Letter posting. (New Flavours, Dereham)

New Flavours,

Dereham,

Everyday 08:00-22:00,

Recommended 

I require certain things from my cafe cycle stops, the most important being cake. On the other hand Big George is not a big fan of sweet treats so doesn't always approve of my quaint tea room choices. I was therefore a bit nervous when he asked if he could pick the destination for today's ride. Big George is one of my most reliable cycling guests and as I am keen to keep him onside I reluctantly agreed. He said he knew of an excellent Portuguese cafe in Dereham so on a beautiful Spring morning we headed off there.

Beautiful Spring conditions we experienced today

The only jeopardy today was an urgent letter I had been given by Mrs Crusader which she asked me to post during the ride. I had put it in my back pocket and despite being reminded "don't forget to post the letter" just before we left I found it was still in my cycle top when I was looking for my bike lock key outside Big George's cafe of choice, New Flavours, just off the high street in Dereham.

Outside New Flavours cafe/restaurant in Dereham

I decided there must be post boxes in Dereham so would post it after our break and we went inside.

New Flavours is open for Breakfast all the way through to evening meals and does take away as well so I was worried it might be a Jack of all trades (but it wasn't). It has a very Portuguese feel with Portuguese TV on show (sound off but with subtitles, in Portuguese, so you still knew what was going on in Portugal), Portuguese newspapers, Portuguese posters but most importantly, in the cake selection, authentic Portuguese tarts.

Interesting selection of cakes but mainly Portuguese tarts

I love Portuguese tarts but as they are rather small I pointed at the other item I liked the look of and asked what it was. Apparently it was "normal cake" as it seems they only have the one type in Portugal as most people just eat the tarts, so I had a piece of that as well.

True to form Big George didn't go with cake but ordered a fried egg sandwich to go with his cappuccino.

Everything was looking good until my cake and tart turned up. They had only gone and served them on the serviette rending it useless. I added Portugal to the growing list of countries I will have to sort out once I have eradicated the problem here in the UK.

Cake and tart on serviette. Remember #keepcakeoffserviettes

Big Georges egg sandwich also arrived in the same style but he didn't seem bothered as he claimed it was the best egg sandwich he had had anywhere in Norfolk. I photoed it to add to my Big Georges egg sandwich album which I hope to publish in a retrospective collection one day.

Fabulous double egg egg sandwich

Our drinks were very large, very hot and pretty good in taste. The normal cake was excellent but the highlight was the Portuguese tart which was fabulous. It was clear that New Flavours delivered a high quality product and if there were more types of cake in Portugal they would have rated even higher. Its well worth a visit.

Cakes and drinks

As it was Big George's turn to pay it became clear why he had requested we came here as our drinks, cakes and egg sandwich only came to £7.20 which is about half our normal bill. I decided that I wouldn't invite him when I cycle to have tea at the Ritz, if I ever do.

On the way back we discussed the various garden projects we were planning as it is traditional to think about doing gardening at Easter even if progress rarely gets past the compulsory visit to the Garden centre.

When I got home Mrs Crusader asked if I had remembered to post her urgent letter. "Of course I had" I said as I hurriedly headed back out to the Pillar Box at the end of our street.
Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.0	7.0	4.50	8.50	7.0	6.60

Route

Click link to download 37 mile Norwich Dereham loop GPX file for your GPS 

Incident lite. (Tall Orders,Dereham)

Tall Orders,

Dereham,

Opening times Mon-Sat 09:00-16:00

After having a short break from Cafe Cycle reviewing Wednesday seemed like a great day to get back on the bike and find a new cafe to check out. An old work colleague had suggested I try Tall Orders in Dereham as his fiancé owned it. This seemed like as good a reason as any so with guests Chris (wife) and Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) we set off.

It was a beautiful warm summers day and we had a speedy and for once incident free ride to Dereham. Andrew and Chris had both recently had professional bike fits from Mr Footlab (highly recommended) so were comparing stem angles, seat post heights and handle bar widths. It was clear neither had a clue what any of it meant but it obviously made them both happy to be incidentally swapping meaningless numbers.

We arrived at Tall Orders and locked our bikes with a combination of Alarmio and non-Alarmio security systems and went inside. Sadly Tall Orders does not have an outdoor seating area but does have a fairly large single room indoor seating area.

Outside Tall Orders in Dereham

I went straight to the counter to review the cakes and to decide on the effective cake selection (ECS) rating. There were only a few cakes and a sign assuring us that they baked fresh scones daily, although these were not on display. The cakes they did have plus the potential fresh scones meant a reasonable ECS could be awarded.

The full cake selection. disappointingly there was no big sponge cake

I choose the chocolate brownie with my Hot Chocolate, Chris the coffee cake with her skinny mocha and Andrew the flapjack with his cappuccino, this meant we had almost the full cake selection covered.

Cakes and drinks about to be tried

The drinks were all good and scored well. The cakes were nice too with the chocolate brownie being the best. Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) felt his flapjack had all the right ingredients but traditionally you would except them to be joined together in some way. This step seemed to have been missed when the flapjack was constructed and a spoon may have been a better cutlery choice than the fork provided.

Flapjack which was rather more crumbly than necessary

Overall Tall Orders was a nice stop with good quality cakes and drinks but not the greatest location.

The ride back was equally uneventful but all in all a pleasant return to the world of cafe cycle reviewing.

Scores for Tall Orders

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.5	7.5	5.5	7.5	5.5	6.70

Route

Click link to download 37 mile Norwich Dereham loop GPX file for your GPS

What is a 'Country Teapot'?. (Sue's Country Teapot, Dereham)

Sues Country Teapot,

Dereham,

Opening times Mon-Sat 09:00-16:00,

Sun 10-15:00

No I don't know either but apparently Sue has one and it's in Dereham, so, after nearly two weeks since a cafe visit, I set off with my guest for the day (notoriously hard to please Andrew) to test out Sue's Country Teapot. 

Once again the ride came with added pressure as Andrew had to be back by 1.00pm to collect his son. This meant a good pace, short refreshment stop and no incidents would be necessary if we were to get round in time. Unfortunately we achieved none of these as there was far too much talking with not enough pedalling. 

We arrived in Dereham and started to search for Sue's Country Teapot. Much to my annoyance Sue's Country Teapot was not where it should have been. I clearly remembered where it was on the internet map I had studied before we left but in the real world it just wasn't there. We were aimlessly cycling round Dereham when Andrew bravely stepped in and asked a local where Sue's Country Teapot was,  a question I couldn't bring myself to ask. Fortunately the local knew what he was talking about and was able to direct us. We found it attached to the side of the Dereham factory outlet shop.

Outside entrance to Factory shop where you can find Sues country teapot

On entering it was clear the décor was aimed more at the OAP shopping crowd rather than the cafe seeking cyclist. White table clothes, lace curtains, and lots of pink plus a strange perfume smell would normally see me moving on for my refreshments but it passed all my criteria for a rating review (see post 'there must be rules') so in we went. Sue seemed to have attracted a number of local ageing shoppers into her country teapot and  it was busy and buzzing. Unfortunately the car park location along with the old fashioned furnishings did not give much room for a high ambiance score and was rated accordingly.

As always I went straight to the cake display zone to review the cakes and award the effective cake selection rating. There was a good selection but only a few lonely slices of each cake and none that leapt out shouting 'eat me' so I could only award an average ECS score.

The drinks menu was also a little disappointing, the only coffee available was described as 'hot milky coffee' but I did notice there were 4 types of tea. I suggested to Andrew he choose from the tea menu. He pointed out the 4 types were pot, cup, pot for two or mug so not really the fine tea selection he had in mind. He went for pot and a scone and I went for Hot chocolate and chocolate cake.

Once again the focus of my drink had been put on the hot part of the drink and very much not on the chocolate bit but at least the milk was not burnt. Andrews cup of tea was a standard cup of teabag based tea but he did get to pour it into a china cup.

Scone and chocolate cake were both fine but nothing special. Overall Sue's country teapot did not score well as a cycle ride destination but did seem very popular with its target Dereham factory shop customer base. Despite the very friendly staff it is unlikely I will be making a return visit on a ride and therefore turned down the opportunity of joining their loyalty scheme.

We left still unsure what a country teapot was and if Sue had even been there. We returned to Norwich on some very nice roads with the wind behind but not at a fast enough pace to meet our deadline so sorry to Andrew's son for late pick up.

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
4.0	5.0	6.0	6.0	5.5	5.30

Route

Click link to download 37 mile Norwich Dereham loop GPX file for your GPS