A new café is proving popular in Sudbury after only being open for three weeks.
Vegan café Kind Cuisine has been set up by Linda Gregory and her partner Mark Sutcliffe.
While Linda serves customers, Mark is in the kitchen cooking and their friend Sarah Page does all of the baking.
“What we do every day is offer a freshly made soup and a bowl of the day, something from around the world,” explained Linda.
Dishes on offer have included vegetable broth with noodles, penne pasta with veggie balls, garlic bread and salad and harvest vegetable stew with dumplings and kale.
The café also offers light lunches, such as mushrooms on toast, houmous platters and dishes using meat alternatives like filled piadinas.
Baked goods include ‘cheese’ scones and a variety of cakes such as lemon gateau, chocolate, coffee and walnut.
“The cakes have gone down well. Sarah wasn’t a vegan baker, but she’s become one through supporting me,” Linda added.
“She made a wonderful one that sold out – a Victoria sponge with ‘cream’ icing and strawberries. People were getting in touch to reserve a piece in case it went.”
Sarah has also been making individual gluten-free cakes – carrot and orange mini loaf cakes and banana and walnut muffins, for example.
Linda is thinking of offering a children’s choice too, as the café is family friendly.
“We are seeing what people are going for and tweaking the menu,” Linda said.
She has been “pleasantly surprised” by the support the café has received from the local community already.
“What’s really surprised me is the fact that we did the research and put it out there to see how many people would be interested in this sort of place and it was really positive. I never thought that Sudbury was a big vegan or vegetarian area,” she added.
“We realised how veganism had become more current and popular for health reasons.”
“There ate lots of cafes in Sudbury, but from day one it’s been really busy, it’s been great,” she continued. “The people have been amazing, thanking me for opening it.”
When setting up the café, as well as selling cruelty free food, Linda wanted to offer somewhere people could visit on their own and feel comfortable.
“We have a warm and welcoming place where you can come in and meet different people,” said Linda.
And it’s so far, so good. After just two weeks of being open, the café had 20 reviews on Facebook all of which were five stars. “I am blown away by that,” she said.
Customers have come from as far as Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds to visit Kind Cuisine so far.
The café is a bit of a departure for town councillor Linda and musician Mark, although Linda has worked in pubs in the past and Mark has trained in a restaurant kitchen.
“I’m a big animal activist. I set up a cat charity and I’ve been quite active in rescue work, so the café is an add-on to that,” she concluded.
“We want to raise awareness of the cruelty free choice and support people to continue or make the transition into veganism. It’s so healthy and helps the planet in every way.”
• Find Kind Cuisine at 11A Friars Street, Sudbury, CO10 2AA. The café is open from Wednesday to Saturday between 10am and 4pm.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here