River Green Cafe - Trowse

 Taster Evening - February 9th 2016

The St
Trowse Newton
Norwich
NR14 8AH

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I'd recently heard the news that Chris Avey was joining Jan and Mike as joint owner and head chef at River Green Cafe in Trowse. Chris had previously owned The Old Bakery Cafe in Norwich and earned a recommended sticker for the excellent breakfast being served there. He kindly invited my wife and I along to the River Green Cafe taster evening, we couldn't wait to sample some of the food on the new menu.

We arrived on a dark and cold evening, it looked warm and welcoming inside though.

The kitchen is located at the rear and looks out onto the spacious dining area. I didn't take any photos of the dining area as it was full of customers but it was an impressive and well designed space.

As we sipped our glass of prosecco we read through the menu, it sounded like we were in for a mouth watering experience!

A selection of canapes were offered to us, these were vegan sushi which was of a perfectly soft and sticky consistency alongside mini poppadoms filled with salsa. 

A selection of entrees arrived with a mild tarka dahl which had a velvety texture and tasted superb.

The entrees were a selection of seasonal vegetable pakoras, pine nut, raisin and shallot brik pastries, cheese beignets, and edamame pods. They were served with a cucumber raita and an amazing spiced carrot chutney made by Candi Robertson of Dereham, I would say the finest chutney I've tried. 

Next came the soup course, rice noodle soup with tofu, edamame, shitaki, seaweed, cabbage and miso. This was superb and with a trip to Japan getting ever closer my wife and I have been enjoying similar styles of homemade soups at home recently. I'm a huge fan of edamame beans and shitaki mushrooms so really enjoyed this. 

Just as we were reflecting on the great food we'd already eaten, the mains arrived. Cashew and sweet potato slider burger in a homemade slider bap, pithivier with potato, spinach and mushrooms in a creamy white wine sauce. Warm chickpea salad, vegetable cous-cous, red cabbage slaw and dukkah. It was difficult knowing where to start first but we soon polished off everything on the plate and there were some great flavours going on here. We both agreed that our favourite thing on the plate had to be the pithivier packed with juicy mushrooms, just amazing!

This cashew and sweet potato slider was excellent, it was served in a homemade bap.

Crispy Turkish bread fattoush arrived just in time, it tasted great and was perfect to scoop up some of the salads on the plate.

By the time the desserts arrived we were quite full up but couldn't wait to try them. Chocolate orange mousse served in a mini chocolate cup was my favourite, the crunchy and smooth combination of chocolate textures were to die for. I didn't even realise it was pancake day at the time but this had been already thought out with the delicious crepe Suzette served with Ronaldo's vanilla ice cream. A mini blood orange Moroccan tart finished the evening off perfectly. (there were vegan and gluten free alternatives for all items on the menu)

The taster evening certainly impressed my wife and I, everything tasted so delicious and fresh. If you enjoy vegetarian food then be sure to visit River Green Cafe, we have already planned our next visit! Many thanks to Chris and the River Green team for inviting us to this excellent evening, I'm sure you're new menu will be a huge success.