Compulsory Hummus. (Amandines cafe, Diss)

Amandines Cafe,

Diss,

Opening times Tue-Sat 10:00-17:00,

Highly Recommended 

Due to the amount of high winds we have been having recently it has been difficult to get out on a ride with out putting my cycling guests into potential danger. I can think of nothing worse than setting off on a cafe cycle ride only for my cycling guest to be blown off their bikes and suffer a serious wind induced cycling guest injury (SWICGI). I would then have no one to rate the guest hot drink at the cafe stop and the ride would have counted for nothing. It just isn't worth the risk.

Fortunately, although the winds today were still fairly strong, they were below the speed at which I felt a SWICGI was likely and therefore the planned ride could go ahead with today's cycling guest Big George. As the wind was from the south we decided to head down to Diss so we could be blown home on the way back.

Like me Big George has opted for a two bike strategy with a lighter summer bike and a more heavy duty one, with tough tyres and mudguards, for wet and slippery winter conditions. I changed to my winter bike back in October and have suffered no punctures or wet backs since. Big George, on the other hand, has had several of both and only today finally got his winter bike out leading to today's cycling guest cycling top tip.

Cycling Guest cycling top tip No 43. To get best use form your winter bike try learning which months correspond to which season. (To find out more then the ladybird book of weather is a good source).

My most regular cycling guests; Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) and Big George both used to follow the way of the vegetarian but where as Andrew has stuck to his principals Big George has lapsed due to it being too much faff to cook veg for himself and dead things for the rest of his family. However I knew given the choice he still likes the way of the vegetarian best so as a treat we would be going to Amandines Vegetarian cafe today.

We battled into the wind down to Diss, safe in the knowledge that a puncture or untimely skid was unlikely, where we found Amandines cafe in a little courtyard area.

Outside Amandines cafe about to put bike security measures into operation

There didn't appear to be an outdoor seating option so we headed inside to find two indoor seating areas; a more cosy set of tables near the counter or a bigger indoor atrium seating space. The place was busy and represented the most vegetarians I had ever seen at one time. We both liked the whole feel and set up so gave Amandines a high atmosphere and ambiance (AAA) rating.

Actual Vegetarians in the indoor atrium space

I was looking forward to some actual vegetarian cake to see how it compared to the normal meat eaters cake I was used to so I checked out the available cakes in order to decide on the effective cake selection (ECS) rating. To save space the cake display only had one slice of each type of vegetarian cake making it look a little sparse. There was vegetarian carrot cake and vegetarian courgette and lime cake which I understood as I know carrots and courgettes are vegetables. I was a bit more confused by the other cakes on offer. First there was Tunisian orange cake but I know an orange is a fruit not a vegetable, with the final offering being chocolate fudge cake and chocolate and fudge are neither fruit or vegetable so not sure what this was doing in a vegetarian cake selection. As there were not many cakes available I could only give a moderate ECS score.

Vegetarian cake selection although not all the cakes had vegetables in them

Big George obviously went for one of the cakes with vegetables in, courgette and lime, to go with his filter coffee but I went for the Tunisian Orange cake to accompany my hot chocolate. As it was lunchtime we also had a jacket potato each. Big George explained that in a vegetarian restaurant it was compulsory to have something called hummus so I did and it was very nice.

Jacket potato with compulsory hummus

Our drinks were both very large which in some establishments can sometimes lead to a weak drink but this was not the case at Amandines cafe and we were both impressed by the strength and taste of our drinks leading to high drinks marks.

Nice large and strong drinks

On the cakes front, despite the lack of vegetables, I found my Tunisian orange cake to be quite excellent. Big George liked his lime and courgette cake too, but not quite as much as mine, leading to a high cake taste quality (CTQ) mark.

Tunisian orange and courgette and lime cakes

I very much enjoyed my visit to Amandines cafe and experiencing the way of the vegetarian. It had rated very well and I recommend a visit even for non vegetarians like me.

Due to my excellent planning it was now wind behind on the way home and this combined with the energy giving powers of compulsory hummus meant we were back in no time at all.
Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.50	8.00	5.50	8.00	7.50	7.30

Route

Click link to down load 57 mile Diss Loop gpx file to your GPS

New wheels. (Mere Moments, Diss)

Mere Moments,

Diss,

Opening times Mon-Sat 08:30-16:00,

Recommended 

After returning from Europe I was excited to see that the new wheels I had sent for for my bike had arrived. Ignoring all requests for helping with unpacking or other post holiday related chores I went straight for my tool kit to get the wheels out of the box and on to my bike. Apparently these wheels have been tested in a wind tunnel and go 9 seconds quicker than other wheels over 25 miles. I was therefore keen to try them out so invited today's guest Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) to join me on a trip to Diss where we would also be able to find a cafe to review.

The ride down went smoothly not just because it was a lovely day with little traffic about but also because of the way my new wheels glided over the road (well I have to tell people that to justify replacing the perfectly good ones I had) so we arrived in Diss in good time.

As we didn't have a cafe in mind I went to tourist information to ask them where I could find a suitable cafe or tearoom. The nice tourist information lady said there was the one next door I had just walked past. As I hadn't spotted it and not wanting to lose face, I agreed, that yes there was that one but I had obviously decided I didn't like the look of it or I wouldn't be in here asking for tourist information, so please tell me about another one.

The nice tourist information lady said there was another one two doors further down. Does it do nice cake I asked. Yes she said. Right I shall head there and I marched confidently out the door with my face still in tact (I think).

The cafe in question was Mere Moments which overlooked Diss's central pond which they call the Mere.

Outside Mere Moments in the European cafe culture based outside seating area

The cafe had a small European cafe culture based outdoor seating area at the front, two rooms of table and chairs inside and an outdoor seating decking area at the back. We were kindly allowed to carry our bikes through the indoor seating areas so we could keep an eye on them while we sat at the back enjoying the view of Diss Mere through the car park

Our table in the decking out door seating area
overlooking the Mere (behind the car park)

With bike security and seating arrangements sorted I went to check out the cakes to award the effective cake selection score (ECS). They were displayed in an elegant glass tower and included 3 nice big sponge cakes. I went for hot chocolate with Victoria sponge and Andrew for a pot of tea and the chocolate cake.

Cake selection in glass tower display unit

As it had been a long time since breakfast I also ordered a Stilton baguette. After placing my order I was expecting the normal question of 'did I want cream on my hot chocolate' so had already got my standard answer of 'no as it comes' prepared and ready to go. However the serving lady asked the wrong question of 'did I want crisps and salad'. Before I had time to react I had blurted out my standard answer. By the time I realised my Stilton baguette would not now have accompaniments it was too late. Again I didn't want to lose face and so explained I had a crisp allergy and had to jealously watch Andrew as he added crisps and salad to his cheese baguette.

Refreshments being guarded by mini penguin chefs 

The hot chocolate was excellent as Mere Momments had got both the hot and chocolate elements of the drink spot on. Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) thought his tea was fine but as previously discussed it is hard to get more than a score of 7 for a cup of tea, which this one did.

Both our cakes were also very good and towards the top end of the cake quality scale.

We were told there was a path out the back of the cafe and along the mere which we could take back to the road to save us carrying our bikes though the cafe. However our path was blocked by a herd of wild geese and as neither of us were particularly brave we decided that through the cafe was the safe option.

Gang of extremely frighting looking Geese that only the very brave
 (or the nice little old lady on the table next to us)  would dare go through

Mere Moments was a very nice stop and even Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) agreed it would be worth coming to visit again.

The ride home was a very pleasant ride along some nice country lanes and we clocked up nearly 60 miles. Thanks to my new wheels this meant I got back 21 seconds before he did. Worth every penny.


Scores for Mere Moments

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
9.0	7.0	6.0	8.0	6.0	7.20

Route

Click link to down load 57 mile Diss Loop gpx file to your GPS