What a fantastic afternoon we have just had at Taurus Crafts. The Garden Cafe? An experience not to be missed; a pleasure that we will be returning to and as often as is humanly possible. Two gorgeous locally made/produced platters entertained two hungry adults whilst a pair of (fussy – shhh I didn’t say that) teens devoured outdoors made (by their fair hands too) oven – baked – in – a – jiff pizzas. And then the wander round The Laundry which was a fabulous find. A gem of a day – and sunshine to boot. Oh! and pots thrown by small (ish) hands aided by the expert and oh so patient potter. Wonderful. See you all soon!

I am just about recovered from our first 4 days of the cafe. It was exhilerating to work out how we might give good food and good service from such a small space without the experience of having done it before.

At the heart of what we want to do is to show, well, the fabulous product from the area. We need to show it in such a way that gives our suppliers a good return, enables us to do this week after week and be sustainable. This enables us to employ local people, enables us to buy local product and our local suppliers to build their local businesses. This is important in the Forest because is not a wealthy area and we need to attract and retain spend.

So as a visitor to the area, we want to give you a great distinctive experience. If you are from the area, we ask you to make a conscious decision to spend something with a local business that makes that spend work harder by recirculating it in the our local community.

So this weekends menu includes white wine soused mushrooms with tahini sauce, smoked salmon pate, sweet potato pate, our range of local meat, cured meat and cheese platters and much more.

Coming soon is Just Rachel’s Rhubard and Custard Ice Cream – a seasonal local taste extravagancy – which takes me back to Gloria and our developing conversations about ‘glut’. Gloria’s beautiful book on preserves – how did she do that? – asks the question how do we make the land and the seasons works for us by tickling our taste buds.

Elizabeth, Garden Cafe, Taurus Crafts

The pics and menu look wonderful [but deeply worrying, especially the cakes] you might be tempted to try everyone!
I made braised pink [forced] rhubarb in the oven with thinnly pared orange peel and a shake of sugar. when it had cooled I added a spoon of rose water.
Served with lemon and vanilla pannacotta [River Cafe], I think I should have added another leaf of gelatin to make it firmer. Hannah wouldn’t let me use vegegel, she said it smelt horrible…. I would like to try it next time.
It looked wonderful with a good sprinkling of vanilla seeds on the top, the taste was divine.
Am still forcing the rhubarb that allotment Mick gave me but sadly it will soon go back to being green and rather sour!

Your blog looks great and the Taurus photos are wonderfully appealing. Even though I live in San Diego, California, I’d love to stop by for a treat. The very best of wishes to you for your complete and utter success!