I can never decide whether St Werburgh’s City Farm Cafe is more like a creation by Antonio Gaudi or something from Hobbiton. Tree roots and bones burst up through the floors, with the cafe looking both inside and outside like an organic being, not man-made but created from and part of the earth on which it stands.
This is a community cafe at heart in one of the most community-minded areas of Bristol. Inside, the cafe is decorated in bunting made by the residents of nearby Sevier Street. Each resident was given the opportunity to design and make a collaged portrait of themselves on a piece of bunting. The finished exhibition of bunting was displayed at the Sevier Street street party in September and is now on display in the cafe.
When I met my friend Paul at the cafe this afternoon, we shared the space with young parents and their children, as well as people on their laptops. In one corner, there is a computer for anyone to use, charging 50p per half-hour on the internet.
As much food here as possible is organic, fairtrade, wild and local, with eggs, meat, vegetables and salads from the farm.
Their recently-introduced autumn menu includes hot pot; pumpkin, black bean and goat’s cheese burrito; black-eye bean and pearl barley cassoulet; and speciality hummus with marinated olives served with pitta bread.
If you want to get a real taste of the food, they are hosting a Tasty Tales at Twilight event on next Saturday, November 27. There will be five courses accompanied by “wild foraged tipples”. After the food, guests will be entertained over coffee, whiskey or chocolate by folk singer Lizzy Murray. Email cityfarmcafe@yahoo.co.uk.
St Werburgh’s City Farm Cafe, Watercress Road, St Werburgh’s. 0117 908 0798.
