The first Sunday of April ended up being very warm and sunny indeed. This was extremely good news seeing as Rich's youngest sister had chosen her birthday lunch to be an outdoors affair. I had never heard of Cafe Ronak on Gloucester Road but I am genuinely glad to have rectified this. Run by two lovely brothers Kaveh and Kiarash Darafshi it is a chilled out, friendly and welcoming place. The crowning glory is the lovely garden at the back which is full of flowers and catches the sun in time for you to enjoy your lunch and soak up some rays.
Cafe Ronak mostly serves some of the usual cafe fare of fresh smoothies, breakfasts, wraps, paninis, cakes and burgers. But they also do a really good platter of all home made mezze, they even marinade the olives themselves. Milkshakes and smoothies were ordered all round and I went for one of their paninis and chips to share with Rich. A mezze platter was ordered, as we were reassured that we couldn't miss out, to pick at by the table.
Presents were opened and then the food started to arrive, and it was plentiful. The portions were very generous considering the reasonable price, nearly all main dishes were between £3-£6.
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| Herby Chicken, Bacon and Cheese Paninni |
If you like mezze then I strongly advise you to order the mixed platter when you visit Cafe Ronak. The falafel are lovely and moist but crunchy on the outside. The aubergine dip is fresh and flavoursome and I loved the olives which, as I mentioned above, are marinated at the cafe. Cafe Ronak has a lovely happy buzz to it which made visiting it all the more glorious and I definitely recommend them for lazy summer days. Plus the owners are so fond of Rich's sister they got her a giant cake to finish up our already generously portioned meal.
You can find Cafe Ronak at 169 Gloucester Road, or click for a
map
Singular: Panino
ReplyDeletePlural: Panini.