One sunny lunchtime, my husband Phil and I decided to pop into Café Myra on St Nicholas Street in Ipswich.
The café itself looked really bright and welcoming, with green and orange walls and bunting.
And there was a warm welcome from Lianne Willis, who runs the café with her partner Russell Hill. There are menus on the wall, but she also brought over menus for us to have a look at.
There was plenty of home-cooked food to choose from – lunches, all-day breakfasts and snacks.
Phil had just missed out on the chilli, which is one of the café's most popular dishes, and we were a little early for the next batch. A fellow customer told us the “chilli is amazing” so he is already keen to return to try it.
He decided to choose something from the all-day breakfast menu instead, which includes eggs florentine (£5.50) and a small vegan full English (£5.60). Phil opted for the large full English breakfast (£8.50).
The lunch menu features their popular chilli (£5.25) and salad bowls (£6), but I went for the fishcakes (£7.70).
There are plenty of hot and cold drinks to choose from, including a range of coffees, teas and hot chocolate as well as apple juice, orange juice, milk, Fruit Shoots, Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Fentimans and Drench drinks.
I chose a Fentimans sparkling elderflower (£1.95) and Phil ordered a large orange juice (£1).
One thing that struck me while looking at the menu was the competitive prices – often lunch out in Ipswich costs more than £5 for sandwiches, and £3 or more for cakes. At Café Myra, sandwiches and toasties are just £2.95, with cakes £2 and traybakes £1.50. They also have deals such as a sandwich or toastie, with crisps and a drink for £5.50 and coffee and cake for £3.75. So I’ll certainly be popping back one day on my lunchbreak!
The food is cooked to order, but it is well worth the wait.
My two fishcakes, packed with smoked fish and potato, came topped with a perfectly poached egg, the runny yolk serving as a sauce for the fishcakes.
This was accompanied by a tasty, homemade coleslaw made with red cabbage, red onion, carrot and mayonnaise and a fresh crisp salad of salad leaves, cucumber and tomato. Lianne offered to bring over salad dressing, salad cream or mayonnaise too.
Phil’s breakfast included two pieces of bacon, two sausages, two hash browns, baked beans, grilled tomato and mushroom, fried egg and white toast.
He said the meat tasted really good-quality and the egg was cooked just how he liked it – crispy on the edges and with a runny yolk.
We were both full afterwards, but decided to order some cakes to take home with us for the afternoon.
I chose one of the bestsellers – apple and cinnamon cake. This deliciously moist cake with chunks of apple in had the flavours of apple crumble, with a strong but not overwhelming cinnamon flavour and gorgeous caramelised sugar and cinnamon on top.
Phil enjoyed a chocolate brownie, which was slightly fudgy on the inside and had large chunks of dark chocolate in.
We were equally as impressed by the quality and price of the food at Café Myra, as we were the warm welcome. See you again soon!
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