The Natural Café

Smoothies good; food not so good.

The Natural Café, as an idea, is something which I find really appealing - freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices, healthy foods and salads, cosy seating and relaxing music. However the execution of that idea could be better.

We had Immune Builder and Detox smoothies, both of which felt like good, nutritious drinks - you could just feel the fibre going down and sorting out your intestines as you swallowed! - and Charles' berry-filled Immune Builder smoothie was particularly nice, I'm definitely having that one next time! The salad bowl I had, however, was really tasteless; there was a mix of chickpeas and lentils which I would have expected to be spicy but which had no taste whatsoever, and ditto with the cous cous. They weren't even bland, they were beyond bland, completely devoid of flavour. And the olives were those pitted, brined, tinned things which bear no resemblance at all to a real olive. The only bit they got right was the chopped yellow pepper... and it's a bit hard to go wrong with chopping up a raw vegetable! I also had a slice of banana cake which tasted fine, if rather sugary, but not of banana - it was more like a cinnamon cake. In fact later in the evening I had a slice of banana loaf which I bought at the farmers' market this afternoon and which was moist and banana-ish and verrry yummy, and this loaf was far superior to the Natural Café's banana cake. In addition the dishes here were dirty; only the fourth bowl I was given for my salad didn't have a patch of dried-on dirt as decoration, and Charles had to change his fork because of the layer of dried scum that was all over it.

That said, we sat down in some cushiony armchairs for a cosy hour's newspaper reading, and it was pretty relaxing sitting there with people quietly chatting around us and salsa music in the background. We sat upstairs on top of a patch of glass flooring, looking down into the cafe below, which was quite cool (I had to remember to keep my knees closed though, so as to avoid flashing anyone below!). Oh, and when I went to the loo there was a mirror in the door so I could watch myself pee - classy!

One thing I do like is that both the Natural Café in Chiswick and this one have children's play areas with crayons and things to colour in and floor cushions and toys. It keeps the children quietly occupied so that they can have a nice afternoon while their parents chat and drink coffee. Fab idea!

The Natural Café, George Street, Richmond, Surrey