Horti-culture: a bit agricultural

I had not visited Horti-culture, on Bedford Hill, before Saturday, and to be honest after Saturday I have no intention of ever going back.

Wasn't last Saturday a perfect winter day. Snow remained from the day before, any patches that had thawed were covered with fresh frost. The skies were clear and there wasn't much wind to speak of so it was relatively comfortable to be outside enjoying the fresh air. I was looking forward to going for a walk with Mrs Spiller and heading out for coffee and lunch.

We decided to give horticulture a try. I was conscious that many of my reviews to date have been of places where I have some amount of history. I wanted to try somewhere new, Horticulture fitted the bill.

They offer a breakfast menu with all the usuals and a lunch menu which has tapas and main size plates. We decided to get a few tapas; patatas bravas, cheese, bread, chorizo pate on toast and fennel sausage - they all had SSpanish names.

I ordered a cappuccino, Mrs Spiller had a decaf mocha.

So lets start with the coffee, it was probably the highlight, cappuccino had good milk, thick, not soap suds on top. The taste was good too. Nothing exceptional but a well done cappuccino.The decaf mocha was also quite good.

The food was average.

• The chorizo pate on toast was bad. Basically mushed up chorizo on stale toasted bread, not a good taste at all.
• Breads weren't the nicest
• Cheese was a hotch potch of what they had lying around, including a hunk of Parmesan which wasn't really practical on a cheese plate with no implement sharp enough to slice through it.
• Patatas bravas weren't bad, although I think the fact that the chef had to pop next door to buy potatoes suggests they weren't expecting anyone to order them all weekend.
• The sausage was the highlight of the food.

Probably the worst bit though was the atmosphere of the place. It's one of those places where once you sit down you start wondering whether it is bad form to get up and leave. Certainly not a place you feel special in - hard to put a finger exactly on what was wrong. It's sort of like when you're in another country, you don't know how to tell a good restaurant from a bad one and when you get in there you're not sure if you're being given worse service/food because you're foreign - you assume if they were this bad all the time they wouldn't still be in operation.

So there you go, not a glowing experience, and no I would not recommend trying this place - sorry. I wish I could say otherwise because I am all for supporting independent businesses, but they have to offer something of value, and this place doesn't.

Scores:
Coffee
Hot: 9/13
Aroma: 7/13
Flavour: 7/13
Texture: 10/13
Presentation: 8/13

General
Service: 6/13
Food: 5/13
Atmosphere: 4/13

Overall 6/13.

Please note my opinion is based on just one visit, having had a look online there do appear to be some positive reviews, have a look at them here:
Top Table
Qype