Me and my mum had been talking for quite a while about going for brunch/lunch in the cafe we found in Stamford. Now that I am back from uni for the Christmas break, we decided take a trip to try it out; we also brought my mum’s friend with us. The cafe is called The Lean Pantry Co and if you have read any of my food blog posts before, you will know that I love exploring independent coffee shops and cafes that offer healthier, more nutritious alternatives.
The café’s slogan is ‘High Quality Food for the Health Conscious’ which I quite like. I love how they offer nutritious homemade goodness which is carefully prepared and wholesome to nourish your body and they say that it improves your well-being. I was attracted to this place when it opened because they specialise in products that are free from wheat, gluten, dairy, and refined sugars, in order to pack in nutrients and make healthy eating as simple as possible.
The Lean Pantry Co is location at the bottom Stamford’s main high street, offering everything from brunch, lights bites, pancakes and bread, cakes and deserts, bread to fresh drinks and smoothies.
We arrived just after noon and so we selected on the brunch menu. The opinions were not excessive as some restaurants but I felt that it had had a good range of appealing dishes and there was quite a varied choice of vegetarian and plant-based options.
I quite liked the interior; it has an almost industrial feel to it with the steel shelves packed with food items and snacks that were for sale. It was also very modern in there with a copper and wooden colour palette which added to the warm and relaxing atmosphere. It is quite a small space but I felt very calm and comfortable in there. My favourite part of the interior was the large black chalk boards on wall behind the counter. This displayed possible options for the day and also I really love the hanging lights with large light bulbs on the ends; it makes it very ‘Instagramable.’
If you have read some of my food related posts previously, it will be no surprise that I opted for a dish that contained a poach egg! I had toasted bread, 2 large free range poached with Whole Earth Baked Beans. I appreciated that I was able to choose my desired bread out of four options. These included three grain toastie white, quinoa, buckwheat three grain, and sourdough. I was intrigued by the quinoa bread so I selected this one; it had a different texture but I did really like it. This meal is quite a staple dish for me and it lived up to my expectations, it was very yummy and tasted very fresh. It was also presented very nice on the plate with added to the appeal for me.
My mum went for the same as me, but with scrambled eggs which was also very delicious. My mum’s friend selected one of the pancake options: the classic pancakes made from sorghum flour, quinoa flour, baking powder, rice milk, egg, granny smith apple and topped with honey, berries and banana. I really would like to go back and have the pancakes with a topping of almond butter. We all pretty much finished off our plates and were very satisfied with the whole experience. The staff were also extremely friendly and knowledgeable about the ingredients that are in each of their options.
In addition to their delicious breakfast and lunch options, they have an array of cakes and sweet treats on display on the counter. The indulgent treats have a more nutritious twist to them. They all looked very luscious and included mince pies, chocolate brownies, chocolate cookies, fruit cake, caramel shortbread, etc. I also love the Raw Chocolate Company’s raw chocolate almonds that they sell there. I don’t usually like the texture of nuts, I much prefer a smooth nut butter instead, but these are very yummy and extremely morish.
Overall, I really liked the brunh location; I am definitely planning on returning to try out more of the menu options. I quite fancy trying the savoury option of the toasted bread served with roasted tomatoes and avocado slices. On the menu, I was also drawn to the ice cream desserts; the one that I would probably go for would be the one scoop of Booja Booja ice cream, a vegan alternative to ice cream, home-made vegan chocolate sauce with the option of having ginger cake, chocolate brownie or peanut butter warmed. This is my idea of heaven! My ice cream flavour of choice with possible be the vanilla made from cashew nuts, water, agave syrup and vanilla extract. I was also intrigued by the smoothies on offer, especially the cacao nib and cashew one; its ingredients are medjool dates, almond milk, cashews, cacao powder, cacao nibs, milled sunflower & pumpkin seeds.
Rachel
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