Out For Breakfast At The Recently Opened All Things Nice Cafe In Dronfield Woodhouse
Published On Friday 30 Aug 2024 by Sticky Beak
See Recent Dining Out Reviews | See All Recent Reviews
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.
| Dinner At Olive, Belper After A Couple Of Cocktails At Gatsby's Those who know me, know that I don't do naps; unless I'm ill, but then that tends to be proper sleeps. However, this weather has got me spinning and, after having a read Read The Article | |
| A Return Visit To Hickory's Smokehouse In Gamston, Nottingham Having been fortunate enough to visit the southern states in America several times when I was younger, I got a taste of proper smokehouse meats Read The Article | |
| Sunday Lunch At The Restaurant At The Renishaw It was another Sunday (where are the weeks going this year?!), which meant a jaunt out with Mummy Bird for a roast dinner. The Man had done some scouting around and consulted our list Read The Article | |
| Sunday Lunch At The Robin Hood Near Baslow Before you all jump on me, I'm just going to clarify that I do like the warmer weather. But.... Come on, 30 degrees+ is just too much for a pasty English Rose; I can't function: I'm sweaty, lethargic Read The Article | |
| Dinner At Roka Turkish Kitchen In Ripley After a day at the Spa, the last thing either myself or The Man wanted to do was cook! We scratched our heads as to whether to get food delivered, order pick-up takeaway or just bite the bullet and go out Read The Article | |
| Dinner At Nicco Restaurant & Bar, Pride Park, Derby The Man and I have eaten in Pride Park before, but this was our first visit to Nicco Restaurant and Bar. I'm happy to say that the car park is a decent size and we found a spot for the jalopy Read The Article | |
| Out For Dinner At The Merchant's Yard In Tideswell I've always been a huge fan of our stunning scenery here in the Shire, but I'd forgotten just how glorious the scenery is on the drive up to Monsal Head. Even with storm clouds threatening Read The Article | |
| Sunday Lunch At The Bulls Head Inn, Foolow The Man and I had kindly been invited along for the Sunday Roast at The Bulls Head Inn at Foolow and, I tell you what, you'd be hard-pressed to find a traditional English village Read The Article | |
| Sunday Roast Platter By Hogbroast At The Mixing House, Derby Well, what a blast from the past! The Man and I were kindly invited along by Matt and Jordan of HogBroast to sample their Sunday Roast Platter at The Mixing House Read The Article | |
| Back To The Village Inn In Marehay For Their Pizzas The first rule of life? Don't razz your Mummy off; or, if you prefer to look at it a different way, keep Mummy on-side. Happy Mummy = Happy Sticky = Happy Man Bird, Fledge, BB etc.. Read The Article | |