Just a mile from Hammersmith Bridge, in the surprisingly idyllic village of Barnes (considering its proximity to central London), is Alma Café.
The delightful and airy space invites customers all day for breakfast, lunch and dinner so there's plenty of different food and experiences on offer.
Skylights in the ceiling mean there is plenty of natural light, perfectly complemented with deep green décor.
This, along with the wide demographic and chilled out bustle on a Saturday morning, made for a lovely atmosphere.
It helped that dogs were welcome (there was even a small “four-legged friend” door at the front, cute!) and just chilling around the café, while there is a special kids’ room where they can draw on the walls and have a whale of a time just off from the main tables. This keeps everyone happy.
I’d heard great things about the smoothies at Alma, and the Berry Bingo (apple, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry) did not disappoint. It was perfectly mixed, just thick enough, and a nice deep colour too!
What’s more, pay £1.25 extra to get toppings like whey protein, wheatgrass or even bee pollen on your smoothie too.
There are lots of things like that which point to Alma being ideal for health bods – there’s even a smoothie called Gym Bunny – but the cakes are there ready and waiting for indulging too.
Again, this café has captured the best of both worlds. There’s also a variety of clearly marked dairy free and gluten free goodies, so everyone is well looked after.
For brunch, my guest and I decided to try the eggs Benedict and eggs florentine respectively.
It’s safe to say we were both very happy. The yolk was perfectly runny, the egg whites nice and fluffy, the hollandaise sauce thick and creamy. Neither of us had a bad thing to say.
More on food and drink
It’s important to say too that the staff were always friendly and helpful, despite clearly being very busy.
Although we visited for brunch, there were all sorts of salads and other dishes from lasagne to croquet monsieur sitting at the deli counter ready for lunchtime.
Some people were already coming in to pick up lunch and take it home. Perfect.
There was also a delicious-looking range of cakes, muffins and pastries near the door which were extremely tempting.
Sadly, I was stuffed from my eggs florentine – but I’d go back just to try the cakes another time!
Facbox:
Price: Brunch is around £10 per person for food and drink
Address: 2-3 Rocks Ln, Barnes, London SW13 0DB
Opening hours: 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 7pm Saturday, 9am to 6pm Sunday
Telephone: 020 8392 9135
Website: https://www.almacafe.co.uk/
Parking: Nearby street parking
Dress code: Casual
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