Lunch and coffee at the Bridge Patisserie

For the lack of anywhere better, the best of a poor choice, lunch and coffee at the Bridge Patisserie.

Why is Winchester so poor for anywhere to eat?

I looked in several places, and walked out.

Bridge Patisserie is in a lousy location, on a busy, narrow main road, where you gasp for breath and risk being run down on the narrow pavement.

I first ate in Bridge Patisserie last year, and have seen it slowly go downhill.

Nice decor, but lousy tables and chairs, very cheap and tacky. The artwork on the walls excellent, but no change from a year ago.

The cakes much of a muchness, all variants of the same. Poor choice compared with an indie coffee shop that prides itself on its home baking.

The chocolates look delicious.

Very poor choice of food to eat. We have finished lunch. Why? If run out, fair enough.

Staff unfriendly, marginally better than Costa or Starbucks.

I settled for a slice of pizza. It was that or nothing.

Cappuccino was good, but no information on the coffee, where sourced. I assume neither organic nor fair trade as did not say.

The coffee was Mozzo, a brand coffee. Beans and ground coffee (ground coffee months out of date). Lots of waffle on the packet like when company started, artwork, but nothing about the coffee.

Asking the price of the bagged beans and ground coffee, expensive, though this I did not appreciate until compared with Waitrose later.

Not heard of suspended coffee and were not interested. That attitude sums the place place up. As did: We are closed!

Lunch at The Bridge Patisserie

absolutely disgusting iced espresso

I could not see why The Bridge Patisserie was receiving bad reviews on TripAdvisor, today I saw why.

I have eaten at The Bridge Patisserie before and enjoyed it, but today was a big disappointment.

No soup, little choice to eat. Always little choice to eat.

I picked so-called Cornish-style pasty with salad.

Although nicely presented, the Cornish pasty was not very good and the salad was insubstantial.

Still feeling hungry, I thought maybe a cake, but it is always the same tarts, and last time I had a tart it was not very good. For a patisserie, ie a cake shop, they are very poor on their choice of cakes.

A freddo cappuccino would have been nice. Owner had no idea what it was and made it very clear she was not interested and had better things to do than find out.

OK, try a freddo espresso (iced espresso) I suggested.

What was served was disgusting. An ordinary glass, full of ice. It looked disgusting, it tasted disgusting.

The same art exhibition on the walls as over a month ago.

Tables and chairs need putting on a Fifth of November bonfire.

When I came to pay, the owner in an unpleasant tone of voice shouted to the girl: Charge him for an espresso. It was so disgusting I should have refused to pay for it.

Disaster struck. My camera was full. I decided to delete a few pictures. I do not know what I did wrong. I deleted all the pictures.

Lunch at The Bridge Patisserie

the Bridge Patisserie fruit tarts

Compared with earlier in the week there was slightly better choice, but then I was marginally earlier.

I had what I thought was pizza. Not exactly sure what it was. It was either a very doughy pizza or some sort of bread, served with a salad.

I would have liked soup, but none left.

Bigger choice of cakes, but all tarts, no actual cakes. Maybe the do not make cakes, only tarts, or maybe late in the day and all gone.

I mentioned to the girl serving the Costa Coffee (dis)Loyalty Card scheme. At first she misunderstood, but once she caught on, she thought an excellent idea. Let us hope more indie coffee shops across the country participate as it will introduce people to what real coffee tastes like.

I picked up one of their excellent pork pies to take home for tea.

Art by Jill and Holly Maguire at The Bridge Patisserie

Jill and Holly Maguire at The Bridge Patisserie

Excellent art exhibition by Jill and Holly Maguire at The Bridge Patisserie in Winchester.

The one aspect I did not like was covered in glass, which makes viewing difficult if not impossible due to reflection from the lights and from the street outside.

The artwork by Jill Maguire was painted ceramics and glass, although this was not immediately obvious.

Jill Maguire and and Holly Maguire are mother and daughter.

Jill Maguire (mother of Holly) is a ceramics artist who works out of the Colour Factory Collective in Winchester.

Holly Maguire (daughter of Jill) is a Bristol-based illustrator.

The Bridge Patisserie is a lovely little coffee shop in Winchester, just over the old bridge, more or less opposite the Old City Mill.

• Jill and Holly Maguire, an exhibition at The Bridge Patisserie

Late lunch and afternoon tea @ The Bridge Patisserie

baguettes & sandwiches, tea, coffee & smoothies

spinach, pea & mint soup

pork pie and salad

afternoon tea at The Bridge Patisserie

chocolates

Jill and Holly Maguire at The Bridge Patisserie

What was to be an afternoon in Winchester turned into late afternoon in Winchester due to dysfunctional public transport.

I did not wish to eat at the Crown and Anchor, as I had eaten there once and it was not good, though I can always be the eternal optimist and hope for the best.

I took a walk across the bridge as I knew there was a café beyond, and that was how I chanced upon The Bridge Patisserie.

At first I thought tea and cakes, as the name would suggest, but it is more a coffee bar, with additional seating.

Have you anything lunch wise, I asked hopefully?

There was little left, a quiche, a pork pie.

I settled on the quiche, then my eye caught soup, pea, spinach, and mint.

I asked was there any left?

Yes.

It was delicious, served with the last baguette and very neatly arranged on a wooden chopping board.

I regret I did not request the recipe.

I asked for the pork pie, with salad.

A salad was knocked up. The pork pie was from a local butcher. Local if Southampton is local. It was a real pork pie, not a factory pork pie. This too was served on a wooden chopping board.

The pork pie was quite large, I cut it in half and they gave me a box to take half away.

I had the place to myself, until a couple walked in and had afternoon tea and a cake.

I added tea and a cake. The cake was on some sort of almond base with fresh fruit on top and a few raspberries on the side. I am not a great cake fan and it was not really to my liking.

Earlier there would have been a better selection of cakes.

Everything served was fresh, they bake their own bread and cakes. They also had a small selection of chocolates, which I assume they had made.

The Bridge Patisserie is in two halves, a serving and baking area and a seating area. It appears to be two shops knocked into one.

The seating area had the original floorboards exposed. What I did not like was the table and chairs. They did not fit in with the general scheme of things, would have been better old heavy tables and chairs, for example as Café Mila in Godalming.

On the walls an art exhibition by Jill and Holly Maguire.

My one gripe, the location. Noise and pollution from the traffic on a very busy main road.

Afternoon tea or coffee and a cake for around £4-50, quality tea or coffee and cakes baked on the premises. Contrast with Costa, lucky if change from a fiver for poor quality coffee and factory cakes.

I am baffled why anyone chooses Costa when there are far far better indie coffee shops.

Fair trade? I assumed not as I saw nothing to suggest it was, and did not ask, but on their website says fair trade.

• The Bridge Patisserie – TripAdvisor