By Victoria McGee
Work in the food industry long enough and you’ll find that from time to time a place will catch your eye. A place that each time you walk by you think about going in there ‘If only you had the time’. One such place for me was a very cute and unique café in Hackney called Palm Vaults.
So without further hesitation, I decided enough was enough, and took a step through those doors. Here you’ll find what I discovered! And for any readers thinking about getting into the food production business, take a look at licensing a central production unit in London to get you started.
What’s inside?
Where To Find: Palm Vaults Hackney
They are based in the east and you can find the café at 411 Mare Street, Hackney, E8 1HY. It is quite far away from where I live but definitely worth going. They mark themselves on being an ‘Independent cafe & coffee shop’.
I have always wanted to try this place, I found it on Instagram and thought it looked really cute and like it had a really interesting selection of food. I had previously tried to find their menu online before going as I love to have a look in advance. The layout and theme of the café is to die for. With the colours being baby pink and mint green in their decorations, this café really has a nineties feel to it with vintage chairs and golden and marble furnishings.
What To Eat & Drink
The day I went there the weather was very wet and cold so I wanted something to warm me up, this is where their selection of lattes came into play. They have a range of very unique and different lattes.
Varieties Of Latte
The list consists of:
- Matcha Latte
- Golden Latte
- Velvet Latte
- Aqua Latte
- Violet Latte
- Lavender Latte
- Rose Latte
The price of these lattes are really decent as they are only £3.20 each.
Yes, the portion is small and not as big as your average Costa or Starbucks but still the same price for something unique and different. I had previously tried a rose latte at Farm Girl Café in Notting Hill. I found this very strong tasting of rose and different to my every latte that I have from Costa.
They also sell Lavender Lattes their too so I thought that I would save these to try their as they aren’t as unique and special to Palm Vaults. The first lattes that stood out to me were the Velvet, Violet and Matcha Lattes.
Matcha is a green tea powder that has recently, in the past year, become very popular in the UK. You can find Matcha Lattes everywhere and I have also tried one of these before too so I decided to try the Velvet Latte. This is bright pink in colour. I am not too sure what is in a velvet latte but I feel that it is based on a red velvet cake as it has a really sweet taste to it. I don’t know what I expected when sipping this drink but it was quite sweet and creamy. There is no caffeine in them but you can ask for it to have, it’s completely up to you.
I later tried the Violet Latte, as we stayed at the café for a while. This one was a lot nicer to the eye, very creamy and obviously a bright purple colour. It tasted a little bit of wheat but a very interesting taste and very hard to explain. This latte is also very light in taste and texture.
Chia Pots, Smoothie Bowls & Toasties
When it comes to food and what I like to eat I am very picky at lunch time and love a good breakfast for lunch. This café is great for that, with the options of smoothie bowls, yoghurt and granola and also Chia Pots. They also have a great range of toasties.
As it was a really cold day I was interested in the toasties, they have a Goats Cheese, Squash, Pine Nuts and Spinach one, they really made my decision hard. Along with the selection of breakfast for lunch I was stuck for choice.
Unfortunately they didn’t have the smoothie bowls available that day so I went up to the counter and asked which the lady suggested the Granola or the Chia Pots. She said that the Chia Pods were to die for, this is a pink and green matcha chia pot with mixed berries.
Chia Pods are chia seeds that have been left in milk or liquid overnight to expand. It came out in the cutest little pot with berries and flowers on top. When tasting the chia pod it was really light and not filling at all. The taste of the matcha really added to the chia seeds and made it different to any other chia pot I had tried before.
You couldn’t taste the matcha too much which is great as I find in other products matcha can come across really strong. This chia pot was only £4.00 which I think it very decent compared to other chia pots I have had or bought also it is fresh and not out of a packet from the supermarket.
For those avocado nerds out there, there is a great avocado on toast. This is served on a sourdough bread with chilli flakes on top, you can also add on extras on top as well including crumbed feta, sundried tomatoes, turmeric and smokey coconut. I am not a massive fan of avocado myself but I have a lot of friends and family that are and I know they would love this. This is served at a price of £6.00 with extra for the different toppings.
Verdict
Overall I absolutely love this place. My friend and I went for lunch and to sit and do work for the afternoon and this is what it is designed for, to sit and relax with great and affordable food. Everyone definitely needs to go and try it even if it is really far away from you. You can find out more about this café from their website and social media pages linked below.
About the author
My name is Victoria McGee, I am currently a Fashion Photography student at the London College of Fashion. I am a food blogger and have worked with companies including the Superfood Bakery, Mio Skincare, Yoga Design Lab, Nakd Wholefood, Collective Yoghurt and many more. I am also the social media correspondent for the Yummy Tummy Company. I struggled with self consciousness at a young age and have been working on making my body look good for four years including dieting, healthy eating and exercise