Tell me your favourite foodie cafe meals

[whatisforteamum]

I've got an interview for a cafe that wants to go upmarket.As a chef I have some ideas.I thought I would ask your fav cafe dishes and snack meals.

I love Lebanese food fattoush, baked falafel salad, mezze etc. Healthy and taste great.

Tapas style of any type of food, Spanish, Greek, Indian. Using seasonal and local produce where possible. My favourite cafe has a fairly standard menu on all the time, soup, sandwich, panini and baked potato. But goes posher with a weekly set menu, 2 choices of starter, main and pudding. So it meets the regular and takeaway crowd but also let's you make it special too.

Oh yes I've done tapas and mezzes before.

Vegan Bahn Mi with tofu and pickled vegetables and sriracha. Mmmmm

So few places do free range chicken. It's not exactly 'foodie', but if you perfected a good fried chicken recipe and convinced them to do it free range, I bet people would bite your hand off!

Eggs Royale (I don’t eat meat so no Eggs Benedict for me). I love a weekend brunch.

You need some good vegetarian & vegan options.

Interesting salads - I like ones with grains, roasted and fresh veg, interesting cheeses, fish or chicken, seeds - had a lovely kale and beetroot salad with hummus, crispy chickpeas, and halloumi it was amazing.

Though I'd see if you boss/cafe owner could keep some cheaper stuff on the menu. They're probably thinking to go upmarket and make loads of money, but I've had friends and colleagues very pissed off in the last week - going to their fav places to see that the prices have been jacked up and the food made fancier - thet didn't want that! They wanted what was there before.

Mash with wasabi

Delicious bread

Bubble and squeak with a fried egg and pancetta

Good bread and delicious soups

My favourite meal in a cafe I go to is a BLT on a ciabatta bun, using really good bacon, tomatoes and lettuce

We loved this menu. Simple food, limited menu, absolutely delicious www.cookhousejoe.com/#home

Eggs benedict, Royale or florentine a proper ploughman's, cheese platter, potted shrimps, homemade pate and crusty bread

Posh brunch stuff, e.g. duck egg Benedict, posh sausages, organic bacon, sour dough bread etc. Substantial salads, I like tabouleh or butternut squash and bulgar wheat- that sort of thing sells well in our local posh cafe!

Interesting / nice salads - not just the usual bog standard ones. Our local cafe does warm grilled halloumi on rocket, peppers and tomatoes with a minty yoghurty sauce 🤤 I like salads with a warm component and / or not always with leaves; those would be my go to lunches.

Buddha bowls. I had one yesterday from a local deli and you could can pick from a list of carb, protein, veg, dressing etc , I had brown rice, sweet potato, kale, roasted broccoli,mixed bean chilli, guacamole and salsa. Yum

People want good quality, not necessarily quirky. A really good breakfast is hard to find, great outdoor bred sausage and local bacon etc. A good selection of vegan dishes that meat eaters order it too. Upmarket doesn’t mean anything other than great ingredients cooked well in my opinion.

Great comments yes where I work we use quinoa,spelt ,coloured beetroot,halloumi,grilled peppers and kale in the salads.
Anything with avocado sells like bruscheta.
I can make olive breads butternut and chilli soup.It is in a bakery so I guess sour dough on tap.
I quite like a goats cheese tartlet with red onion marmalade.Anything with asparagus gets my vote too.

I think boring foods done well, so a salad that is delicious with loads of colour rather than greens someone eats to avoid calories.

Agree with PPs about great salads and great bread. A choice of low or full fat dressings.
Also mezze options and amazing stews for colder months.

A decent vegetarian selection would be a good start.
Mezze as mentioned above.
Halloumi, avocado and chipotle chilli jam on sourdough is one of my favourites.
Decent salads - without rocket, I bloody hate rocket. So many salads are ruined by the addition of rocket.

Some great ideas but I also think it's important to perfect the basics. Like a really good egg Mayo, nice meats for sandwiches and good cheese.

Easy food to eat to take away too - eg wraps that you can eat on the go or bircher bowls you can eat one handed. I often have to multitask and eat whilst writing an email, prep for next meeting etc etc - so I want good "fast food" that doesn't need an army of cutlery or huge space at my desk to eat.
Ps Sushi - always sushi 😍

Yes I agree a good breakfast is small things done well imo.