues to grow in popularity with customers of all ages. Cambridge has embraced this novel French fire bread and Alex hopes that their offer of any flammekeuche on the menu plus an Amelie Golden Ale for £10 will introduce the delights of flammekeuche to new people. (If you haven’t tried it yet, trust me, flammekeuche is VERY good!) Amelie has held a top position in the Trip Advisor rankings since shortly after opening in August last year and they have big plans for the future. To read more of the Amelie story, click here

Cafe Abantu has been open for just over a year in Hobson Street and owner Wendy Slade tells me they haven’t looked back since moving into the city centre. Abantu is popular with students, locals, tourists and a dedicated band of regulars. You’ll find Fairtrade, soil association approved organic coffee, delicious home made cakes and a menu which changes daily. Following their successful vegan and Fairtrade special events, Wendy is planning a South African supper club, so keep an eye on their social media for details of that. Wendy hopes that Restaurant Week will encourage people to explore beyond the main streets and discover indies. Abantu will be offering lunch, a slice of cake and tea or coffee for £10. To read more of the Cafe Abantu story, click here

And finally, when you take part in Restaurant Week, not only will you eat well, you also have the chance to win a £100 Love Cambridge Gift Card which can be spent in over 200 locations across the city. Simply redeem an offer in one of the participating restaurants, then share your experience with a photo on social media using the hashtag #LoveCambridgeRestaurantWeek

Good luck and bon appetit!!

http://www.cambridgebid.co.uk/restaurant-week

http://www.amelierestaurants.co.uk

FB: @Cafeabantu Instagram: @cafeabantu

A pot of really good Darjeeling tea and a slice of the most delicious rose and pistachio cake in this recently opened Hobson Street cafe perked me up on a gloomy February afternoon. So I popped back (yes … more tea and cake!) to meet owner, Wendy Slade, and to chat about her new venture.

Abantu frontage

Firstly, I’m curious about the cafe’s name. Wendy explained that the word “abantu” (or derivations of it) means “people” in many African dialects. Wendy was born and raised in South Africa, where she trained as an accountant. She came to England with her family twenty years ago. “But I still miss the drumming heartbeat of Africa,” Wendy tells me.

Abantu pistachio and rose It wasn’t long before she set up a gift shop, selling Fairtrade goods, at Manor Farm in Bourn, while a friend ran the coffee shop next door. When the friend left, Wendy took over the coffee shop and taught herself to bake. Gradually, that side of the business took over and ten years later, Wendy moved the cafe to Wysing Arts Centre, where it won a “Best Cafe in East Anglia” award.

“Then Stickybeaks came up for sale,” explained Wendy, “and our lease at Wysing was coming to an end so I decided to go for it and move into the city centre.” Wendy and her team of twelve people, including the ex Stickybeaks staff who all joined her, took over the building on 19th January and were open for business at the end of the month. They had hungry customers queuing down the street on Day 1!

Abantu team

Abantu salad The Abantu team enjoys working in the open kitchen which Wendy says is run more as a “home” kitchen than an industrial cooking space. They make all their own cakes and like to keep up with the latest baking trends. Abantu’s menu changes every day, with an emphasis on seasonal ingredients used in a variety of dishes for breakfast and lunch. There are always three or four salads on offer and Boboti, a South African meatloaf, is a menu staple.

Abantu sign Vegetarians, vegans and those who eat gluten free are well catered for here and there’s a Bambino menu for kids too, so this really is a destination for the whole family. Staff are welcoming and the cafe has an airy yet cosy vibe with art from Naomi Davies, a Cambridge artist who works in pen and watercolour, on the walls and a couple of outside tables, ideal for watching the world go by on sunnier days.