North Cross Road juice bar

[Sue]

Anyone else tried this place?

Went in yesterday. The juice and coffee were both excellent.

My salad sadly wasn't, but just wondered what others thought as maybe it's just my tastebuds which don't think crab and olives are a happy mix - except they weren't mixed, all the ingredients were arranged in separate piles on the plate, including green olives (with stones) in a bowl and black olives in another bowl, with a pile of undressed lettuce leaves at one side (I had to go in search of dressing as it wasn't offered).

Then there was another little pile of sundried tomatoes, a pile of cherry tomatoes (well, a tiny pile) and a pile of avocado (at the second attempt). I think there might have been a bit of grated carrot but my memory is not too good and this certainly wasn't memorable.

The crab was plentiful and excellent, but the rest - is this the trend for salads and it has somehow passed me by?

Maybe I should have had something else - I like the vibe of the place and will go back, but not to have a crab and avocado salad!

Edited to say: I've just googled crab and olives and have turned up one or two recipes, so maybe it's just me - I love them both but not together :-$

[Mick Mac]

Is this a non alcoholic bar Sue? There seems to be a becks bier sign outside but that might be left over from the Drum?

[SeanMacGabhann]

Tis left over from the Drum, but the new place does sell alcohol as well

[Mick Mac]

In that case I'll give it a go. (don't like juice).

[Belle]

I had a very tasty chicken caesar salad there, thought it was nice friendly service and good food.

[EDmummy]

I was going to hold off complaining about this place and thought I would go to them directly but as Sue has bought it up...services was TERRIBLE and the lady, although very sweet, did not seem to have ever worked in a cafe before. Once the food finally arrived (20 min wait and we were the only ones there) I was thoroughly disappointed - goat's cheese salad which was two small pieces of french stick with melted goats cheese on top with barely cooked (white) onion placed on the top and a pile of lettuce. Not really what I had in mind for a 'salad'. I really want them to be successful but they must really sort out the waiting staff and develop some serving patterns (the layout of the cluttered bar area does seem to put them at a disadvantage)and thinking through the salads would be great.

[flapjackdavey]

cappucinos were nice though ... and I'll also say the juice was yummy .

[Marmora Man]

It's a new venture by Pretty Traditional taking over the vacant premises next door. They know their veg but, I think, are still learning about catering / cafes. I hope they'll get there and wish them well.

[bawdy-nan]

I loved the food I had there last week. Just gorgeous fresh, tasty, unusual (different kinds of leaves and tomatoes etc etc ). The crab was spectacularly fresh too. Kids plate of loads of fruit and cheese and yoghurt was utterly splendid. A little unusual, I grant you, but, for me, wonderful. Great cheese, great bread. It felt like a stroll down northcross road.

There wasn't any dressing on the salad, but thats the way I like it.

The service was slow and a bit haphazard, but it felt like they were feeling their way , which is ok as far as I'm concernefd. I kind of approached it as a sit-down greengrocers.

It would be marvellous if you could place a veg order at the same time as your meal order and pick it up after you've eaten your lunch.

[Peckhampoet]

Have had a nice tea and a coffee and cake here.

My complaint is that there are blackboard menus all over the place which makes it hard to work out what is actually on the menu at any one time. I prefer one menu in one place,preferably on a card that I can read from. A list of salads on one board, baguettes on another, etc is not helpful if I don't know what I want and I hate to miss out on anything just becasue I missed the board.

It does have the potential to be something special so hopefully things will improve as it hits its groove.

[Sue]

bawdy-nan Wrote:

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> I loved the food I had there last week. Just

> gorgeous fresh, tasty, unusual (different kinds of

> leaves and tomatoes etc etc ).

xxxxxxxx

Maybe they'd run out then when I had my salad, as I had a large pile of identical lettuce leaves (albeit oak leaf lettuce not bog standard lettuce) and a few cherry tomatoes, all the same.

I don't mind the lettuce being served undressed, I can see some people don't like dressing, but a mention that dressing was available would have been nice rather than my having to go in search of it :)

But I do wish them well, hopefully these are just teething problems.

[bawdy-nan]

Ah - I can see where you're coming from Sue. i think I'd have been dissapointed with that. The thing I loved was the variety and tasty freshness of it.

Fingers crossed for teething problems...

[cate]

I've only had coffee there but have had a chat with various people involved with it. They said they want suggestions about what to serve. So they would welcome any complaints/queries/suggestions. They seemed very eager to find out what their customers are looking for.

[redjam]

I took kids and aged parents there the other week - Mum and I had the seafood salad which was absolutely delicious (with two bottles of dressings, fyi!). But their portions were weird - my dad got a teeny tiny quiche yet there was a HUGE lake of baked beans on toast for the children (on the kids' menu). The main problem was haphazard service - they didn't take our dirty plates away for ages, even after they'd brought the desserts, so we were scrabbling to find table space for our cakes and coffee in amongst the plates of leftover baked beans - I tried to take them out myself after failing to catch anyone's eye, but there seemed nowhere obvious to put them. But overall I liked the place and again would put the quibbles down to teething problems - I'd definitely go back for that crab/smoked salmon/prawn salad.

[rubyroo]

The carrot, apple and ginger juice I had there was great but ridiculously expensive as the (not very big) glass was only 2/3 full.It cost just short of three quid!!!! There's a juice bar in St.Christopher's Place just off Bond St tube and their juices aren't that expensive.

[HellNoHellYeah]

rubyroo Wrote:

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> The carrot, apple and ginger juice I had there was

> great but ridiculously expensive as the (not very

> big) glass was only 2/3 full.It cost just short of

> three quid!!!! There's a juice bar in

> St.Christopher's Place just off Bond St tube and

> their juices aren't that expensive.

You can't really go wrong with carrot apple and ginger juice. Anyone who owns a juicer can make it.

[Sue]

rubyroo Wrote:

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> The carrot, apple and ginger juice I had there was

> great but ridiculously expensive as the (not very

> big) glass was only 2/3 full.It cost just short of

> three quid!!!! There's a juice bar in

> St.Christopher's Place just off Bond St tube and

> their juices aren't that expensive.

xxxxxxxx

I had this, my glass was full, it was delicious and I thought it was well worth the money which would otherwise have been spent on a pint of Franklin's cider :)

[sledge]

I was holding back from saying anything as figured they were pretty new. However, whilst I would go back - it would only be to give them a second chance. I went there a couple of weeks ago on a weekday around 1145 (and it wasn't busy). I waited 45 minutes for a child portion of beans on toast - and when it did arrive, the toast was soft and not toasted - still soft bread! I had to send the toast back, and by the time I got a replacement, my little one had eaten the beans!

The coffee was great and that arrived within 5 minutes.

The staff were very friendly and I got the impression they were just learning the ropes. I wish them luck and will give them the benefit of the doubt.

Sledge

[cate]

Had a salad in there along with some stuffed mushrooms recently. Was asked what I wanted in my salad and so I gave a list of ingredients including basil. The lady serving me went next door to the greengrocer to get anything she didn't have. The concoction was delicious and served at more or less room temp. so you could taste everything properly. A huge bottle of creamy well seasoned dressing was brought to me along with the undressed salad.

[Sue]

Wish I'd been asked what I wanted in my salad :)

[cate]

It was unusual being asked what I wanted in my salad but delightful. One of the perks of them owning the greengrocers next door. Hope it happens every time! It might depend on who is serving you but I hope not.

[Sue]

cate Wrote:

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> It was unusual being asked what I wanted in my

> salad but delightful. Hope it

> happens every time!

xxxxxxxx

Er, no, it doesn't.

As posted above, I got a huge heap of identical lettuce leaves, a smaller heap of cherry tomatoes, some grated carrot in a little pile, another separate heap of sun dried tomatoes, a bowl of green olives with stones in, a bowl of black olives with stones in, and no dressing either on or off the salad.

On asking where the avocado was (in a crab and avocado salad) I then received a few slices of rather unripe avocado.

The crab was delicious, in contrast to the somewhat Liver in Lager (as in Life is Sweet) feel of the rest of the plate.

Had they asked me how I wanted the salad, I should certainly have asked for crab and avocado (it being a crab and avocado salad), passed on the olives and the sun dried tomatoes (I love them, but not with crab) and suggested they mix the components of the rest of the salad up and provide some dressing :)

But hey, each to their own, I will order something else next time :))

[Jeremy]

Sue, what did you think of your salad?

[jollybaby]

Goodness I wouldn't want to be asked what leaves I want in my salad - life's already too complicated to have to make decisions like that

[Sue]

Jeremy Wrote:

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> Sue, what did you think of your salad?

xxxxxxx

I think I already answered that in the original post at the start of the thread?

I thought it was a very strange mix of ingredients, only they weren't mixed and they were all in separate piles on the plate.

I thought olives and crab made strange bedfellows, especially when the olives were in separate bowls with stones still in. And why both green and black olives? I thought it was odd to have both cherry tomatoes and sundried tomatoes, and I didn't think the sundried tomatoes were great with crab, either.

I thought they should have remembered to bring the dressing - and to include the avocado in a "crab and avocado salad".

As I already said, the crab was excellent.

However taken as a whole, I thought the salad was not a success, not worth the money and I wouldn't have it again.

But willing to give them another chance as the coffee and juice were both good and my OH enjoyed his meal.