Garden Kitchen (Mill Road)
82 Mill Road, Cambridge, CB1 2AS
info@thegardenkitchencambridge.co.uk
You may well have sampled the delights of the Garden Kitchen on a visit to their cafés in Cambridge Botanic Gardens and at Kettles Yard with its atmospheric outdoor summer seating in the church yard nextdoor. If so, you will have appreciated their philosophy of using quality, basic ingredients and making them into something great.
In the east of the city, 82 Mill Road is the third location for the Garden Kitchen, and although it may be the urban sibling of the three, it’s just as much an oasis thanks to its recent partnership with house plant specialist Small and Green.
The pandemic has seen many small businesses re-evaluating how they operate and adapting to their customers’ needs, and this particular blossoming indie collaboration is a fine example. With the front of the café now a beautiful shop brimming with plants, pots and pretty much everything a plant-lover could want, it means that Garden Kitchen owner Andrew Smith and his team can focus on their strengths – creating delicious vegetarian food.
So now Garden Kitchen @82 is a fabulous deli takeaway – although still with some seating on stools in the window. On offer is a full vegetarian breakfast and lunch menu together with coffee from fellow local indie The Brew Project and homemade cakes by chef Barbi.
This new way of working has created another opportunity for Andrew. Catering has always been a part of the Garden Kitchen repertoire, but now with Small and Green established in the front of the shop, he is able to focus his attention on creating something a bit different to the usual office lunch with menus featuring light bites and salads to grazing and sandwich boxes, whole cakes and heat-at-home meals. Delivery can be arranged through Zedify or enjoy the excuse to pop into the shop and collect.