We were needing a break on the way to North Wales and we knew there were toilets in the craft centre in Ruthin. “I wonder if there is a bakers” said Michael hopefully. There wasn’t a bakers but there was a cafe.
The Craft Centre has been rebuilt recently and has a range of small units with rather an esoteric range of shops. Cafe-R occupies several units at the end of the centre. It is an attractive modern building with green, grey and white paintwork and pale wood tables. Staff are pleasant and very helpful. You are supposed to sit and wait for a menu to be brought to the table. We went to investigate the selection of cakes at the small counter to decide what to try.
Difficult decisions had to be made with Simnel Cake, chocolate and orange cake, rum and date cake, almond, apple and cinnamon slice as well as chocolate brownies, shortbread, flapjack and scones. They also have gluten free cakes. In the end we split a slice of simnel cake to eat in the cafe. They also provide a take out service, so we left with rum and date cake, almond, apple and cinnamon slice and a scone.
They didn’t have any herbal tea that I liked, but provided a pot of hot water for my tea bag. Michael had a pot of ‘proper’ tea. With a jug of hot water this provided three cups.
The simnel cake was delicious. A rich fruit cake base with a layer of mincemeat beneath the marzipan topping. This with a pot of tea came to £4.50 which we regarded as good value. The two cakes and a scone to take out were £4.58.
The rum and date cake was a bit like a mixture of Christmas cake and Christmas pudding. It was very moist and did smell and taste of rum, and not rum essence. It was decidedly more-ish. The almond, apple and cinnamon slice was dry and crumbly and again good. The scone was good too, with plety of fruit and not too sweet.
The cafe was quite busy with lunches. There are several hot choice of the day options as well as soup and sandwiches. The menu and web site make a point that they use local suppliers. Food is cooked to order and helpings looked to be very generous. Sandwiches came with thick fillings and a large plate of interesting looking salad.
The cafe is disabled friendly and there is plenty of space between the tables. Toilets are also very clean and well maintained with a disabled toilet.
We were so impressed we also stopped here on the way home.
“Website”:http://www.cafer-restaurant.com/
