Displaying items by tag: Stowmarket

The best thing I ate this week was at the St Elizabeth Hospice cafe in Stowmarket. The superb homemade mince pie had light, crisp pastry and was stuffed full of cranberries and mincemeat. Tall Orders cafe serves from 8.30am to 3.30pm daily (except Sunday). Their homemade soup is delicious, scones are legendary and all sales proceeds go towards the independent Suffolk charity.

Nipping through Stowmarket today I saw this street food van and the homemade cakes and soup caught my eye. I bought a pot of Butternut Soup and a small Apple and Blackberry Crumble to take home. Then I started chatting to the chirpy owner, Caroline.She told me that she had made the soup and the crumbles the night before. She also had a heart shaped cake and tubs of homemade rice pudding. The sign for the stall said Colin's Catering Services so I asked Caroline where Colin was. "Oh! There isn't a Colin. That's the board that came with the trailer when I bought it!"

• Caroline
• The Cake Stand
• Soups and Cakes
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This is one you need to book ahead.  On Friday and Saturday nights only at 7.45pm in Middlewood Green, it's a farmhouse (converted farm building) with fine dining at a set time, with a set menu and a set price £35.50. There is a formula here, and as "newbies" we were welcomed by the patron/chef and given the format and The Rules. 

"Help yourself to wine and serve it yourself" - Bravo for the affordable quality choice of wines.

"Food will be served, water topped up and bang on the kitchen door if you need anything during the meal"

Plate after plate of competently cooked food came out of the kitchen, but nothing blew us away. Service did the job, food was delivered, plates were cleared, more food delivered, plates cleared... but no interaction from the young and efficient staff, get the jist? We duly knocked on the kitchen door requesting another roll to mop up the pate, but there were no more available and anyway we would be "filled up with the other courses"  This is the perfect place to go with a small party of friends when you want to have a good chat and be fed together, but I did feel that we were expected to say "thank you for having us" as we left.     

• Allium
• Risotto
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• Triple citrus pudding
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Are they so busy here at the Museum of East Anglian Life that they have run out of food by 1pm on both the days I visit? The broccoli soup and cheese scone was very nice but the only thing left on the menu. And no, we can't 'wait for half an hour' until you sort yourselves out in the kitchen!

Hidden away in the Old Fox Yard in Stow, it's worth a visit for the Peach Flan alone, a retro delight decorated with loads of squeezy cream. In fact the whole cafe is a riot of signs and hundreds and thousands.

Went to buy myself a prawn and salad roll for lunch in Stowmarket Palmers and saw that  the Good Food channel are continuing their love affair with Suffolk and will be featuring Palmers and their Suffolk Cob Loaf on the Market Garden Big Adventure programme on Thursday.

Suffolk foodie is one year old today. Celebrate by going to Lidl for my utter favourite  bar of dark chocolate with nuts in, and find Caribbean meat patties! Expecting them to taste awful but they are surprisingly authentic (well, they are made in Birmingham) with just the right amount of heat from scotch bonnet peppers. Although home made ones would have more filling it's not bad for Stowmarket!