An insiders' small essential list of food and drink venues in Cambridge 2010

This is an Italian chain restaurant that I am sure you are very familiar with as they seem to be on almost every High Street. Actually there is much more of a monster lurking than you realise. Strada is part of a portfolio of restaurants owned by a company called Tragus. Tragus also owns familiar brands like Bella Italia and Cafe Rouge.

I quote from their website -

“Formed in 2002, Tragus is one of the UK's largest independently owned restaurant chain operators with over 280 sites across the country serving over 20 million meals every year”

It is thoroughly dull to find that one company owns so many familiar brand restaurants, all of which are in Cambridge. It makes the city centre seem even more homogeneous than it would first appear. I am certainly no fan of Bella Italia (especially as it is hogging a beautiful building in its restaurant by the Mill Pond), and to find out that there is a link with the more upmarket looking Strada disappoints me. I just hope they do not share pasta sauces when they run out...

Strada is well located on Trinity Street. Easy to miss as there is only a doorway and no obvious frontage. You enter into a cool, modern bamboo style place with a feeling of quality to it. The bar area is large and stylish, and gives a sense of space to the centre of the restaurant.

I normally go for lunch if I want safe standard food which is reasonably priced. My most recent meal was a pizza. Big, pleasant and filled a gap. The service while efficient, was however not over friendly on arrival.

This is the sort of place where you feel at home ‘hanging out’ with friends, and could chat for quite some time. It has a calm massaging atmosphere, and is nearly always busy enough to make it vaguely interesting.

Verdict

A safe comfortable option, but don’t expect to be wowed by the food. Very formulaic

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I am going to compile an FAQ from my site visitors about Cambridge.

I have a new link in the sidebar inviting you to ask me any question you wish about visiting Cambridge and all it has to offer. Travel, eating, drinking, sights and so on. I can email you my top tips and will also publish the FAQ on a webpage that will appear in due course. I hope this is of some use. If I have missed a great venue then feel free to use this to recommend one.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Charlie

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My first review is a bit negative I am afraid.

The Plough at Coton is in a little village just outside Cambridge.

It looks charming, has an excellent garden, great outdoor seating and ample parking. It is more like a contemporary restaurant than a pub on the inside. Such is the way with 'gastro pubs'.

It is nearly always buzzing with people, and sometimes it's hard to get a table. The service is very sharp, and helpful. The bar is present, but you do not feel like you can sit at it. Not really a social hub. Definitely much more gastro than pub.

I have been going there off and on for a while, and have in the past thought that the food was not bad, nothing outstanding. Recently I have noticed a major downturn in food quality and consistency. On a visit last weekend I had this in mind and ordered what I thought to be 'safe' fish and chips. The fish was inedible, and I had to send it back. The service being good as ever, they did not question this, apologised and offered me another main course. I chose the even safer Caesar salad and a side order of chips. Both were not good. The salad was basically swimming in 'gloopy' dressing, a bit like hair gel. The chips tasted of stale fat.

I have also heard mixed reports from other people.

A real shame. I hope things improve soon. It is a chain, so maybe there is not such a critical eye kept on the place by the owner.

Verdict

I would avoid this pub for anything other than a drink and a bag of crisps

Update... I went for lunch this week and a transformation took place, the food was much improved. This Plough is creeping back into my good books.

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Coffee geeks can be happy at last in the most thoughtful, passionate, authentic rendition of the coffee bean in Cambridge.

Massaro's 'artisan deli and espresso bar' does everything properly. It is like the small occasional coffee bars you find all over Italy. The shelves are stacked with delicious looking Italian deli treats and you can even sit down and enjoy one of many interesting filled ciabattas amongst other options.

The all important beans are of three types, freshly roasted and blended. When you can see they have taken great trouble to let you know that the milk is unhomogenized, you know these people are serious coffee-heads. Details like that make me happy.The coffee spews out of an extraordinary looking machine that looks like a cross between a beer hand pump and an engine block. When I ordered my macchiato it was like watching the Wizard of Oz at work behind the curtain.

My coffee was served on a charming mini tray accompanied by a small shot of mineral water. Nice touch.

It was great tasting coffee, but it was served luke warm not hot, which bothered me. Also probably due to its location, Massaro's was quiet and lacked the sort of hustle and bustle atmosphere that say Savino's delivers so well, and as a result I felt vaguely depressed sitting it the beautifully crafted seating area. A bit like I was Number 6 in 'The Prisoner', an almost too perfect coffee paradise just lacking reality. I may have visited during a quiet patch, but it was 1pm on a weekday lunch...

Verdict

Come on people, fill this place up. It has the potential to be great. It definitely needs wearing in a bit.

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I had heard good reports about this place. It used to be 'Lawyers Wine and Oyster Bar' a quirky establishment that had bags of character.

I walked by today and was put off having lunch there as all I could immediately see outside was a moderately expensive a la carte menu. But is was busy, and I am a sucker for white tablecloths, a touch of proper dining class in a world of trendy undressed wood effects.

This new incarnation in The Oak Bistro has changed the look and feel considerably.

Inside I discovered a lunch menu which offered two courses for £12.00. Sold. Looking around, the old bar in the front part of the restaurant had been cleverly cut in half to create a sense of space. The noise from the busy junction that this building resides on did not seem to permeate into the restaurant at all. I think the buzz of contented suited business diners probably helped.

The walls are adorned with very interesting art work by Nicholas Juett, who has a permanent exhibition here. The interior is relaxed, intimate and classy at the same time. There is also an option to eat in a charming walled garden.

The lunch menu looked good, and the wine list was well thought out, in other words wine choices by the glass were considered.

I ordered the squid and chorizo salad followed by prawn linguini.

The meal started badly as the oily dip for my bread tasted of nothing. The squid starter was utterly unexciting. All I could taste was chorizo. The main pasta dish literally had no flavour, apart from the heat of chilli. My bland prawns were not topped and tailed properly, leaving unwanted crunchy bits mixed in. The tomato sauce was like a warmed up tin of chopped tomatoes with no depth of seasoning.

Ok, so maybe I went on a bad day...and anyway what can you expect for £12...well do I expect to be wowed so I am drawn back to eat from the a la carte menu.

Verdict

Ignoring the food there are plenty of plus sides, including lightning service. I have a 'gut' feeling/hope that the Oak Bistro has more to offer, so I will go back at some point.

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