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Please note, Apres Food Co is now open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Time Out Food Editors, December 2018.
Prepare for your latest interior design crush – Aprés is a gorgeous spot, with lush plants in concrete pots, blue and white tiled floors, and plenty of artfully arranged wine bottles and bleached wood. Though there’s a low-key Parisian backstreet vibe to the place, the menu is a diverse mix of cuisines – all focused on putting fresh, seasonal organic veg and locally sourced meat first.
A ‘frittata muffin’ was never something I thought I needed in my life until I tried one here – this ingenious creation featured eggs, olives, tomatoes and fragrant herbs baked in a muffin case to golden brown perfection, served with crisp salad leaves and a fruity relish with a slight chilli kick. The well-seasoned sweet potato hash was proper comfort food, the kind of dish that makes you feel really well looked after. And then for the cakes – a feather-light victoria sponge, with impossible creaminess and jammy-ness at its centre, was one of the best I’ve eaten. A chocolate brownie was moist and oh-so-dark – divine.
But it was only halfway through my meal that I remembered, with a start, something absolutely key about Aprés: its menu is entirely free of gluten and refined sugar, and has been devised by qualified nutritional therapist and co-founder Catherine. The fact that this totally slipped my mind when I was eating speaks volumes – this place just serves genuinely good food in its own right, gluten or no gluten.
When I realised, it was like having a magic trick unveiled. Cakes are made with a top secret gluten-free flour blend (gasp!) and feature coconut sugar (lower in fructose than regular sugar!) and goat butter (which, some of you will be pleased to hear, you don’t taste, but does add a lovely richness!). Rabbits out of the hat all over the shop: Aprés is a very welcome surprise.