The Natural Deli, Bishops Waltham

The Natural Deli is one of my favourite places to eat at the moment. We regularly go there whilst out cycling, they have a courtyard with tables, chairs and blankets and a side area to put our bikes.

They have something for everyone there. Geoff can enjoy scrambled eggs on toast or a sausage roll, whereas I can have a delicious healthy salad and of course, there is a good selection of cakes! Man, I luuurve cakes!

After several visits of just having coffee and cake we decided that we really must have something more substantial one lunch time so we drove over there last month. Whilst Geoff seems to be able to manage a bacon sandwich, a cake and a coffee whilst on a ride, I can’t.

The salad bar is lovely, there are several salads to choose from and you can choose up to three for £7.95. I had the roasted vegetable medley; roasted butternut, feta, spinach, rocket & watercress and the Mediterranean couscous, plus I paid extra for avocado.

I found it really filling and struggled to get through it all. You wouldn’t think that from a salad would you? The Natural Deli Salad Bowl was very fresh and tasty and not smothered in dressings either which was good, and I must admit, I found them much more tasty than Luckes in Chichester.

Geoff enjoyed his scrambled eggs on toast with bacon as an extra. The only ‘weak point’, he says was that the knife was useless at cutting the sourdough bread.

I also love their juice, especially ‘Sweet Beet’ which is apple, beetroot & ginger. The ginger isn’t too overpowering, just the right amount of each ingredient.

They have a good selection of drinks, juices, smoothies, milkshakes, teas, coffees, wines and spirits.

I must say that their flapjacks are excellent! Both Geoff and I think so anyway. they have a slight lemon taste to them and sometimes a bit sticky underneath, yum!

There’s plenty of cakes to chose from, sponges, raw cakes, flapjacks etc., I’ve enjoyed several over the last few months. The above raw slice I had only last weekend was very good. The cakes and food are all made on the premises.

The coffee is also delicious, they use Moonroast – which is my favourite – who are based in Hampshire. I always have a flat white and it’s always done beautifully.

The owners, a young couple, are nice and friendly, so too are the staff (the owner has the most incredibly blue eyes)!

The Natural Deli has plenty of seating both inside and out. There are a couple of tables at the front of the cafe on the pavement and just inside by the deli’ counter, to the rear there is a larger area and of the course, the courtyard at the very back which is accessible both from the cafe and the side road which leads down to Banks Bar Bistro, another very nice eatery. Josie’s Wine.Coffee is just down the road too (not so great whilst cycling as there’s nowhere to put the bikes, and we haven’t been there for ages).

There are several items for sale such as coffee presses, chutneys, cereals, biscuits for cheese, Pana Chocolate etc., and of course some packets of the lovely Moonroast coffee for you to take home to make yourself.

Some of the lovely cakes I’ve had at the cafe; flat white; the courtyard; loyalty card (which I keep forgetting to take with me).

It wasn’t terribly busy when we visited for lunch as you can see from the photo above but the Taste of Wickham food festival was on and people were having to park miles away and walk the rest, however, it soon filled up.

I can’t wait to go back, we keep making up different cycling routes to get there so it doesn’t seem as if we’re doing the same thing each time.

Ambience 8
Value 7
Service 8
Quality 8
Overall 8/10
Free wifi
Return? Yes!

Living life, loving The Natural Deli!

A x