Innocent Cafe

A couple of weeks ago, the Innocent newsletter plonked into our inbox containing some good news. Innocent were opening a cafe for a week, and oh, how much excitement, it was just around the corner from our office. Two things excited me about this... the mention of food, and the fact that they were offering 5 portions of fruit/veg for a fiver, to show people how easy it is to get your five portions a day. Can't really go wrong then, can we?

Yesterday, 6 of us headed out for lunch at the Innocent 5 for 5 cafe in the Tramshed just close to Hoxton Square. It's only open for a week, and this was their first day.

We were greeted by some very happy smiley innocent employees, all far too hyped up, but well they should be because the Tramshed looked great. All big long wooden tables, twinkly fairy lights, lots of cute little pot plants, and well, it looked magic.



The deal is that you get two courses, either starter and main or main and pudding for £5. Drinks are an extra £1.50 on top, and you can choose from one of the innocent smoothies, some This Water, or else if you want to bring your own wine or beer, they charge £1.50 a head for that too. All is good so far. The menu sounds great, and we are seated opposite a big hotplate where the food comes out before delivery. We spot food that looks delicious, fresh and colourful. We get excited.

Ok, it's their first day. but it seemed to take a long time to get anyone to give us any attention. We were one of the first groups of people through the door, and we had to ask someone to come and take our order. And it seemed that he could only do drinks. We had to ask again for someone to take our meal order. Three of our starters arrived. We had to ask for the other two. The drinks weren't all right. It was sort of funny really. A bit fawlty towers. If you had been in a hurry, it would have been a problem. But, it was their first day, and the tramshed is huge, a lot of pressure and the waiters looked a tad lost and all very stressed out. I'm sure they just need to work through it.

The food itself was really tasty. I enjoyed Beetroot and horseradish pierogi with sour cream, pickled red cabbage and paprika.

This was followed by Sweet potato brik with roasted pepper, courgette and chickpea salad. Here's a photo:



The brik was really great, I thought very tasty and something I'd consider making at home. Which is cool really, cos on the way out we also were given a pack full of tasty recipes that they are preparing this week, one of them being the delicious sweet potato brik. You can also find a whole bunch of recipes on their website here.

So, I guess that I'd say that it was a lunchtime well spent. Apart from the few hiccups with the waiters, the atmosphere was great and fun and exciting, the food was really very tasty and the price was a total bargin. The cafe will be serving until the 8th of October, but is sadly sold out now, so if you're one of the lucky ones who bagged yourself a £5 lunch, enjoy it!