Lunch at Poets House, Ely

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A few weeks ago we ate somewhere new, Poets House in Ely. A hotel with a restaurant and bar just steps away from the Cathedral in a beautiful old townhouse - named so because a local author used to live there.

I've been hearing lots about it from local bloggers - Sian and Heidi dined there and Miss Sue Flay recently sampled their afternoon tea. Needing somewhere to go with visiting relatives, I decided upon Poets House for a relaxed Saturday lunch.

The main dining room is elegant and beautifully decorated in black, white and grey - very swish indeed. It was reasonably quiet for a Saturday lunchtime, which did mean we had the full attention of the staff. The service was excellent, and our waitress explained the various menu options to us and was on hand for any questions we had.

I spotted an Indian wine on the menu, very intriguing, the sommelier didn't know what it was like, as he hadn't tried it, a little disappointing as far as I am aware from a sommelier - but we ordered it anyway! It was a white wine, Sula Vineyards Viognier from a winemaker based in the small town of Nashik, in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It was excellent, I'm not a much of a wine buff but it was a really nice wine, and great to see some interesting wines on the menus instead of the usual European options.

Wine ordered we proceeded to look through the menus - there are several choices. There is A la Carte, the Set 'House' menu and also the Garden Menu - a special menu based on local produce and all vegetarian. The set menu is really good value, with decent amount of vegetarian options, £22.50 for 2 courses or £25.50 for three courses.

I started with 'Flamed Mackerel' - which came with lime jelly, horseradish cream, little slivers of fennel and radish and a cucumber and lime sauce. The mackerel was so fresh and the skin crispy - the little condiments were great to break through the richness of the fish.  A nice refreshing start!

My main was a mushroom tagliatelle - expertly made fresh pasta with lots of different kinds of mushrooms and parmesan. It also came with a foam, which I hate, I find them totally unnecessary and showy - it didn't add anything, and as it dried it left an odd ring around the dish. No foam please!

Next up was my dessert - simply titled white chocolate parfait with raspberry and caramel popcorn. It was gorgeous - the parfait was rolled in some kind of crispy coating and alongside it was sweet caramelised popcorn, little meringues, freeze dried raspberries and honeycomb. It was a beautiful looking dish and it tasted fantastic - my favourite one of the meal.

My dining companions were similarly happy with their choices - an excellent tomato soup, pan fried seabass, a vegetarian leek and pastry puff and the richest sticky toffee pudding.

Our lunch at Poets House was excellent and full of little surprises - a very well thought out menu. The surroundings are very plush and the staff very attentive. We took our coffee in the bar area which is an indoor/outdoor conservatory style area with one side being floor to ceiling glass. Afternoon teas and bar meals are served here - along with cocktails later on.

I've heard some excellent things about the afternoon tea, and the dinner, so I definitely think it is a place to return to for more treats.

Poets House
St Marys Street
Ely

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Teacake, Shepreth

Picture from Teacake, Shepreth

I've been keeping this little place from you, well, unless you follow me on Twitter, in which case I have been banging on about how great their coffee is for about 6 months now.

I'm very lucky and I know it. This tea room does amazing coffee, homemade cakes and sandwiches is 2 minutes away from my office. I know. So lucky.

Teacake is in a grade 1 listed building, which used to be the old village post office. There is a cosy little dining area and also a pretty tea garden for the warmer months - we've had meetings there which is a much more of an improvement than a boring boardroom, and it comes with cake! The owners, Christine and Maurice, are really interested in food and love to try out new ideas and try to source their ingredients as locally as possible, it is great to see people who really care about their food and it means there is always something new there.

Their coffee is what I really shout about - it is Monmouth Coffee and Maurice is quite the coffee expert, and knowing I'm a food blogger he loves to talk to me about how he makes his coffee and how a proper cup should be made.

Along with the coffee there are an array of freshly baked cakes - Victoria sponge, sticky date (my favourite), gluten free lemon - flapjacks, tiffin, scones and of course teacakes. They have a range of loose leaf teas which you can also buy to take home with you. For lunchtime there are also sandwiches (often made with their own home baked hams or smoked salmon), soups, salads and savoury muffins. For the locals they also handily sell basic groceries including the Cobs Bakery bread and Wobbly Bottom farm goats cheese, which I am a big fan of.

Teacake is just around the corner from Shepreth train station, so easy to get to if you're in Cambridge and a perfect place to go if you're visiting Shepreth Wildlife Park for the day. They are open Wednesday to Sunday, 9am to 5pm. Find them on Facebook. 

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Shelford Deli, Cambridgeshire

The Shelford Delicatessen has to be one of the best loved spots in South Cambridgeshire, they are renowned for their amazing sandwiches which every office worker in within a 5 mile radius knows about. I worked nearby a few years ago and we regularly sent a colleague out with a sandwich order when the local supermarket offering got dull.

Back then they were just a small shop selling cheeses, meats, olives, all sorts of jams, pickles, oils and vinegars along with fresh pasta, bread and the aforementioned sandwiches. They also did a small line in fresh fruit and vegetables and the best tomatoes you could get your hands on.

I was tipped off recently that they'd extended the shop into a cafe which sold the same brilliant sandwiches along with hot dishes, pasta, salads, cakes and Monmouth coffee.

We settled upon a 'meze sandwich' each plus coffee. The sandwiches are in fact more like a ploughmans or a deli platter. Mine was ham with piles of pickles, salad and gorgeous granary bread, and of course English mustard. The ham is cooked and glazed in the deli and it certainly tasted so too, lovely. Mr had the vegetarian meze which consisted of a plentiful plate of homemade things - carrot houmous, guacamole, tapenade, olives and more fresh bread. The coffee is excellent, as you would expect with Monmouth.

We shared a chocolate cake (I am on a diet after all...) which was very rich, sugary and chocolatey - everything a proper chocolate cake should be I think.

The food here is great, a little on the pricey side as is normal for the area.The only thing I didn't really like about it is the strange ordering system, it is a bit like our experience at The Eden Cafe, but more complicated and ends up in lots of people bumping into each other - you order food at one place, drinks opposite, they write it all down on a bit of paper and you come back to a third till to pay at the end! Be prepared to get a bit confused, and queue in at least three queues, but the food is worth it!

Their website doesn't say anything about the new developments, they need to update it, and doesn't have opening times. I know closes at 2pm on a Saturday, closed Sunday and I think open all day during the week.

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day at wimpole farm

We've been meaning to go to Wimpole Home Farm for a long time now, well the whole 5 years we've lived here. It took the National Trust offering a free entry day for us to go.


I couldn't have been a better time to go, during their lambing season.
They have several rare breed sheep, pigs, cows, donkeys, chickens, shetland ponies and ducks!

We also took a walk around the walled garden where they grow fruit and vegetables which they use in the restaurant and sell in their shop. The meat is also sold there too. We'll definitely go back soon once more things come into season to see what their garden and farm can offer.

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