Charlotte and I decided to take a day off work in the week and go to Worcester. She had very kindly prepared a similar trip for my birthday in December but Lord of the Rails Mick Lynch saw to it that we could not leave Birmingham that day. Thankfully Mick must have been distracted last week as we were able to go to Worcester without issue. We began the day by going to Mass at St George’s, a beautiful church near the station. This was followed by a visit to the Worcester Museum and Art Gallery, the latter part of which was closed. Then we saw the monumental Guildhall and enjoyed a choir of Welsh men singing, as it was St David’s day. Before finishing our day at Worcester Cathedral, we stopped for lunch.
All the coffee we prepare comes from our farm near the central-western region of Colombia, in the municipality of Filandia and Pijao at the Quindio Department
Our first choice, Friars Street Kitchen, was as closed as the Art Gallery. We decided on the fly to go to Francini Cafe de Colombia. We were not disappointed! The first thing Charlotte ordered the Farmer filter coffee. This is a mellow filter with Francini’s original syrup made with honey, cinnamon and cloves. You can try it with milk, lime or classic black. Charlotte had it black. I gave up coffee for Lent and could not have any. This was one of the most acutely painful experiences of my whole entire life.
For the first round of nosh, we had arepas. These are pan fried corn cakes, popular in Latin America. Charlotte and I had the chicken and beef stuffing respectively. These were immensely flavoursome. Charlotte said, while imitating me, that it was delicately spiced and aromatic. We had it alongside some delightful hot sauce which enhanced the flavour to no end.
Our second round was the vegetable patacones. These are twice fried plantain slices. They were topped with avocadao, onions, tomato, olives and a lovely pesto garnish. Having about 2.5 of our five a day in one dish was a plus. This tasted fresh and zingy.
Overall this was a very special place. It has been open since 2014 and they have honed their service to a finely tuned machine. The place was warm, welcome, and the food was superb. We will absolutely return, and perhaps next time I shall be able to sample the coffee!