Lets find a Cafe (or tearoom)

Lets find a Cafe (or tearoom)

Locations of reviewed cafes

For more information on the Cafes I have visited and the latest cafe cycle news go to http://www.cake-crusader.co.uk/

Cake Crusader Book

There is now a Cake Crusader book available where you can follow my journey from humble local trips to world record attempts and near-death experiences. How did a simple method of keeping track of decent cycling café pit stops turn my life upside down? Track my adventures into Europe, up mountains and right across Great Britain as I become a 'rising star' on social media. Will I prove my critics wrong? Should cheese scones be served hot or cold? Do I really have nothing better to do with his time? A must read for lovers of cycling and cake or anyone wanting to make it big in the virtual world

Available on Amazon


Saturday, 5 May 2018

Hard man image? (Vanilla Cafe, Debenham)

Vanilla cafe,
Debenham,
Opening Times
Mon-Sat 8-4
Recommended 
Last week Big George had called off our planned cafe cycle ride into darkest Suffolk sighting 3 reasons
1. He was feeling poorly
2. It was too far
3. It was due to rain all day

This was hardly in keeping with his hard man Scottish image but I had reluctantly agreed to rearrange the trip until yesterday. However by the time it was finished his beer drinking, rugby loving persona was in tatters.

I had replanned the route down from the original 58 miles to a more manageable 37 to keep within Big Georges current limits. The route was due to start from Hoxne (no I don't know how to pronounce it either) in North Suffolk so we had to drive there first.

On arrival we enthusiastically got the bikes out the back of the car and were soon enjoying the Suffolk countryside, which is very similar to Norfolk but with extra hills.


Getting ready to set off from Hoxne
Big George had a quick whinge about the wind direction but despite this we made good time down to Debenham for today's cafe stop. Please note Debenham is a place in Suffolk and we didn't just pop into the nearest department store. Our venue was The Vanilla cafe on the high Street.
Outside Vanilla cafe about to cause pavement gridlock
As there was nowhere to leave our bikes we propped them against the cafe sandwich board but foolishly didn’t follow cycling guests cycling top tip no. 65

Cycling guest cycling top tip no. 65. Never leave your bikes somewhere that narrows the width of the pavement as this will instantly attract all mobility scooters from miles around and cause total pavement gridlock.

I left Big George to wrestle with bikes and mobility scooters and went inside to check out the cakes and place our order.
Today's cake selection
As well as a good selection of cakes I was glad to see brownie available so I took some away for later testing in my secret underground bicycle workshop back at Crusader Towers.

I order Victoria sponge to go with my Hot Chocolate while Big George had a Cappuccino and a pain Au chocolat which isn't really cake but close enough for him.

We sat outside enjoying our refreshments and as our bikes were now safely parked away from the pavement no more mobility scooters appeared.
Today;s hot drink and cake selection
My Hot Chocolate was fairly standard but Big George thought his giant Cappuccino was particularly good. On the cake front then the Victoria sponge was a very large nice tasting piece while I ignored Big George’s view on the pain au chocolat as it wasn’t really cake. Overall the Vanilla cafe had proved to be a decent stop and I recommend  a visit.

As we set off again Big George asked me to guess what event, in the next couple of weeks, he had managed to get tickets for. I assumed it must be yet another Scottish Rugby match so was somewhat surprised to be told he had gone ticket crazy for the forthcoming Norfolk and Norwich cultural festival. As he listed each performance I became increasingly worried about his future image rights. I could just about understand one going to see a selection of 'Songs and poems from the sea' sung and spoken by people I've never heard of but I would find it harder to justify watching over an hour of artistic acrobatics in a large tent, although apparently this is done in the nude (the acrobatic bit not the watching) so could almost see the attraction. However how any self respecting so called Scottish hard man could sign up to sit through an interpretation of the “world in free-fall” via the media of dance is beyond me.

I explained I wouldn't be going to any events again this year as during all the performance art I have been to (which isn’t any) I always end up getting bored and thinking I would rather be at home with a good spreadsheet.

Unnerved by a discussion about art I changed the conversation back to Big George’s favourites of Rugby, beer and housework before insisting on a short detour to Cocoa Mama's cafe in Eye to collect some more brownie. To comfort myself I spent a happy afternoon brownie tasting and filling in the appropriate rows and columns in my #BOTY Excel.

Scores
Hot Choc Quality
Guest Hot Drink Quality
Effective Cake Selection
Cake Quality
Ambiance and Atmosphere
Café Rating
5.5
7.5
6.8
7.37
7.05
6.84
Route
Click here to download 37 Mile Hoxne Debenham loop gpx file to your GPS

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