This small vegetarian café, opened in summer 2014, has plenty to recommend it: a bright, pleasant space with skylight at the back, a display counter at the front bearing the photogenic food offerings of the day, friendly and attentive staff. And the promise is partly made good by the food itself, which majors on salads, sandwiches and baked goods both savoury and sweet.
Not every dish is above criticism. A buckwheat roast was a little dense and dry, and the selection of salads all contained a fair proportion of grains and/or pulses which added up to carb-overload when assembled on the plate. But the salads themselves were individually good, if perhaps a little under-seasoned. The star of the show was an improbably flavourful spinach soup: great depth of flavour, coarse-textured, with the odd fragment of sweet, soft garlic to provide a surprise.
Don’t expect cutting-edge vegetarian cooking here. Indeed, there was something pleasingly retro-veggie in some of the dishes, especially that roast. But the food is good, and the vibe is quiet and soothing. Finish with a single-estate Aeropress brew from Workshop coffee roasters and you’ll walk away content. We’re certainly happy to join the Kin family.