Time Out rating:
<strong>Rating: </strong>3/5
User ratings:
<strong>Rating: </strong>4/5
Rate this
Time Out says
Thu Nov 10 2011
Wild Food Café occupies the premises of the former World Food Café, perched above Neal’s Yard – and it looks little different. It’s fun sitting at the high counter around the open kitchen, watching the chefs at work. Techniques such as sprouting, blending and dehydration are used in the modern raw food kitchen and are slightly reminiscent of a Heston Blumenthal-style approach. The menu boasts an impressive selection of raw-centric dishes: from a daily-changing soup (only heated to temperatures below 40C and served at body temperature), to raw sandwiches, a raw dish of the day and even raw desserts.
We opted for a raw ‘Thai curry’. This red curry was rich in coconut milk and dotted with kernels of crunchy sweetcorn, dice of red pepper and slivers of banana. Though served at room temperature, it tasted remarkably like a ‘real’ Thai curry, slightly spicy with good depth of flavour. They had run out of the accompanying raw ‘ryce’ (tiny chopped vegetables resembling rice), so we got some real, conventionally cooked rice instead.
Raw food sceptics need not despair: the menu also lists some ‘steaming hot’ options. Our ’Provençal stew’ wasn’t one of the better choices. It turned out to be more of an oversalted potato curry with olives – a combination that didn’t go well with the accompanying sweetcorn ‘pink polenta’, made with purple corn extract.
Sandwiches are either made with ‘raw bread’ or toasted sourdough (for non-raw diners), and come with intriguing toppings such as raw pistachio falafel or raw squash and hemp houmous. Cheese in the vegetarian sandwiches comes from the nearby Neal’s Yard Dairy, while raw coconut and almond ‘cheeze’ is made on the premises.
Some of our fellow diners – a group of elderly ladies – eyed their raw sandwiches with suspicion. The thin, dark green sheets of ‘raw bread’ bore a resemblance to the wafers in the sci- fi movie ‘Soylent Green’ while the café’s slogan, ‘A meal with a happy ending’ may raise the eyebrows of some diners. But eating at the Wild Food Café certainly makes for an interesting and colourful culinary experience.
Comments & ratings