The medieval church of St Peter in the centre of Nottingham is surrounded by shops. The church is an outreach and social care centre working with all groups throughout the city. It also has a small coffee room between the church and M & S serving sandwiches, light lunches and cakes with the profits going to support the work of the church. Most of the staff are volunteers and cakes are also made by volunteers.
I decided this would be a good place for a quick meal with my money going to a good cause. I was hoping to write a glowing report for the coffee room but in the end was disappointed.
It is a lovely modern room with a small service counter with what looked like a good range of cakes (coffee, date and walnut, fruit cake, date slice, scones and biscuits). There was a reasonable choice of ready made sandwiches or you could order. Meals included quiche and salad, ploughman’s and jacket potatoes.
At 12.30 it was quite busy and I had to share a table. I placed my order for minestrone soup and a slice of fruit cake. The person in front of me had ordered a jacket potato and was told there would be a ten minute wait, so I wasn’t expecting my soup to arrive immediately.
I sat and sat and sat. After about 20 minutes I asked if they had forgotten me. I think they had as they had to check whether I wanted white or brown bread with my soup. It eventually appeared, and the waitress apologised for the delay explaining the kitchen was short staffed. The soup was only just hot, but I decided it was too much hassle to ask for it to be reheated. It was very thick with a few croutons and small pieces of very thin spaghett,i but no sign of any vegetables apart from the chopped chives on the top. It tasted as if it had been made from a packet rather than homemade and was very salty. At £3.60 I was not impressed. The fruit cake was £1.90. It was a bit thin on fruit, a bit dry and sweeter than I like. All in all a disappointing meal.
The quiche and jacket potatoes at £4.50 seemed much better value and came out with coleslaw and a good mix of salad. Perhaps I should have chosen one of them?
The Coffee Shop is open 9-2.30. By 1pm the crowds had cleared out. It also does a meal deal take away of sandwich, drink and crisps for £3.50.
