Top 10 Norfolk Bites 2024
My regular 2024 foodie visits within my home...
Norwich & it’s beaches is where I grew up, where I’ve lived most of my life & where I’ve eaten some delicious foods. A part from the beautiful East Coast and historical city centre, there are tons of independent restaurants, cafes and bakeries that have a goal and passion which shows through their dishes.
Salted Caramel Brownie. Britons Arms.
Located in probably the most oldest-looking street in Norwich is this little cafe. Serving home-cooked dinners, British cuisine and freshly baked cakes. I’ve eaten a lot of brownies and often crave that distinctive brownie taste. The taste of not just chocolate but a richness and depth of flavour that is unlike any other chocolate bake. I think I’ve only found this taste 3 times in recent years: the hot fudge sauce on a McFlurry in Amsterdam, a biscoff brownie in Lille, and this salted caramel brownie from Britons Arms. It was thick (stand a fork up in it thick) and had a gooey centre but not raw. It had notes of salted caramel running through yet a deep richness from the batter to contrast. The only thing that could elevate this is if I opted for the dessert version which was heated and drizzled with hot fudge sauce and whipped cream.
Britons Arms, 9 Elm Hill. Cakes from £3.
Burnt Almond Financier. Figbar.
If you want a treat and a coffee cafe, doubled up as a dessert and cocktail bar in the evening, then go to Figbar! I first tried Figbar a couple of years ago and have returned time and time again ever since. With years of pastry experience, Executive Chef - Jaime Garbutt - fine tunes every complex creation he serves and is in a constant trial and error to perfect every plate and bake. I would say, if you’re hungry, definitely go for one of the deconstructed desserts where they only use the highest-quality ingredients. But if you fancy a cake then choose from their display of 15 (sometimes more) bakes. My favourite I tried was their burnt almond financier; a moist and grainy textured cake with crunchy edges and a bold, bitter nutty flavour coming through, the nuttiness is sweetened with a thick spread of chocolate ganache and a crunch from the chopped almonds on top.
Figbar, 23 St John Maddermarket. Cakes from £3.50.
Mackerel & Egg Wrap. The Rocket House.
If you come to Norfolk, then the East Coast is somewhere you have to add to your list. One of my favourite beaches to venture to is Cromer, and luckily, it has a stand out cafe overlooking the ocean. The Rocket House tries to source as much of their fish from the ocean that’s beside them and always locally-source all their ingredients and adapt the menu seasonally to make sure the freshest of ingredients are used. I love sandwiches, so I don’t often have wraps but this niçoise wrap was maybe the best wrap I’ve eaten! It’s too bad it wasn’t a warmer day as this was the most refreshing combination of fillings. Whole chunks of salty, oily mackerel stuffed between the chopped egg, layers of capers and shredded salad. The wrap was soft and every bite was a taste of the sea as we were literally looking over it.
The Rocket House, The Gangway. Lunches from £8.
Bakewell Tart. Biddy’s Tearoom.
This traditional Victorian-style tearoom has 2 locations in Norfolk: one in Norwich and one in Aylsham. Throughout both, they strive to give the ambience of an old-school British tearoom; serving 50 blends of tea, 20 homemade cakes per day and cosy seating. Biddy’s has also had some notice from Japanese students studying in Norwich and were invited to sell their sweet and savoury scones in Shinjuku. You can come for the scones. However, I would say their traybakes and cakes are even better. No petite slices here; these are big, indulgent wedges which are all fresh and moist. My favourite - cherry bakewell tart. A thin shortcrust pastry with a spread of tart cherry jam and bites of sweet glace cherries beneath a thick, moist layer of almond-flavoured sponge, and lastly a drizzle of fruity coulis and flaked almonds.
Biddy’s Tearoom, 16 Market Pl, Aylsham. Cakes from £4.25.
Cacio e Pepe. Yard.
My favourite Italian restaurant in Norwich. They’re a small restaurant that always has a bustling atmosphere. They are walk-ins only so be prepared to wait but it is worth it. Homemade pastas, weekly specials, cocktails and beers - this is a place to meet friends, grab a bite and have a drink in Norwich city centre. I love creamy pasta and cacio e pepe is my preferred choice. But, it has to be the Italian way which is what Yard delivered highly; the sauce grey with pepper, pungent with pecorino cheese and thick from the starches of the pasta water. Here, they used rigatoni so every pocket and hole was filled with this sauce creating a peppery, creamy, cheesy bite.
Yard, 6 Pottergate. Starters from £4, pastas from £8.50.
Pistachio Cruffin. Dyrrah.
A cafe serving paninis, Italian-style snacks, and delicious cakes and pastries. Dyrrah also opens late 3 days a week to serve up homemade Napoletana-style pizzas. When I’m home, I go to this cafe the most as it’s located just outside the city, locals fill up the place every day and the service is friendly greeting regulars and new comers openly. Out of all the cakes and pastries I’ve tried here the pistachio cruffin is the choice that won’t disappoint. Shaped like a muffin but has the fluffy, aerated layers of a croissant. The centre had the most smooth, nutella-like spread of nutty pistachio. A bite altogether equalled the balance of light and crispy textures and flavours of creaminess and butteriness.
Dyrrah Coffee, 16a, Earlham House. Cakes from £2.20.
Fish Goujon Sandwich. Hotel Wroxham.
When I order fish goujons, I expect breaded fish that I would see in the frozen aisle of a supermarket but this was anything and everything beyond. Hotel Wroxham is my favourite restaurant near where I grew up. It’s a hotel and restaurant that sits on the river, during the day they serve sandwiches, sausage rolls and cakes and at night they serve dishes with locally sourced ingredients, hearty meals and decadent desserts. I haven’t tried anything that has let me down here but there are 2 menu items that stand out to me and one of them is this sandwich. Crispy battered cod that falls a part in your mouth, cut through by the tangy tartare sauce sandwiched between 2 slices of fresh seeded wholemeal bread. The bread was baked that morning, the fish was cooked to order and melted into the butter and tartare sauce elevating the classic fish finger sandwich every British person knows.
Hotel Wroxham, Riverside Centre, The Bridge. Sandwiches from £12.50.
Pain au Chocolat. 2 Magpies Bakery.
Even though the humble pain au chocolat has simple components, I believe the execution of a good pain au chocolat is harder than people think. This one from 2 Magpies Bakery - a Norfolk and Suffolk based bakery - does it better than most I’ve tried in England. A bit expensive? Yes, but you are getting your money’s worth as it is huge and they are always baked and served daily, displayed in wooden baskets with all their other fresh bakes of sweet and savoury to choose from. This particular pastry never lacks the flaky exterior and the airy layers throughout the dough. Their chocolate is the key though; it is dark but not to the point of bitter, it is hard and chunky which adds a nice bite and keeps the croissant light. As well as this, they take it up a notch from the classic structure by adding three pockets of chocolate. Yes, three!
2 Magpies Bakery, 27 29 Timber Hill. Pastries from £3.50.
The Oriental Job. The Bodega.
I have had this sandwich bar saved on my to go to list for too long. They do sandwiches as big as my head and packed full with fillings and combinations of different textures and flavours that change seasonally so you never get bored. We tried one from their constantly updating menu and I wish it would be a permanent item. They thought about every flavour and element to create the perfect sandwich, which was The Oriental Job; smoky, meaty pulled pork, jam-packed in the fluffy white bread, a spread of spicy curried tonkatsu mayo, some freshness from the daikon and shredded cabbage, an acidity from from the sushi ginger and a salty crunch from the spiced bacon crumb. So flavourful, I didn’t leave one fallen piece of filling left in the box.
The Bodega, 175 Market Place. Sandwiches from £8.75.
Sticky Toffee Pudding. The Village Inn/Hotel Wroxham.
My no.10 is in the top tier of British food. UK is known for not having the greatest of dishes… or flavour in dishes. But if we do one thing well, it’s comfort food and desserts. One food that comes under both of these categories is sticky toffee pudding. I’ve had many of these hot puddings and I managed to narrow it down to two because they were both too good not to share.
Hotel Wroxham I mentioned earlier for having two stand out menu items and this is the second one. I would recommend trying any of their bougie desserts, but if it is on the menu, then go for this sticky toffee pudding. A big wedge of light sponge soaking up the butter-heavy caramel sauce. It was served with a carmelised banana that had a crackle of sugar and added a layer of creaminess that paired perfectly with the spiced date sponge and rich sauce.
The Village Inn, a short drive from the beach, served this sticky date pudding that was denser than Hotel Wroxham’s version but had more depth of flavour and reminiscence of treacle. It sat literally in a pool of hot toffee sauce that was melting the vanilla bean ice cream and making the
sponge soft and gooey. It became even more of an indulgent mouthful with the contrast of hot and cold and soft and dense.
Hotel Wroxham, Riverside Centre, The Bridge. Desserts from £8.
The Village Inn, Cromer Rd, West Runton. Desserts from £7.
