Take a trip to Cambridge. Avoid the streams of bicycles as you step out to cross the road, wonder at the bright young things scuttling around, holding the future of the nation in their ringbound folders; take a stroll by the river, have a pint in a dusty pub, end up on Kings parade, staring at the decorative frieze of Kings Chapel, and feel like a bite or two to eat.
Ignore the shiny façades of the chain restaurants, and search instead for a little corridor with a swinging sign. Get the wrong corridor, you end up in a fuddled little second hand bookshop. Get the right one, and you’re stepping down into the Rainbow Café.
And if you ignore the hawkish grimace of Gillian McKetih on a poster above the stairs, and don’t turn that instant on your heels, you’ll find a cavern of yellow painted bricks, dotted intermittently with cubbyholes that display shrine-like arrangements of silver jugs and trays, lit by candles. And a quiet thrum of chatter.
A beaming smile approaches with two menus, and we settle to peruse with an organic cider. Yes, this is a vegetarian restaurant, yes it also sells itself as vegan, but the kaleidoscopic array of flavours and origins on offer instantly blows any thoughts of the puritanical health obsessive to smithereens. There’s dishes from Greece, Italy, Latvia, Mexico, Ethiopia, Cuba, Libya and as if vying for the most exotic menu prize, Guadeloupe. This rainbow menu is a Benetton advert of variety.
We chat and choose, enjoying the options, savouring the challenge. For the starter, we go for the Bavarian Lentil soup and the Organic whole golden beetroot, with thyme and cheese topped garlic bread to share. The polite request to allow at least twenty minutes for the mains to arrive bodes well for those who enjoy their food fresh.
The lentil soup is a little gritty, but the beetroot has a fascinating flavour – the garlic bread is like eating a hot, cheesy cloud – I could live of it for life. We barely have to wait for the main course, which comes like a reminder of the café’s name – more rainbows. The Gado Gado, a julienne of Indonesian vegetables with turmeric infused brown rice, pineapple, orange and physalis, is a vivid mix of red, purple, orange green and yellow, and comes on a tray with three sauces: plum, peanut and soy. We cut into the Vegan Artichoke parcel, Filo pastry wrapped around a heart of artichoke, red pepper, black olives, sun dried tomato and vegan cheese, and a puddle of flavour spills onto the plate. If you first eat with the eyes, then we were instantly satisfied. In both dishes, the flavours were balanced, the portions plentiful and the whole experience felt like an investigation – the variety of flavours turned each mouthful into an experiment.
There is a video on the Rainbow Café website of the owner on a delightfully quaint BBC show, featuring the bright eyed, buzz-cut Gary Rhodes. Sharon Meijland is shown walking through the Sunday farmers market in the city’s town square, talking about her work. For Sharon, the Rainbow Café is a crusade, a stand against the bland reputation of vegetarianism. Armed with colour and variety, she wins with every plate.
For more information visit the website
Written by Nick Hayes
Date posted: 28/10/2011
Category: News.
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