If you went to a cafe.....what would you have?

[Swifey40]

I'm just revamping our menu for the summer and could do with some help please.
So....meze boards, what would you have on it for meat eaters, veggies and vegans.
Or poke bowls, or paninins or salads??
Please throw your ideas at me.
TIA 😊

In my head, mushroom stroganoff is something you would serve in the evening or for a dinner party accompanied by a glass of white wine. Not in a cafe with a cup of tea or coffee! But maybe that's just me 😂

Or an omelette and salad (which is what I usually have!)

I'd like a Danish-style open sandwich.

My favourites are:

• Homemade soup with crusty bread
• Homemade pasties with salad (cheese and onion for me, but I’d also have a Cornish pasty and vegan spiced veg option).
• Paninis and toasted sourdough sandwiches (mushroom and cheese on sourdough is my favourite or mozzarella with pesto and roasted veg)
• Nice salads- Chicken Caesar Salad/ Stilton, pear and walnut/Grilled steak with avocado and roasted cashew nuts. Served with crusty bread
• Homemade cakes, scones and tray bakes
• Meat mezze board: Charcuterie, good butter, nice bread, pickles
• Cheese mezze board: At least 3 cheeses (ideally you pick from a list of 6+ options), grapes, nuts, cornichons, chutney (from a choice of 2 or three), nice bread
• Vegan mezze board: Hummus, baba ganoush, falafel, roasted veg, nuts, flatbreads.

I also love when there are seasonal specials that make the most of local produce and also keep the menu interesting.

If I want lunch at a cafe, I usually choose the one that does focaccias (I usually have mozzarella & parma ham.) They also have really nice, freshly cooked 'normal' brownies, without loads of sickly syrup or caramel. Also, they are reasonably priced, which is important; had a plain cheese jacket potato yesterday somewhere else and it cost £8.50, which I thought was an offensively stupid price - especially as it didn't even come with butter! Would also be happy with paninis, or just toasties. Don't mind salads, poke bowls etc sometimes but realistically if I'm treating myself to lunch at a cafe I usually prefer something a little naughtier!

The term 'poke bowl' is a strong repellent by the way.
Maybe for you but it is but they've been around for about 50 years now.

I'm quite happy with meze, but what I really like is a cafe that serves breakfast/brunch items all day. Not necessarily a full English (though my DH would like that!), but things like avocado on toast with bacon and poached egg, bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon. Definitely nice bread though!

Things that are 'naturally' gluten-free (i.e. have potatoes, rice etc instead of bread, rather than using gluten-free bread,which is invariably horrible). And cakes and made with ground almonds etc.

If I'm going to a cafe I would have either a toastie, soup and a sandwich or a fryup.

I’d like a child sized portion of something from the main menu for DD, maybe with an adjustment like no chilli sauce for example. She has always eaten what we do and must be the only 5 year old to not like anything in breadcrumbs. So we struggle with places where the kids menu is stuff like chicken nuggets.

I love a good Italian sandwich , croque monsieur, haloumi fries with sweet chilli dip, hummus with veg or cheese straws, stuffed or deep fried olives, baba gaboush, French onion soup, corn fritters, smoothie bowls, cauliflour wings, nourish bowls, posh baked beans (with butter beans and chilli), shashuka. I'm just making myself hungry suggesting things!

Shakshuka, but a really spicy one with lots of coriander on it.
A decent cheese salad sandwich, good white bread,no sourdough, sliced strong cheddar, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and thinly sliced onion,perhaps a few crisps, bookers tubs lol and optional home made coleslaw.
Greek salad with fabulous tomatoes and lots of good evo.
Brocoli and Stilton soup.
Old fashioned bread pudding, I don't like lots of icing and stuff.
Custard tart with nutmeg on the top,I know it can't be kept ambient for long.
Egg and cress sandwich on soft white bread.
Mackerel pate made with smoked Mackerel, cream cheese, lemon and dill served with hot toast and sweet pickled red onions.
Mushrooms on toast
Prawn marie rose in a granary baguette.
Horlicks to drink on a cold day.
Ditto Bovril.
Coke float on a hot day.
Absolutely no pea shoots, Brakes Brotherd heated up falafel,samosas, bargis, same with bought in quiche, they just taste se stale.

Home-made quiche, salad,

Yeserday I had a delicious brunch - poached eggs, bacon, paratha bread, spinach, drizzled with spicy mayo sauce, crispy onions, fresh chilli and spring onion 🤩

I’d like vegetarian things that AREN’T vegan please.
It’s really annoying how vegan food has replaced vegetarian on a lot of menus.

I would want a bread free option. Salad, quiche, soup, poke bowls with grain, eggs in a few different ways - shakshuka would be lovely!

What a great idea. Keep it simple, reduce production time and please everyone.

Try offering your child a starter from the adult menu

Falafels, chicken satay, a good salad

Sandwiches are surprisingly expensive to make.

Just a good, old fashioned sandwich on crusty white bread with real butter. Not sourdough and not hipster fillings. Things like home cooked ham, good quality mature cheddar and fruit chutney, home cooked roast beef with horseradish cream and little gem lettuce. I mean, you can offer duck confit with carmelised onions, gruyere cheese and italian pickles on rye bread as well, but sometimes you just want an honest, tasty sandwich.

Jacket Potatoes
Soup
pasta option
salad bowl (choose 3 of 6) with extra options of haloumi, chicken, or bacon.
paninis
cheese board

My local cafe does fish finger sandwiches and chip buttys on their 'just a bite' section at the end, unreal. At christmas they also do a cheese fondue with candied bacon and fruity bread and chutney, oh and hot goays cheese, pesto and chutney pin wheels!

Jacket potatoes (cheese, beans, coleslaw, tuna mayo) but of salad on the side.

Nice range of toasties/panini. Places near us make these really good by having flavoured mayo in them or by including pickles or pesto. They do a great pastrami with dill pickles, mustard mayo and a kind of nutty mild cheese, also a really good spicy tuna melt.

Pot of tea and/or very good coffee

Homemade cakes and brownies or cream teas.

I'd try to get known for one or two specialities.

That vile balsamic glaze they seem to squirt all over everything.

Depends on your market obviously... I'm overweight, on weight loss injections and although I love earing out, struggle at the moment to find simple, small plates at cafes that aren't vast lumps of fat/sugar.

I love poached eggs on toast at any time
Love an omelette if it's well done but obviously quite a skilled thing and horrible if bad
A salad bar is my happy place, or a couple of really good salads like a Greek salad (I like cucumber, black olives maybe egg and new potatoes, but I'm not sure how authentic that is!) or leaves, beetroot, feta and walnuts
Just a plain old green salad, maybe with seeds as an option
Skimmed milk option for the hot drinks
Fruit

Today I had to order something as a cafe (I was there with a client who was practising ordering things) and I ended up with a peanut butter cookie as it was the smallest thing I could find, and I can still taste it, it was overwhelmingly sweet and too stodgy for me.