Farm Kitchen, Southsea

We’ve been walking past Farm Kitchen in Palmerston Road, Southsea for the last few months wondering when it’ll open. On Boxing Day Geoff and I took a rather cold and blustery walk along the seafront and had a coffee inside the Queens Hotel which is currently undergoing a major refurbishment, it’s worth popping into just to look at the reception area with the lovely tiled floor and the amazing ceiling. Sistine Chapel-esque.

We walked into Southsea shopping centre and happened to notice that Farm Kitchen was open! “Oh do let’s stop for yet another coffee” I cried. So in we went.

Farm Kitchen had only just opened that very day!

Inside has a cosy feel to it, ambient lighting with bare bulbs hanging from above, one brick wall with a white painted world map, the opposite side is plain painted with several high shelves all at different height levels holding plastic plants. Easy listening music plays in the background, wooden chairs and tables, wooden flooring and the counter is way down the other end of the coffee shop. Along one wall is a banquette with lots of coloured pillows – I don’t normally like bench seats/banquettes as they’re never the right height for me but this was a Goldilocks moment, it was just right. Outside has corrugated iron sheets surrounding the doors – which looks quite good actually – which open up on warm sunny days – roll on warm sunny days!

Although it was a chilly day, inside we were comfortable.

The menu has a lot to choose from, sandwiches such as mozerella, pesto & tomato panini’s, salads, jacket potatoes, a long list of breakfasts, main meals such as steak pie, vegan pie and quiche.

Geoff ordered granary toast with marmalade. Upon the counter were two cookie jars, one looked like it contained macaroons (English version, not French macarons) and the other held Turkish cookies, apple, cinnamon & walnut which I chose. The cakes are all homemade apart from the croissants and pain au chocolat type pastries which are bought in and baked on the premises.

The cookies were really melt-in-your-mouth delicious, similar to a very soft and light shortbread with the apple, cinnamon & walnut filling within.

The coffee, Tchibo’s Café Grande was very nice, I had a flat white whilst Geoff had a cappuccino.

The service was excellent and very friendly indeed. We really wanted to return soon.

And return we did, the very next day for lunch in fact!

Geoff went for the sausages & mash; two thick sausages, creamy mash and fried onions. I had a taste and it was very nice. Geoff said he would certainly have it again.

I had the vegetarian burger; large and juicy portobello mushrooms with halloumi inside a fresh brioche bun, served with a small garnish of salad leaves and freshly sliced tomatoes and very tasty potato wedges.

For dessert Geoff had a lemon tart similar to those you’d find in Carluccio’s or Costa’s, which isn’t a bad thing as they are very nice.

I couldn’t decide between the lemon drizzle cake or the blueberry & lemon cake but opted eventually for the former. It was moist and fresh and contained plenty of blueberries but lacked any taste of lemon, but was still very nice and had I not known it should have had lemon in I wouldn’t have faulted it 😉

I was also given a complimentary slice of lemon drizzle cake which was very kind of them and after a little nibble of it we had to take the rest home as we were rather full by then. It was made by the same lady who’d made the blueberry & lemon cake and it was lovely, it seemed to have a slight crispness to the sides which were nice and the sponge was very fresh and bouncy. I’d have that again thank you very much!

Farm Kitchen is definitely worth a visit, I couldn’t find anything about it that I didn’t like and I’m pretty sure you won’t be disappointed, we’ll return for sure. The service was very good and the staff are very friendly and eager to please.

Ambience 7
Service 9
Quality 7
Value 8
Return? Yes
Overall 8/10

UPDATE: September 2019 – We often visit Farm kitchen and have enjoyed many meals and cakes there. We always receive a friendly welcome with great service. One of our favourite places in Southsea. Below is a slice of vegan orange, carrot & walnut cake which was really very good, moist, fresh and bouncy. Farm Kitchen have added a few new items to their menu including vegan and vegetarian dishes too.

Living life, loving cake

A x