Wellies Café, West Stoke, Chichester

UPDATE: August 2018 – Wellies has changed ownership again. We visited the first weekend of August. The menu appears to be the same at present, whether it will change, I do not know. Geoff enjoyed bacon in a brioche bun, I had a rather large piece of strawberry sponge, although to be honest it looked nicer than it tasted and the flat white was rather watery, as was the cappuccino… we’ll visit again though. We hadn’t been to Wellies for a while as it was either too busy or it was on a Sunday when the rear of the premises is closed off so it would mean leaving our bikes at the front where we wouldn’t be able to see them.

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We visited Wellies Café and reviewed it a couple of years back when it was with the previous owners, who now have the Crate & Apple in Chichester, West Sussex (which we’ve visited several times now).

On a gloriously sunny day Geoff and I cycled over to Wellies for coffee and cake where we sat out the back on the patio to catch the rays.

We received a very friendly welcome by the two ladies working there. I was cutting back on the cake and naughty stuff so only had a couple of coffees, a black Americano and a flat white, both of which were very nice and smooth. The coffee is Harries Coffee, Chichester.

Geoff was lucky enough not to be on a diet and so had a slice of an amazing tasting Bakewell tart, I know because I had a little nibble. It was freshly made that morning by Custard Pie Catering. It was SO moist.

I returned two days later with three cycling pals and again I only had coffee 🙁  Such a hard life. It was a chilly day so we sat inside. My friends had toast so I didn’t bother taking a photo of that of course.

Geoff and I had decided to return the following Friday for lunch. We didn’t arrive until 1.30 but food is served until 2.15. The two friendly ladies were there again and recognised me without my cycling attire. Another chilly day so we were inside again where there were several other diners but a few tables still available. There’s also the ‘gallery’ upstairs with a few more tables and which overlooks the counter downstairs.

Lots of drinks are available, a good range of beers and wines for a small place, soft drinks, hot drinks etc., Geoff had a pint of Sussex pale ale whilst I had a glass of Rioja.

The menu for lunch was quite extensive with lots of specials too, such as gourmet ciabattas (from Faretti Bakery in Lodsworth) with various fillings, macaroni cheese, quiche of the day, soups of the day, salmon fillet…

I chose to have the beef burger with cheese, bacon and chips (my diet!). This was very nice and served in a brioche bun with lettuce, tomato, bacon and cheese served with a pot of coleslaw and some very nice chips.

Geoff had ham eggs and chips.

The dessert menu isn’t large but they do have cakes and scones on the counter – again made by the Custard Pie lady, Wendy who I happened to meet as we were leaving when she was dropping off the cakes for the weekend. I also saw her again in Chichester’s Waitrose the following week…

We chose to share both the chocolate brownie – with vanilla ice-cream, rather than Belgian chocolate ice-cream which it should have been served with, as we prefer vanilla – and the treacle tart.  The ice-cream is from Caroline’s Dairy in not-so-far-away Sidlesham.

The brownie contained chunks of walnuts, which was nice but we weren’t too keen on the bits of orange peel inside. I hate orange peel and I’m not a lover of chocolate and orange together – although I do like chocolate oranges. Odd that.

The treacle tart was our favourite. Nice and gooey.

You may find Wellies hard to find unless you know the area but it’s not far from Kingley Vale’s car park (a nature reserve), which incidentally is a nice walk around and following it up with lunch at Wellies makes it an ideal day out. Wellies is finitely worth a visit whatever you’re up to.

Ambience 7
Quality 7
Service 9
Value 7
Return? Yes

Living life, loving cake

A x

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