Review: Sprout Cafe, Blackburn (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Review: Sprout Cafe, Blackburn

4:14pm Tuesday 1st May 2012 in Restaurant reviews By Anna Mansell, Features writer

Review: Sprout Cafe, Blackburn

Darwen Street is something of a carnivore’s dream — kebab and burger houses line the pavement, selling low cost, high calorie take outs.

And you’d have to be on a lookout mission to spot its newest addition, as Sprout Cafe is actually tucked away upstairs in Mercers toy shop, advertised by a couple of street signs.

Sprout, run by the former owner of Vfresh on King Street, is a vegetarian cafe, but myself and a colleague — committed meat eaters — were spoilt for choice from the relatively small menu and specials board.

Comfortably sunk into a giant, battered leather sofa, we were tempted by salads and sandwiches from the cute CD case menus.

A ‘Gorzonzapple’ salad would have been a good call, as were the falafel wrap and mozzarella panini.

A lentil and chickpea burger also sounded pretty good.

In the end, it was the promise of feta on the roasted squash and beetroot salad, with toasted nuts and seeds, which won both our votes, washed down with pomegranate and elderflower sparkling presses, with teas, coffees and a daily smoothie available.

The just warm roots balanced the salad, and balsamic dressing had just the right amount of bite.

Service was friendly, with warm and welcoming smiles, and our meals came soon enough as we chatted.

A counter full of homemade cakes and treats was seriously tempting, but we decided not to ruin the effects of the healthy salad.

A fresh fruit cheese cake, carrot cake and giant berry rock cakes were the options calling out to us.

At £13.60, Sprout is a great alternative to the more greasy offerings in Blackburn centre.

Food 9, Drink 8, Service 9, Atmosphere 8, Value 7