RAWR Café, Bar & Kitchen, Hanley
I’d been meaning to try RAWR Café Bar & Kitchen in Hanley for a while now, spurred on by their delicious-sounding, fresh-looking dishes that keep popping up on my Facebook page.
One recent Saturday, we’d a few hours to spare after dropping the dog off for a groom nearby, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to sample lunch at RAWR.
Situated on Piccadilly, the Hanley café and restaurant opened in September 2016 following the success of the RAWR bar in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Discounting the outside seating area on this changeable Autumn day, we went through the bright downstairs café, which was already pretty full, and up the stairs. There we found a very pleasant room, decorated in light wood with comfy armchairs next to low tables, booths down one side, and a range of differently-sized regular wooden tables. We sat ourselves at a table near the window and a menu was quickly brought over.
RAWR describes itself as a “health and lifestyle brand” that offers “a place of education, a place to lose yourself, unwind and try exciting food and drink with a difference”. If you’re aware of the recent trends around ‘clean’ eating, detoxing, cleansing, raw foods, the higher profile of veganism, etc. you’ll see, from a quick perusal of the menu, that RAWR sits within that movement.
But, even if you’re not entirely convinced by some of those trends, there’s plenty to enjoy at RAWR if you love fresh food. They’ve also an impressive list of beers, spirits and cocktails. You can even have your ‘superfood’ turmeric in the form of a ‘Bloody Hell Mary’ vodka cocktail or take your matcha green tea in a white rum mojito.
RAWR’s menu is divided into Breakfast + Brunch, Lunch + Later and Drinks. Drinks contains a host of juices, smoothies, protein shakes, shots, tonics (to which ‘superfood’ supplements such as spirulina, chia seeds and bee pollen can be added) plus milkshakes, fizzy drinks, teas, coffees, hot chocolates and a couple of ‘wellness’ drinks.
I decided to go for a juice, The Detoxer. With cucumber, pear, apple, kale and lemon it was very refreshing and delicious too. But I have to admit I ordered it on the basis of fancying the taste and in spite of its title, not because of it.
My partner, besides drinking water from the very nice help-yourself dispenser containing water and slices of citrus fruits, went for a double espresso. This came on a cute, branded board alongside a glass of iced water.
We were past fancying breakfast or brunch so didn’t order from the extensive list of granola, yogurt, porridge, smoothie bowls or toast with lots of choices including eggs, spinach, halloumi and avocado in a myriad of guises.
Instead, we turned to Lunch + Later with its sandwiches, wraps and bagels, ‘superfood’ salad bowls, soups, stews and loaded nachos. After 5pm there’s also a choice of Mezze Boards – vegan, veggie, chicken or smoked salmon.
I liked the fact that RAWR isn’t wholly vegetarian or vegan. I’m a former vegetarian, then vegan (albeit over 30 years ago when vegetarianism, never mind veganism, was considered completely off-the-wall) and now believe we’d benefit from a diet much richer in plants, supplemented with small to moderate amounts of quality, ethically reared meat, fish and dairy. But I actually think this might more easily come about without the labels ‘vegetarian’ or ‘vegan’, nor in separate eating places designated as such.
Having said that… I did order a dish containing chicken: the ‘Chicken Buddha Bowl’. Buddha bowl is a term that, depending on my mood, may have me pulling at my hair in irritation or simply rolling my eyes in quiet annoyance. A concept seemingly created by ‘health bloggers’, it generally means a bowl containing small portions of lots of different, ‘healthy’ things – a bit of protein, raw and cooked vegetables, perhaps some grain. Or, as I like to call it, a MEAL.
Don’t get me wrong, although I may be cynical about certain aspects of the ‘alternative’ food culture of today, the actual food on this menu I have no problem with at all. I just hope that eating like this isn’t niche for very long. I’d love to see the wider public incorporating more natural, raw and plant-based foods into their diet, but wonder if some of this ‘buddha bowl’ type lingo might be a barrier to that.
But, whatever you want to call it, this sort of food is right up my street. My generously-filled bowl contained quinoa, chicken breast, avocado, kale, spinach, rocket, sauerkraut, boiled egg, cucumber, red onion plus pumpkin and sunflower seeds. The dressing, based on cashews and lemon, was lovely and I’d have liked a little more of it.
The joy of this bowl was all the different flavour and textures which combined harmoniusly.
My partner chose Stew of the Day which was a beautiful-looking roasted vegetable spicy tagine, served with garlic toasted sourdough and chilli kale.
I tried a bite of everything and we both liked all of it. I thought the stew was well balanced, tasty and spicy. I enjoyed the kale and disagreed with my other half that it would have been better if lightly cooked a little.
To sample more of the menu, we’d ordered a third dish to share: Chilli Guacamole Loaded Nachos, described on the menu as corn tortillas with homemade cream cheese, chilli guacamole, red onion, cherry tomatoes and coconut yoghurt. This was good, with quite a hit of smoked paprika. But I wondered if the straight-out-of-the-bag tortillas sat well with the rest of RAWR’s menu. Maybe some soft tortillas cut up, fried and seasoned in the kitchen would have been better? But, loving any sort of nachos, and particularly the accompaniments here, we ate the lot anyway.
We found the service at RAWR to be very good. There was one member of staff serving upstairs (I don’t know if she was also serving downstairs) but we did not have to wait very long for food, nor did the rest of the eight or ten other customers. Everyone was really friendly too.
Having to get back to pick up our dog from the groomers, we’d didn’t have time to sample any of the range of cakes displayed on the counter downstairs. Actually, we were told that dogs were welcome on the ground floor, so that’s worth knowing for a future visit.
And there’ll definitely be a future visit because, whatever doubts I may have about concepts such as detoxing and superfoods, RAWR’s offering is undoubtedly good. They serve fresh, natural foods and dishes that I would love to see more widely available everywhere. Here, they’re presented in an appetising way and in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere.
There’s loads of dishes on the menu I’d love to try and I think I could quite happily come here for breakfast and lunch and then finish the day off with a mezze board and a few superfood cocktails. Entirely for the health benefits, of course.