Spooky (Little Pigs Cafe, Poringland)

Little Pigs Cafe (Now Aldis Farm Shop Cafe),

Poringland,

Opening times Mon- Sat 9:30-16:30, Sun 10-12

Highly Recommended 

As the number 1 self appointed cycling cafe reviewer (in the Norfolk area) I sometimes get contacted by cafes suggesting that I visit them. I'm always happy to oblige and try to fit them in when I can but there was something different about the invitation from Dani of the Little Pigs cafe at Framlingham Earl near Poringland which made me turn white from shock when I read it.

It was a beautiful summers day when, along with Mrs Crusader, we met up with today's cycling guests Barry and Helen and their Tandem for the start of our 32 mile ride to the Little Pigs Cafe via Loddon. It was the bluest sky of the year to date and a perfect cycling temperature. 

Beautiful skies over Norfolk

In such good riding conditions it was no surprise we made excellent time to our destination and found the Little Pigs cafe next to the Aldis farm shop. 

Outside Little Pigs Cafe

Barry and Helen and their tandem can't resist a farm shop and instead of joining me in the cafe to check out the cakes went straight to the shop to look at soft fruits and vegetables. The cake selection may not have been the biggest, with none of the big five sponge cakes, but this was made up for by the interesting cakes they did have on offer of which I had difficulty choosing between. I therefore still award a good effective cake selection (ECS) score.

Cake selection offering some different cakes from normal

Inside there was a seating option of more traditional tables and chairs as well as a comfy sofa seating corner. There was also a set of little table and chairs which I assumed the naughty customers were sent to sit at until they could learn to behave properly.

Indoor seating options

Being such a nice day we decided to make use of the outdoor farmyard seating area, especially as it was closer to the farm shop which we couldn't drag Barry or his tandem away from.

Outdoor farmyard seating area

I went for Lebanese Orange cake and a flapjack (to test for flapjack of the year 2016) with my hot chocolate. Mrs Crusader and Helen both had Mochas, one with Bakewell tart and one a fruit scone. As always Barry refused to join in with any cake reviewing nonsense and had Diet Coke. Their tandem remained in the farm shop and missed out on refreshments altogether.

When my cakes arrived I was shocked to find that both the flapjack and cake had been put on top of the serviette rendering it useless for crumb wiping purposes.

Both cake and flapjack on the serviette!!

Despite my best efforts I was unable to save the serviette and I have to confess I had to resort to using the back of my hand for removing crumbs from around my mouth. Shocking I know but the best option in the circumstance. Remember #keepcakesoffserviettes. (note Little Pigs cafe assure me they have now cut this practice out, phew!)

Unusable serviette after the cake and flapjack had been skilfully removed

Even though it was a hot day our hot drinks went down very well all of them being of a good standard and therefore getting decent scores. On the cake front there was a slight incident when Mrs Crusader discovered her fruit scone had cinnamon in it, which she doesn't like, where as I thought it was an excellent scone and one of the best I could remember so I gladly finished it for her. Barry also tried some scone and said it was fine but he's indifferent about most things, including Marmite, so no surprise there. The rest of the cakes were less controversial as Helen liked her Bakewell tart and we all thought the Lebanese Orange cake was top drawer so a high cake taste quality (CTQ) mark was awarded.

Cakes and drinks for reviewing

The Little Pigs cafe was a very good cycle stop and as a bonus I picked up a loyalty card to add to my cafe loyalty card picture library, I would certainly recommend a visit.

Once we had finally got Barry and Helen's Tandem out of the farm shop we set off on the last bit of our ride. Once I got home I sat down and checked my email. There was one that had been sent from the 'contact me' function on this blog. I excitingly opened it and it was from Dani at the Little Pigs cafe Framlingham Earl suggesting I should come on a visit. It had been sent at 10:30 this morning, exactly the time we were setting off on our ride! What are the chances of that? I turned white.

I returned to the Little Pigs in October 2016 with a different group to see what they thought and make sure the cakes and serviettes were kept a part.

Lollipop mans day out on return visit to Little Pigs

To my relief cakes were now served well away from their serviette which was great. We were also even more impressed with the quality of cakes and drinks than on the previous visiting increasing their overall rating so I highly recommend a visit.

Excellent cakes and not a serviette in sight

Scores based on 2 visits

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.75	8.0	6.625	8.0	7.0	7.28

Route

Click here to download Loddon - Norwich loop GPX file to load on to your GPS