This venue is now closed
Vegetarian food has come a long way since the old perception of “Bunch of Hippies chomping Nut Cutlets“ days, and nowhere is this more in evidence than at the Green Way Cafe. We did a bit of shopping at the Sainsbury’s then walked through the store, went up the path until we hit the residential street, turned left and the Cafe is about 100 metres on your right.
The cafe itself is located in Snitterton house and as such has seating spread over a couple of rooms, pretty much like you would get in a residential property. In one room there are some toys for children so it’s very family friendly. There are plenty of books, magazines and papers for you to read whilst you’re there so it’s the type of place where you easily while away the time as you indulge your taste buds.
As we walked through the door our little beaks twitched in delight at the range of smells coming from the kitchen, a little teaser of anticipation of what gourmet delights lay ahead. The menu regularly changes, as they like to make full use of seasonal produce and support a lot of local producers. The ethos of the Green Way team is to support fair-trade and organic traders as much as possible, and they use only the highest quality ingredients which you can definitely taste in the end results.
It was a lovely hot day on Saturday when we went so first thing to do was order a drink to quench our thirsts; I had Ginger Cordial and sparkling water, The Man had the homemade Lemonade and my Chick had Orange juice. Our server soon brought the drinks over and also brought a little dish of Hummus and Crudités for us to nibble on. At The Green Way they always bring a little complimentary tray for guests to munch on while you wait for the food to be cooked.
After a small while our main courses were brought out. I had ordered the Sweet Potato and Almond Pancakes with Ratatouille and Mozzarella, my Chick had a Snack size portion of the Lentil and Walnut Scotch Egg with Tomato and Chilli Chutney and The Boy Wonder had the full size Portion of the Scotch Eggs. All the mains come with a Salad, which when it arrived had my little beak gaping in wonder. “Salad“, in this case, has got to be the understatement of the Century!
Bear with me dear reader whilst I list the components of this jewel coloured, nutritionally packed wonder. In no particular order we have Mixed Salad Leaves, Pea Shoots, Quinoa, Mixed Seeds, Green Beans, Broad Beans, Carrot, Beetroot, Radish, Tomato, Cucumber, Peppers, Herbed Potatoes, Mango, Cherry, Cranberry, Melon, Strawberry, Nectarine and fresh Fennel and Parsley. It was just a total smorgasbord of yumminess, and I thoroughly enjoyed every morsel. The Pancakes were equally delicious I have to say, and my little flock were really pleased with how tasty their Scotch Eggs were too. His Nibs was pleasantly surprised as to how filling they were.
We had chosen to sit near the blackboard that lists all of the day’s offerings, including the Sweet Treats, and below the board there were several covered platters of cakes to tempt us. I had the Chocolate and Beetroot Cake, Chickadee had Chocolate cake and The Man had the Rhubarb Treacle Tart. Both of their cakes were Vegan too, not that you could tell at all. They were both exceptionally tasty; the Chocolate cake was every bit as moist and rich as an ordinary version and the pastry on the tart was beautiful. So that was another pre-conception blown out of the water; namely that Vegan and Vegetarian recipes are somehow less tasty than their regular counterparts.
It was our first visit to The Green Way Cafe, and it most certainly won’t be our last as we really enjoyed the experience. Matlock is a lovely town to visit anyway, so next time you find yourselves there make a little time to pop in to see The Green Way team you’ll be glad you did. “Hot Wings“ to you guys, carry on flying the flag for Vegetarian and Vegan cuisine - if you can win over this die-hard carnivorous flock you’re definitely doing something right :)
