I love community spirit; after all, if you don’t support things in your locale, can you really have a sense of belonging? At the beginning of August 2024, a young couple - Joel and Georgia - realised their dream of owning their own café/bakery in Dronfield Woodhouse, and invited The Man and I along to sample breakfast.
‘All Things Nice’ is located in a lovely little precinct of shops, so there’s plenty of parking close by - free for 2 hours, should you be curious - and the venue is literally a minute’s walk away. Outside All Things Nice, and a-board proudly displays that ‘paws are welcome’ and a bowl of fresh water is beside the door for thirsty pooches. Joel and Georgia have big plans to change the interior, but for now, to get off the ground and trading, the venue has a welcoming café feel to it; no-nonsense tables and chairs and uncluttered décor. Matching, no surpassing, the welcoming ambience of the venue is an even warmer welcome from Georgia, Joel and Georgia’s Auntie; the moment we stepped inside, we were made to feel like part of the family. It wasn’t just us that got the royal treatment; everyone who walked over the threshold was treated like this.
The Breakfast and Breakfast Sandwiches are available until Noon, so His Nibs opted for the Full English (£6.50) and I had the Steak Canadian in a large Bap form the Hot Sandwich section of the menu, which is clearly written on a blackboard behind the [extremely] well stocked counter. The thinly sliced Steak comes with finely chopped Red Onion and Cheese, so I was already salivating at the thought of it as Joel went into the kitchen to prepare our order! Georgia busied herself with making the Latte and Hot Chocolate that we’d ordered to go with our food. Several workmen came in, ordering a variety of the Breakfast Baps to take out, and they were a good size – guaranteed to fuel any worker.
Both drinks were nice and hot, and the Hot Choc mix was a beautiful one: rich and chocolatey, and not overly sweetened; also very nice was my coffee blend – I forgot to ask which beans they use, but it was a great tasting cuppa. Before long, Georgis was bringing out the plateful of yumminess for His Nibs, quickly followed by my mahoosive wholemeal bread bap.
The Full English comes with a choice of Beans or Tomato, and The Man had gone for his beloved ‘fart pellets’ I prefer Tomatoes (either tinned or fresh, I’m not fussy!), but there was a good portion of them, either way. Two rashers of thick, butcher-quality Bacon were soon disappearing down His Nibs’ gullet, swiftly followed by a pair of thick sausages. Both items were top quality; the bacon was rich in flavour and crisp at the edges (none of that insipid, water-injected stuff), and the sausage was gently seasoned, so no repeat factor either. Joel does his fried eggs so that the yolks are cooked through, but if you prefer them runny, I’m sure he’d do them that way for you. The Hash Browns were shaped into rounds rather than the usual triangles, and were cooked to golden perfection: crisp outers and softer inners. For £6.50 you get a good old plateful, that’s for sure.
My wholemeal bap (I could’ve had a white one, if I’d wanted) was crammed with scrummy, thinly sliced Steak, and its deep meaty taste paired really well with the softened Red Onion and melted Cheese. I opted to have Sweet Chilli sauce in my bap, too, and its flavour married beautifully with the other elements. At first glance, I wasn’t sure how filling it would be in comparison to The Mans’ plateful, but I needn’t have worried: my tummy was soon full!
Seeing as it was nearly midday, we decided to indulge in a sweet treat as well; I went for the Cracknell (made by Georgia’s Auntie), and The Man satisfied his craving for chocolate with a slab of Double Choc Brownie, made by Georgia herself. Oh, my days…they were blooming incredible! Buoyed by the quality of every thing we’d had so far, we went all-in and bought some bread to bring home: a Pumpkin Seed-pimped Baguette and a Cinnamon Focaccia.
We had the Pumpkin seed baguette with some Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Balsamic, dipping into it as we simultaneously munched on Padron Peppers for a light tea.
Saturday night tends to be ‘cinema night’ at the nest, so as our movie-time treat I toasted a couple of slices of the Cinnamon Focaccia, then cut them into cubes and topped them with thin slices of fresh Strawberry. If you haven’t had this before, I can heartily recommend you try it; the combination of warm and cool, spice and sweet, is marvellous. I also added a drizzle of Honey to crown it all.
The next morning, we had the rest of the Cinnamon Focaccia with Bacon in it as an alternative to the bog-standard bacon sarnie. Bacon and Maple syrup are well-known bed-fellows, so I figured that Cinnamon would go nicely too – turns out I was right. Sometimes the best ideas are the ones that are made on the spur-of-the-moment, and this one was a genius move on my part , if I say so myself!
Everything had been super-tasty and the majority is homemade: Joel does the cooking and the breads, Georgia bakes the cakes, brownies and Cinnamon swirls, and her Auntie does the Cracknell, so it’s only the pastries that are bought in. Well, there are only 24 hours in the day!!
Hot Wings given to this fab Dronfield Woodhouse venue; it may only be in its very early days, but this family run venture will only grow and grow as the word spreads about its quality. It isn’t fancy, but it’s tasty and priced well, and it is at the heart of its community, so please support it.
On Facebook, look up ‘All Things Nice, Dronfield Woodhouse for details (the address is 35 Pentland Road, S18 8ZQ), or ring 01246 906250. Opening times are Mon-Fri 8.30am-3.30pm, Saturday 9am-4pm, and closed on Sunday.
