They have arrived. They arrived in an overly large lorry, in six different boxes. That "Oh what have I done?" feeling came over, but soon passed and went to my showing off boxes to anyone who stood near the cafe!
We tested a lot of coffee to get it right, but I think we have it. It is lovely, but I do keep thinking I could have bought a good car for that! Good coffee though.
We will be starting our altered menus on April 1st. We have added Hummus with pitta bread, roasted vegetables with cous cous and salad nicoise which we will be able to do as a vegetarian option. We are also adding scrambled egg on toast, and with smoked salmon, as our Sunday morning regulars and Arthur all eat it so often.
Those more observant of you will have noticed our new freezer in the foyer. We are still selling the lines of ice cream we used to and we will add the new berry solero and an orange calippo.
The Park have fitted 5 new windows for us in the cafe. These have replaced the windows in the corner that had condensation within them.
Nene Park Trust have also appointed a new Visitor Services manager called Susan. She will be the person that all the comments cards will now go to and she will be responsible for the new signs maps and the information leaflets. We are hoping to get a large map in the foyer, the border of which will be made up of pictures and information about the birds and animals and trees in the park.
Susan has also arranged for Rangers to be at Hampton and in town giving out leaflets and any information that you may wish to have. Hopefully this year the park will be put on the map so to speak. If you have any ideas that you think would be useful to the park or indeed us, please let me know, or write a comment card, and we will be happy to pass them on.
The bad news is that Car park charges will kick in on April 4th, and at the moment stand at £3.50. Season tickets are available, ask us for a leaflet, or see the website www.nene-park-trust.org.uk
All in all, spring is sprung, the grass is riz and we are all looking forward to a long, warm summer with new things going on in the park and the cafe.
Thursday 26 March 2009
Saturday 14 March 2009
Dining out...badly
I was conned. Little Miss Cynic was conned. I was invited to dinner, at a pub that my friend, who works as a food company rep, has just "discovered". Lovely idea, not far from St Neots, little village, local food, top five in one of those "Hidden Secrets" websites for restaurants/hotels.
As I drove up through the village I realised I had been there before, and my heart sank. Such a bad experience previously, I had blotted out all recollections of this place. Jodie and I had dined there on a bizarre little "lets go to dinner, don't care where" type things. The food was dissapointing and the waitress bumped Jodies chair so often she had started to feel slightly sea sick, never mind irritated.
I thought I would give it a second go. Be fair, the chef may have been off- no excuse, but still- they could have been short staffed, a new waitress, the delivery not turned up ya-de-ya-de-ya.
S and I met in the carpark, and she started to tell me how this chef had been so enthusiastic about his food. How he made certain all his ingrediants were local, rare breed meat- form Grasmere who are lovely- and vegetables from Potten in Beds.
After finding our table, waitng ten minutes to be asked if we would like a drink, a further ten before we could order food, being shown only the bar snack menu and a theme menu; sausage and mash some of which they had already run out of at 7:45. We chose steak. Eventually it arrived- lovely hand cut chips, beautifully cooked. The seak had been cooked on a char grill. Tasted good but tough, the mushrooms were over done and the tomato was just a tomato. The cheese selection was nice, but anyone can do that.
Apart from the fact that I didn't enjoy the food, which could have been cooked better, I felt very conned. The Chef and his parents, who I believe own the place have obviously been very astute at marketing, and got all the locals to vote for the pub, therefore putting up it's ranking to the top 5 in East Anglia on this secrets website. I am sure the chef is entusiastic, and loves his job. I am happy he is supporting the local guys and takes time to source his food. However, he, nor his team can live up to the write up they have given themselves. Steak isn't difficult, and it wasn't busy. They do buy some stuff ready done, and yet to read the website one would think that they would shun the processed stuff.
These websites let people review their own places, and never check on them. I could pay certain publications and become one of Britains best cafes. I don't think this is right. It's unfair to the public. Reviews should be that, by independant people, surely? This is how the rossette system works in hotels, but for the smaller guys word of mouth is the only way to know if you are going to a good place.
Maybe I am jealous that I cannot do that huge ego thing and tell everyone we're marvellous even when we fall short of the mark. On the whole though I think I would prefer to sleep at night and be who we are, even with our foibles.
As I drove up through the village I realised I had been there before, and my heart sank. Such a bad experience previously, I had blotted out all recollections of this place. Jodie and I had dined there on a bizarre little "lets go to dinner, don't care where" type things. The food was dissapointing and the waitress bumped Jodies chair so often she had started to feel slightly sea sick, never mind irritated.
I thought I would give it a second go. Be fair, the chef may have been off- no excuse, but still- they could have been short staffed, a new waitress, the delivery not turned up ya-de-ya-de-ya.
S and I met in the carpark, and she started to tell me how this chef had been so enthusiastic about his food. How he made certain all his ingrediants were local, rare breed meat- form Grasmere who are lovely- and vegetables from Potten in Beds.
After finding our table, waitng ten minutes to be asked if we would like a drink, a further ten before we could order food, being shown only the bar snack menu and a theme menu; sausage and mash some of which they had already run out of at 7:45. We chose steak. Eventually it arrived- lovely hand cut chips, beautifully cooked. The seak had been cooked on a char grill. Tasted good but tough, the mushrooms were over done and the tomato was just a tomato. The cheese selection was nice, but anyone can do that.
Apart from the fact that I didn't enjoy the food, which could have been cooked better, I felt very conned. The Chef and his parents, who I believe own the place have obviously been very astute at marketing, and got all the locals to vote for the pub, therefore putting up it's ranking to the top 5 in East Anglia on this secrets website. I am sure the chef is entusiastic, and loves his job. I am happy he is supporting the local guys and takes time to source his food. However, he, nor his team can live up to the write up they have given themselves. Steak isn't difficult, and it wasn't busy. They do buy some stuff ready done, and yet to read the website one would think that they would shun the processed stuff.
These websites let people review their own places, and never check on them. I could pay certain publications and become one of Britains best cafes. I don't think this is right. It's unfair to the public. Reviews should be that, by independant people, surely? This is how the rossette system works in hotels, but for the smaller guys word of mouth is the only way to know if you are going to a good place.
Maybe I am jealous that I cannot do that huge ego thing and tell everyone we're marvellous even when we fall short of the mark. On the whole though I think I would prefer to sleep at night and be who we are, even with our foibles.
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