Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Fabulous Food at Filling the Gap
Continuing my research into good things to eat in Harringay (it's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it), I made my way to the Salvation Army Hall in Terront Road last Friday to eat at Filling the Gap Community Cafe.
It was barbecue day so, when I arrived, around noon, I found one of the volunteers (who I think is called Martin) busy in the backyard with chicken and sausages.
The way the cafe works is you take your seat and one of the volunteers comes and takes your order. I opted for the meat and salad but there are also veggie options and chatting to some of the customers I discovered that the veggie food is as varied and good as the options for carnivores. There was a choice of four salads to go with the chicken and/or sausages and the veggie option was stuffed pittas. I had the barbecue chicken with couscous and potato salad, all of which were delicious and I soon cleared my plate. I washed it down with a glass of the Filling the Gap home-made apple juice.
Purely in the interests of research of course, I had the treacle cake with fruit and ice cream for dessert. It was no exaggeration to say that the cake was divine and I ate it very, very slowly. A cup of decent coffee followed dessert, the whole meal, including drinks, coming to a very good value £8.20.
Filling the Gap was started by Renee, (the head chef in the kitchen), and Kate (right), who bakes the wonderful cakes, to create a place where people can go to get healthy, home-cooked food at a good price, which they create out of the food supplied by Fareshare, who collect food rejected by supermarkets and distribute to community enterprises.
The enterprise is wholly staffed by volunteers who cook, take orders and take the cash and are on hand to help newcomers like me to find our way around. The cafe is friendly and customers and staff are very welcoming. It has a nice, relaxed vibe where kids are very welcome, so is a great place to meet other parents (or soon to be parents) in the area.
Although the aim is to be a family friendly and affordable lunchtime option for parents, who can feed themselves and one child for £5 with a plate of food for each additional child costing just £1, Renee and Kate are keen to encourage more senior citizens, who can get a meal (main, dessert, drink) for a fiver and people on a budget without families. I went on a Friday, which is a very popular day for young families, but they told me that Thursdays are quieter and starting to attract older residents.
This is a wonderful local grassroots enterprise that deserves our support. I totally recommend a visit. I'll be going back...in fact, I look to be free for lunch on Thursday next week. Do feel free to join me...
Links
Filling the Gap on Harringay Online - Renee always posts the week's menus on HOL
Tags for Forum Posts: community cafe, filling the gap
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Looks delicious - must get myself back down there.......and eat this time!
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Permalink Reply by Johnny on
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The food is always great: all the salads were outstandingly good last Friday but myself I would highlight the glaze which made the chicken taste something else.
Fridays are particularly good
for patents with children because the kids can run riot. A very special place.
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Permalink Reply by JulieB on
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I haven't managed to go for ages, but I agree their food is absolutely delicious, and they do catering if you have an event coming up.
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It's a fabulous place, and they do take-aways too. Renee is a really talented chef and everyone is very friendly.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Keeping the date in my diary with the Thursday sitting, I've just been down to Terront Road to sample a more 'normal' day i.e. not a barbecue but a sit down and get served food sort of day. It is quieter as in less kids and more adults eating either alone like me or in a small group. The menu today was roast duck and oh my goodness, it was good, came with all the trimmings
It would have been rude not to sample Kate's apple and almond cake
and what kind of mother doesn't bring back home-made muffins for the after school snack?
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