Dish and spoon

[Fuschia]

Just been along for the first time to this new cafe on the nunhead side of p rye park near the adventure Playground

Loads of space, toys, easy parking

?1.50 children's sandwiches

[buggie]

I love the dish & the spoon & lucky enough to be in walking distance of it :)

Even Bugglet points & says "dish spoon" if we're going past!

[Belle]

It's brilliant - ample space to maneouvre buggies, lovely menu, great & friendly staff, good toy area - just a really well thought out cafe. And has had a fab holiday programme of events, we've been to several. The closest thing to an enjoyable cafe visit I've had with my two!

[Strawbs]

I like it as I can order a coffee, plonks baby strawbs in the play corner and sit on the floor with him drinking my coffee in peace!! He does unfortunately like to crawl around trying to eat anything on the floor so it never lasts long before I'm up and about! Haha..

Did the recent photo shoot there too and got two fab pics of baby strawbs for ?10!

[Fuschia]

We went along for the tdlp event, always been great fan of theirs.

Managing 3 under 5 on my own is never easy.

I have recommended it to twins club members, places you ca for in a double buggy (or several, for a meet up!) are few and far between.

[simonethebeaver]

I love it too. The food is delicious, the staff genuinely don't mind kids, there's loads of room and toys! My only grumble (and I think it'll be seasonal) is the open door. Not restful with a speedy toddler. The salted caramel millionaire's shortbread is utterly brilliant.

[crystal7]

I love this place! Best place for a coffee with slightly feral 3year old and 10month old. Lovely food and friendly staff. Great selection of toys too and only 5 min from P Rye Park playground. If only it had opened at the beginning of my maternity leave rather than the end!

[bluesuperted]

Also love it and don't go often enough! Great addition and as others have said, very well thought out indeed and deserves lots of repeat custom! Cheese scones delicious.

[LauraHW]

Another thumbs up for the Dish and the Spoon. Loads of lovely toys for kids, friendly staff, relaxed atmosphere and some really amazing cheddar on offer. Only slight gripe from me is that the breakfast menu could be a bit broader. Would love it if they were able to offer french toast, pancakes or similar. We get our fry up fix from the Cheltenham Cafe.

[nunheadmum]

Another fan here. I love having it round the corner. And love that it offers something different to the Cheltenham Cafe. Two decent places, depending on what I need.......just need a decent veg shop round there and we're sorted!

[Fuschia]

The door was closed today. Would have been stressful if not

[sunbob]

Sounds lovely. I look forward to trying it.

[veryseriousgirl]

Another recommendation for Dish and Spoon - it's a bit of a hike for us but totally worth it. The owner and staff are friendly and welcoming, the coffees are really well made and there is loads to entertain my nearly 3 year old while my 6 month old and I chill out at a table. The Wednesday morning (free) play group is a particular highlight of our week.

[Susan]

Went this morning for the first time and 20 month old was so happy with toy selection that we even had a quick scan of the papers and ate our yummy sausage baps in peace! A really lovely place

Anyone know what toddler events do they have on? anything on a Thurs or Fri?

Thanks

[midivydale]

It is a great place for toddlers. Shona and her staff are great and fab coffee.

A great addition to nunhead.

[Belle]

Susan - if you like them on Facebook you can see updates of regular events etc - at the moment I think they are mainly doing summer holiday things, so for e.g. there have been toddler cookery classes the last few Fridays - I don't know what the plans are after term starts but it'll be listed on Facebook once confirmed I'm sure.

[DishandtheSpoon]

Hello Everyone

Firstly, thank you all so much for the very kind customer feedback. And thank you to everyone who has managed to visit us so far. To answer the couple of points that people have mentioned as needing improvement.

1) Our menu - As a cafe/deli we are attempting to be a mid way point between a cafe & a coffee shop. Our chef bakes fresh cakes, biscuits, tray bakes, savoury tarts & also creates lovely fresh salads, which we sell on their own as a menu item, or as an accompaniment to our sausage rolls, pies and baugettes. We also usually have a hot soup of the day, todays is Brocoli and Nutmeg, which we serve with fresh bread and butter, and we have expanded to include home made smoky baked beans, & sausage or bacon ciabattas for brunch too.

We arent set up with a chef in the kitchen all day at the moment, which makes it tricky to accomodate some of the items we'd like to include. For example scrambled eggs, pasta etc. Again, this is something that will evolve over time. So, if you have been in before and found we didnt do what you were after, maybe come again and see, quite a few people express happiness to see items that have been added since their last vists.

2) The Door - We have left the door open over the summer months, for the simple reason that the cafe gets a lot of sunshine (terrific) but this heats us up like a green house. We have got fans on the shop floor, and do try to get as much air into the shop as we can, but appreciate that for those with very young toddlers the lure of an open door can be very worrying and stressful. We have tended to manage this on a day by day basis, and ask parents if they would like to have the door closed or open. We are looking into solutions to keep the little ones in and the air circulating.

Please do keep the feedback coming, we have already made a number of easy to make alterations based on customer feedback & appreciate every customer visit.

And finally, to let you know, we have just launched our customer loyalty card, and will be offering double stamps on all coffees bought today. We are open till 3pmm.

Thank you

The Dish & the Spoon

[sunbob]

How about a gate of some sort on the door. If a stair gate is not quite right for the ambience, then maybe a nice rustic stable style door, that can be opened separately at the top and bottom. There may be time to investigate what's available in time for next summer.

[DishandtheSpoon]

Hi Sunbob

Yes definately, we are thinking along the same lines. The best idea suggested was to look into something that functioned the same way as the fly screens that some homes in countries such as Australia have, so the main door can be kept open, but the screen snaps shut as soon as the person lets go of it. We'd need to be mindful of anything that could crush fingers though, as we have already had to fit finger guards to our bathroom doors for that reason. Our main door is a glass one, so a stable door approach wouldnt work. Thank you again for the suggestions. Hoping our cosy shop becomes a better selling point in winter!

The Dish & the Spoon