A second opinion (Earsham Street Cafe, Bungay)

Earsham Street Cafe,

Bungay,

Open 9:00-4:00 7 days a week,

 Highly Recommended

Looking at the BBC on-line weather forecast last night there seemed to be a window of opportunity this morning for a bike ride and cafe (or tearoom) review before the rain was due in the afternoon. With the wind from the west we caught the train to Lowestoft to come back (wind behind) via Bungay. Chris (wife) was coming along as today's guest reviewer so it seemed like a great opportunity to return to the Earsham Street Cafe in Bungay which is currently rated number 1 of the cafes rated so far. Every time I had previously returned to a highly rated cafe it had always disappointed, dropped down the ratings and left me embarrassed after the big sell I had given my guests. I was therefore keen to see if this trend would continue today.

We got to the station in plenty of time, loaded on our bikes and settled down for the journey. Everything was going smoothly until I became aware of a mumbling going round the carriage. Apparently someone was smoking a few tables behind us. People started to cover their faces with scarves, open windows, frenziedly cough and loudly make comments to each other that smoking was not allowed. No one seemed brave enough to ask him directly to stop. My chance to be a hero and perform my civic duty I thought. However when I saw the gentleman's tattoos and half drunk bottle of vodka I decided a quick coughing fit would make the point just as well. Despite my efforts he continued to smoke until we arrived at our destination. This was clearly the most exciting thing that had happened on the Wherry train line for some time and Lowestoft station was still buzzing about the illegal smoking incident as we set off on our bikes.

The ride to Bungay was very pleasant and covered a lot of cycle route 31 (Southwold to Beecles). We therefore arrived at the Earsham Street Cafe in good spirit  The cafe is very bike friendly as they allow you to bring your bikes through to the outside area rather than leave them outside on the main road which meant I was already feeling positive when I went to view the available cakes. 

Outside Earsham Street Cafe (although Photo taken on a different day)

The effective cake selection (ECS) was excellent and although not a huge choice (or a big chocolate cake) we struggled to narrow the choice down giving them a high ECS rating. We went for the fruit scone and carrot cake (as they are very benchmarkable fare). Chris went for a decaf mocha as her guest drink. 

We placed our order and awaited the beverages and cakes as pressure mounted as to if last times high standards could be met. I was not disappointed or embarrassed as for once the high standards were repeated. The guest drink scored higher than my previous guests (although this was Andrew who is notoriously hard to please) but my hot chocolate was not quite as good and I couldn't award the 9/10 it had previously got. The cake quality was as good as before and hard to fault. We did have a difference of opinion on as to if there was too much icing on the carrot cake but as I like icing and it is my spreadsheet this didn't impact the score.

As we left I was offered one of their new loyalty cards. I had to turn it down as it could tempt me to want to keep going back and not go to other cafes or tearooms. This would rather impact the content of this blog.

Unfortunately the BBC on-line weather forecast had got it  wrong as it started to rain heavily a couple of hours early and we got soaked on the way back. I expected better and have written to the Director General to register my disappointment.

Cafe rating based on 2 visits

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
8.25	8.0	8.25	9.0	8.0	8.30

Map of route taken

Download GPX file of route to load onto a GPS. 42 miles Lowestoft to Norwich