Brownes Cafe Hanham

06-11-16-0429

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Well I have been officially violated by food...

Hanham High Street has notoriously been unlucky with cafes. The type of cafe and restaurant that opens on this high streets tends to offer the kind of food you would find in a retirement home or hospital.

There is a concept that Hanham is full of old people so maybe thats why this phenomena has occurred. I will say it here and now that that this is UNTRUE! There are some elderly people in Hanham but in fact the predominant groups of people in the area are office workers and self employed tradespeople. These people have a comfortable level of income to spend on things such as nice food and there is nowhere to spend it here.

Therefore, when the rumour erupted that there was a new cafe opening on the high street it was a welcome bit of news. Brownes has a great reputation in Downend, so we assumed that the quality of food available in the area was about to be elevated...

BUT NO...

We headed in, mouths watering, expecting tasty wholesome cafe food. Looking through the menu there was nothing overly tantalising so I went for a plain old jacket potato with beans and cheese. This arrived with dry undressed salad, no butter on my potato and the cheese was PARMESAN CHEESE! Oh my goodness gracious me, not appetising at all. I had to force it down and to be honest only ate half of it, which is a miracle for me as i love my food!

My friend ordered the smoked salmon and scrambled egg on toast and it arrived looking like the chef had puked on to a slice of bread. She had to not look at it to eat it. She said it tasted okay but the vision marred the overall experience for her. I didn't particularly like looking at it either, so I avoided it - basically pretending it wasn't there to limit the trauma.

The atmosphere of the cafe is busy and the decor is average - nothing special. The acoustics are odd, you can barely hear each other speak. Additionally the owner/manager is completely over the top and cringe. Shouting at you at your table and being over the top friendly and trying to be funny but just not! Standing in the doorway with the door open having shouted conversations with anyone and letting the cold air in.

The only upside for me is that this is the only coffee shop in the area offering soya lattes, but I would never eat here again and I wouldn't stop in for a coffee if I needed to have a conversation where I could hear myself or the person I was with!

Very disappointed indeed.

However there is a separate event occurring in the evenings which involves Tapas and this seems to be getting very good feedback so I intend to try that one day soon and I will let you know how it goes.