St Giles Pantry – Norwich

A beautiful array of local produce on offer as well as delicious treats. We tucked into a sausage roll, spinach and feta roll, lemon cake and pecan pie and washed it down with a delightful iced latte. The best thing about this St Giles Pantry for me though is the decor and building it's a lovely place and I already cannot wait to come back.

Overall: Beautiful place but hygiene needs improving. After being mesmerized by the beautiful design of this place from the outside, I came for a coffee and cake with the intention of leaving a 5 star review afterwards. Don’t get me wrong: this place is wonderfully cosy and the staff working there super friendly! Also a beautiful selection of pastries and cakes, and lovely local produce that I have bought a couple of times like eggs and chutneys. They are expensive, but the quality is great. Also, the coffee is wonderful and served in gorgeous double walled glasses! However sadly what shocked me is that all the cakes and pastries stand in two different places in the shop completely UNCOVERED. This is very unhygienic and attracts all kinds of bacteria, not to mention dust and other pollutants, insects, as well as making the food go old and less fresh very quickly. I was very close to not buying a cake for this reason, but I thought I would give it a try. And unfortunately, it tasted exactly how I feared: quite old and less than fresh :( And WORST of all: a staff member was cleaning the fridges with cleaning spray right next to the uncovered cakes. Completely shocking. After seeing this, I don’t recommend anyone to eat any of those cakes because as we know, cleaning spray is a fine mist that might have spread onto the cakes. I don’t understand why the owners don’t put some covers on! Needless to say, I will not be buying any of these anymore until covers are put in place. Another negative is that there are no prices and no menu anywhere. Very strange. Very off putting if you’re on a budget and would like to know if you can afford something instead of risking it and commiting to unknown prices. I wish I could rate this place higher, but unfortunately can’t do that until some changes are put in place. I believe when it comes to hygiene, you can’t cut corners.

This is a really great place for a quick snack, coffee, or local beer. I had the sausage roll, which was marvelous. My friend had the lemon cake, which she thoroughly enjoyed. I also bought some local sausage and salami, and some olives; all were wonderful. Staff were friendly and welcoming.

Happened on this as we walked to the Plantation Gardens. Charming. A genuine friendly welcome and pleasant service. We liked the coffee and tea ‘cups’ which are unusual. We had lovely sandwiches and were spoilt for choice when it came to cakes! Unique and somewhere we will return to now we’ve found it!

Nice atmosphere with an array of interesting produce. We only had an almond croissant, so I can speak for anything other than that, but be warned, the (quite dry) almond croissant cost £5 for one!! I asked why it was so expensive and the nice server said it was because it was bigger and had more filling than others, but I really don't agree and I'm so shocked that a pastry can be so expensive.