Spring has sprung (East Hills Cafe and Bistro, Brundall)

East Hills Café and Bistro,

Brundall,

Opening times Mon-Wed 09:30-16:00,

Thur-Sat 9:30-23:00, Sun 9:30-18:00

Highly Recommended 

After two weeks of wet and windy weather I was delighted to be woken this morning by both the alarm clock and actual sunshine pouring through the window.This was good news as not only was the alarm clock clearly working but I had arranged a cafe cycle ride and didn't want to have to call another one off due to inclement conditions.

Better still, the sun had remained out, although it was still a bit raw temperature wise, as myself and Mrs Crusader mounted our bikes to set off to meet Barry and Helen and their new tandem at their house. When we arrived they were both sitting on their shiny new bike, all ready to go. I asked how my good friend 'old tandem' was but they were rather evasive and I got no response. I am worried there may be a more sinister explanation for their sudden need for a new patio.

One thing for sure was that their new tandem was a lot faster and, with the help of a friendly wind we bombed along the lanes all the way out to Acle. Once here we turned back into the wind where, hindered by a number of unnecessary hills, progress became markedly slower. As tiredness set in, my cycling guests started to repeatedly question how far it was to todays target stop, The East Hills cafe and Bistro at Brundall. I refused to answer as I consider this is bad for cycling morale and I didn't know.

When we arrived in Brundall we turned off the main road and down to the river to find the cafe on the edge of the boat yard.

Outside today's destination

I had been planning to visit here last year only to discover that there had been a fire and the cafe had been shut for about 6 months for repairs. It had only been reopened for a couple of weeks but this didn't seem to have put the punters off as the place was packed, so we opted to sit in the very pleasant outdoor balcony seating area. 

Enjoying the views of the boat yard from the outdoor seating balcony

I had sensibly brought my own fire extinguisher, just incase, and left it with my cycling guests as I went inside to check out the cakes and place our order. There was a good selection of cakes including two of my favourites, pear and chocolate plus baked cheesecake, so I ordered a slice of each which I would kindly share some of with Mrs Crusader despite the fact she had wanted a cheese scone. I awarded a good effective cake selection (ECS) rating.

Part of today's cake selection

I was also pleased to see that their were four sausage rolls available which meant all my cycling guests could join in with rating them for sausage roll of the year #SROTY. My only concern was that it was shaped the wrong way with pastry running top to bottom rather than side to side. I obviously checked the SROTY rules but there was no mention of this being an issue so we were able to continue with our test.

Sausage roll with pastry going wrong way

The consensus was that it was the best sausage roll so far this year and looks certain to make it to the SROTY sausage roll off at the end of the year.

My hot chocolate and the selection of cycling guest hot drinks all scored well too. I was also impressed by the baked cheesecake which led to a high cake taste quality (CTQ) score.

Cakes and drinks

The East Hills cafe had proved to be an excellent start of Spring stop and I would highly recommend a visit (subject to it not burning down again) during the forthcoming cafe cycle season.

Hopefully Spring is now with us proper, as I have gambled on arranging two more rides this week. Although I expect it will now snow.

Scores based on 3 visits, last on 22/01/18

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.25	7.5	7.58	7.78	7.5	7.52

Route

Click her to download 35 mile Norwich Acle loop GPX file for your GPS