Present on the high street in the quaint area of Hale, the Garden offers a healthy option on breakfast and lunch to appease all dietary requirements. STYLEetc. caught up with one of the venues owners Kate for a chat and to test out the menu for review.
Aesthetically in line with its marketing message, the Garden features hanging flower baskets and dried hydrangea’s adorning the back benches for decorative detail of a natural theme (although the flowers themselves are fake for longevity purpose).
The USP of the Garden is to provide organic produce and naturally crafted dishes, covering recipes which will appease meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans all under one roof. For those with special dietary requirements, it is impressive how many alternative meals are readily available, gluten, sugar and dairy free offerings are not only in plentiful supply but are tempting enough to make those with typical diets eager to try.
Surveying the menu at our time of visit, the breakfast offerings varied from the usual full English interchangeable choices. The Gardens version of an English breakfast consisted of 2 eggs, spinach, tomatoes, sweet potato hash, beans, mushrooms and sourdough. Owner of the Hale Kate informed us that the restaurant prefers to see meat as an extra as opposed to a necessity, which the Garden Breakfast adheres to as it offers choice to add extra bacon and sausage to the vegetarian base products.
Alternate to that is toast topped with healthy combinations, quinoa and wholemeal porridge and pancakes. Opting for the Matcha Pancakes, the choice of berries and cashew cream or banana and cacao presented a tough decision, with the banana and cacao winning in the end. Free from sugar completely, it was intriguing to see what flavour this dish would provide. Not as sweet as the processed version yet still flavourful and fresh, the pancakes were enjoyable and offered just enough in portion size to fill your appetite without feeling stuffed.
To accommodate our food the drinks choices were plentiful in variety, covering hot and cold beverages. Our table chose a pot of English Breakfast Tea and sampled a shake and a smoothie to try some of the venues specialities. The first cold drink was named the ‘I am Strong’ Shake, titled so in reference to it’s inclusion of protein. The shake was made up of banana, almond milk, chia cashews, maca and hemp protein vanilla. The taste was strongly influenced by the fresh banana, offering a satisfying result of sweetness minus the guilt of sugar.
For the Smoothie we sampled the ‘Holy Cacao’, which comprised of Banana, Cacao, Chia, Maca, Almond Milk, Avocado and Maple Syrup. This had a richer flavour than the shake, helped by the syrup infusion to shape the overall taste.
If blended fruit isn’t for you the Garden also offers bottled water, which also is carefully thought out and alternate to your standard tap variety. Alkaline water is sold with the venues own branding, named so for its PH level as sourced from a specially built Alkaline tap.
The idea is that most food we consume can be acidic and even some standard varieties of water aren’t as neutral as appearances suggest, making it important to balance your body out with alkaline water. This offers a clever niche for the restaurant as any fitness enthusiast Instagram is sure to snap this product, and in doing so posts the Garden’s branding and address for a boost in marketing.
On the subject of marketing, Kate informs us that social media has proved to be a useful tool to her venture, with a recent survey concluding most of their new customers discovered them through Instagram. The power of ‘fitspiration’ and ‘clean living’ can be a persuasive movement, encouraging people of all ages to be more conscious of what they are putting into their bodies.
As we parted we spied the cake display at the front which had been previously missed in the hustle and bustle of the restaurants morning rush. Spotting organic banana bread (a personal favourite) we just couldn’t pass up the chance to try.
Our loaves were parcelled up to take away and were consumed later in the day, offering a natural yet still sweet flavour with a crumbly texture Mary Berry would be proud of.
As a fussy eater my mindset was curious as to whether I would find suitable options to accommodate, which left me pleasantly surprised at how not only were my needs met, but I was spoilt for choice with tempting menu options.
To discover menu’s and more visit the Garden Hale.
