It was a beautiful sunny day today, and so I decided to take my friend for a little boozy lunch. Situated on the main high street of Beeston is Rye Cafe Bar, a lovely classy coffee shop-cum-bar.
The exterior is swanky and cool, with an outside seating area comprising of a few wooden tables and metal chairs, surrounded by pretty looking fake grass boxes. The interior houses booths, tables and a well stocked cake and drinks bar!
The menu is small, but the dishes are delightful. I have been here a few times and thought that now was as good a time as any to write about it.
There is a good selection on the small menu, ciabattas ranging from pulled pork to smoked salmon, delicious sounding light bites such as eggs Benedict and chicken & chorizo pasta and larger mains and burgers.
We sat in the sunshine and ordered our drinks. It took about 10 minutes for the waiter to bring out 2 glasses of tap water and a prosecco, and then informed me that the beer I ordered wasn’t available. No worries, I thought and just chose another. However a few minutes later we were informed that they were doing a line clean, meaning that I was going to have to wait a further 15 minutes. Such a shame, I really fancied a beer. What bar does a line clean on a Sunday afternoon at 1.30pm? I instead opted for an Old Mout Cider, and the glass came out frozen and full of ice, which was a great touch and perfect in the sun.
After debating for a while what to go for I opted for the house falafel, chimmichurri & roasted red pepper ciabatta, served with tortilla chips. As is usual for me, I also opted for fries. It took about 20 minutes to arrive. It was seriously tasty. I believe that the falafel is made in-house and it was one of the best I have tasted. The ciabatta was nice and rustic, and the chimmichurri was full of flavour and really went well with the rest of the meal. They must have run out of red peppers, as mine came with yellow and green – no complaints from me though, I love them all. It came with a little side salad of lettuce, cucumber, carrot and onion in a nice light dressing. I certainly didn’t need the chips to go with it, and if I am honest they were a little soggy and not entirely hot.
I really like the relaxed, elegant feel of the place, without a hint of pretentiousness. I will definitely go back, but I really wish the service was quicker. I understand that sometimes places are so busy that the waiting staff are stretched thinly, but it wasn’t particularly busy (in fact when we entered there were 4 staff chatting at the bar) and it shouldn’t take so long for drinks to arrive.
