Talbot Street has got a quaint cafe tucked away - make sure you pop your head in...
Lunch breaks in town can be an absolute minefield. When the Monday morning health kick is threatened by an office Deliveroo, it’s easy to leap into panic mode and spend a fortune on supermarket sushi, or wallow with a tin of soup and major food envy.
One city centre eatery set to quell your lunchtime woes is Fox Cafe, serving some of the best sarnies, salads and vegan snacks in Nottingham. Fully stocked with some of the friendliest waiting staff about town, we pulled up a pew to sample their delights.
Kicking off our late lunch, my pal opted for a classic latte, complete with milk foam coffee art. I opted for summat calming – a chai latte, to be precise. It was my first ever chai treat, and I was proper pleased with how warming it was. Like a hug from nannar after a tough day at school.
We dove in with a couple of sarnies, halving ‘em so we could sample the best of both worlds. First up, a Cajun chicken, guacamole, beetroot and spinach delight on sourdough bread (£4.95). It was a little different to what we expected, with the fillings mixed together rather than separate flavour entities. The end result tasted a lot like coronation chicken, which while a surprise to unsuspecting tastebuds, was well received; the Cajun spicing on the chicken had a kick that was quickly calmed by the avocado, and complemented with juicy chunks of beetroot.
The other half of our lunchtime treat came in a gluten-free bread casing. Inside, sheets of pastrami, a healthy portion of Swiss cheese, wholegrain mustard and those all-important dill pickles (£4.95). This one was definitely the winner. The salty pastrami and tangy mustard were smoothed to perfection by the creamy cheese, and the tart crunch of the dill pickles tied the entire thing together in a ribbon of lunchtime greatness. Unfortunately, the gluten-free bread was, as almost all gluten-free breads are, proper crumbly, and left the filling naked and exposed to the elements. Fortunately, these elements were my gob, so they weren’t chilly for long.
Finishing our lunchtime extravaganza with aplomb was a slice of sumptuous chocolate orange cake (£3.95), and a wedge of their vegan lemon and pistachio cake (£3.25). The former was to die for; luxurious chocolate frosting coating the fresh citrus hiding inside the sponge. Impossible to finish, but boy oh boy did we want to. The vegan lemon and pistachio had a lovely creamy icing, but the sponge itself could definitely take more lemon flavour, and texture-wise, it was a bit doughy. Perhaps we weren’t so keen as we’ve never knowingly eaten a vegan cake before, but it was a distant runner-up when compared to the gooey chocolatey goodness. Lucy Manning
9 Pelham Street, NG1 2EH. 0115 950 1295
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
