Review: Cafe Boscanova

Another review of vegan food here on the South Coast of England!

I've been to Cafe Boscanova a few times for breakfast/brunch. As a vegan living in Bournemouth it's always exciting to find a place that acknowledges us on a menu, as there aren't many. Cafe Boscanova is an independent cafe located in the Boscombe area of town; I believe it uses local produce wherever possible, displays artwork for sale on it's walls and offers free wifi to all customers, which can't be sniffed at. The customers are an interesting mix of people as you would expect to find anywhere in Bournemouth - there are lonely coffee drinkers, families, students and everyone in between. The staff are all lovely and rather easy on the eye too. (Superficial? Moi?) Overall the atmosphere is great; good music and good people.

Atmosphere Rating: 10/10

But, more importantly, what's the food and drink like?

Drink

Every time I visit I drink a Soy London Fog and, in my not so humble opinion, it's flipping delicious. For those of you who have never heard of it (which I hadn't) it's a big mug of earl grey tea with steamed milk and a shot of vanilla. They do also have a range of your usual cafe beverages and claim to be the best cup of coffee in the area. In addition they do a varied range of juices and smoothies, so even caffeine dodgers can have their thirst quenched.

Organic beers and wines are available too, either by the bottle, case or even for retail purposes.

Drink Rating: 9/10

Food

The vegan options are minimal, however I'm used to this (as I'm sure most vegans are). On previous visits I've always had the We Don't Need No Eggs and Bacon (who doesn't love a play on words) and it hits the spot, just about. It's a large plate, covered in tofu chickpea scramble served with black beans, guacamole, salsa and tortilla chips. It's certainly a very different breakfast experience which is great however the tofu chickpea scramble needs some work. Yes, I love tofu and yes, I flipping love chickpeas (what with being the owner of the Facebook Chickpea fan page and inventor of Chickpea Tuesday) however something is missing. It needs a little more depth to the flavour and admittedly, I have made better tofu scrambles at home. The portion size is good, which is important too because although I may be small, I'm a hungry little person.

Today I went for the scramble again but instead had it on top of a bubble and squeak (purely because bubble and squeak is awesome). Needless to say I was insanely hungry and when it arrived I was a little disappointed with the portion size, especially when my man had a huge veggie English breakfast. Le sigh. I was also hoping that the deliciousness of the bubble and squeak would make up for the average scramble however it just wasn't cutting it. (Sorry guys!). Again, the depth of flavour was somewhat lacking, although I can't quite put my finger on why. It could just be a simple case of needing a tad more seasoning, although I understand that a cafe like that wouldn't want to salt things much, if at all.

For me, what's missing from the menu is a vegan option English Breakfast. I want toast, I want sausages, I want baked beans, mushrooms and a fine tofu scramble. If this were ever to materialise (hint hint) I would be a happy lady.

Apart from on-menu items, they do offer a few other vegan treats including Nakd bars and raw vegan chocolate energy balls. Omnomnomnom.

Vegan Food Rating 6/10


Kelly Monster's Final Thought

Overall, I would recommend Cafe Boscanova as a place to eat, drink and people watch. So, the vegan options need a tiny bit of work but without more people ordering vegan food and asking for more we won't get more! The place has a great atmosphere, a nice range of drinks (did I mention I LOVE SOY LONDON FOG?) and a definite potential to satisfy even the most food savvy vegan (yes, that would be me).

Thank you Cafe Boscanova for acknowledging the existence of vegans in this sheltered sea side town. I salute you.