Daylesford Organic Cafe Review
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7881 8020
The Bamford name is mighty in the world of organics -- and construction equipment. Lady Carole Bamford is the wife of influential billionaire Sir Anthony Bamford, owner of JCB. She was the catalyst for the organic conversion of the family's extensive land in the Cotswolds and Staffordshire, and started the Gloucestershire farm shop in 2003.
Customers -- some of them famous -- flocked and Daylesford Organic has grown into a lifestyle brand offering everything from spa treatments to dry stone wall-making classes.
The cafe we visited is part of the company's growing presence in London and has its trademark chunky but chi-chi interior. It's dominated by a hefty communal table and huge foodie prints that change by season; on our visit they included the interior of a wonderfully creamy-looking blue cheese.
At the till end there are packed rows of shiny jams and boxed biscuits for sale. If you came in for a coffee (some organic, some Fairtrade) the chances are you're going out all lunched-up.
The cafe also features a deli-style array of products to buy
Beef and chicken, fruit and vegetables, bread and cheese and more are produced on Bamford land, and the sausages and breads are award-winning. A veggie lunch dish of crisped fingers of polenta with herby mushrooms and creamed spinach hit the right wintry note, with a portion size well-judged for those who might be shopping for clothes afterwards.
The organic raw vegetable salad was crisp, with a riot of wafer-thin colour dressed in a slightly reticent vinaigrette. There's a lot of talk about seasonal, home-grown produce in the company bumf, but anyone who gets a veggie box will know that at this time of the year something's got to give. Here that something was the addition of multicoloured peppers and weeny cherry tomatoes. The Daylesford policy is that when vegetables can't be grown in the UK they're sourced predominantly from Europe.
Since we had no plans to try on clothes afterwards, we tried the brownie, which currently uses organic but not Fairtrade chocolate to weave a web of enticing deliciousness. Like everything else, it was presented beautifully and delivered with a smile by the smart, capable and polite waitress.
We're uneasy about how well the Bamford lifestyle -- Sir Anthony has a private jet and helicopter -- fits with a squeaky-clean Daylesford Organic ethos, which includes degradable milk packs, vegetable-based inks in the catalogues and plans to introduce renewable source energy systems to the Gloucestershire buildings.
Lady Carole told American magazine W that she "can't be green all the time". Daylesford Organic is very good at what it does, but not everyone will happily digest the bigger picture.
[box]Essentials: Lunch dishes at Daylesford cost from £6 to £13; a cappuccino and a slice of cake cost £7.30; a three course meal for two is around £30. The cafe is a short walk from Sloane Square Station. 31 Sloane Square, London, SW1W 8AG, England.[/box]
Quality
Value
Ethics
Green
