When R and I set off to Chelsea a few weeks ago we had no intention to visit the blogger hotspot that is Farm Girl, Chelsea. However, that is where we ended up.
Originally we’d set off with a voucher in-hand for a nearby pancake place, only to be told that the voucher was only valid after 5 pm. Darn small print ( that I’d thought I’d read properly). Being stubborn, we decided to leave. On the way to a new location we walked past Farm Girl though. Before I knew it we were sitting down inside ordering their berry pancakes and an Acai Bowl.
I’m calling this a ‘mini review’ because I like to always try to order at-least two ‘courses’ to be able to give a full review but honestly Farm Girl is a little bit above my everyday budget and I’d only been planning to pay under £10 for the other location ( with the voucher of course).
In terms of ambience:
When arriving the first things I noticed was how busy it was inside – I mean, duh! It probably always is but especially on a sunny day like when we arrived. luckily we were able to grab the table by the window though. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot of natural lighting due to the awning outside, so sorry for the not brilliant phone pics!
The tables were quite busy but I wanted to snap this corner just to show the deco style
The decoration is simple but with a quirky twist. The far end of the cafe features lots of lovely natural lighting due to rooftop windows. They also have the ‘hanging plant’ look that I love in food establishments. It just really makes you want to sit for a while and ‘chill’. Although I don’t think my bank account would be happy if I tried that here.
What food & Drink is on offer at Farm Girl, Chelsea:
Farm girl is basically catering towards being a perfect brunch spot. With offerings of Granola bowls, Acai bowls, porridge, pancakes, avocado toast and various eggy dishes. These are all along-side various salad bowls, sandwiches and some quite delicious sounding Blue jack taco’s ( A bbq jackfruit filling with guac, vegan mayo and pineapple on blue corn tortillas).
There is also a selection of fresh pastries and treats at their counter. Plus, you can wash all of the above down with various rainbow coffee and herbal tea offerings ( all with your choice of ‘milk’ ). There are also smoothies, juices, a modest selection of wine, bubbles and even cocktails.
For anyone with specific dietary needs, they also offer various gluten-free and dairy-free dishes with around six vegan dishes as well.
What we ordered:
So, obviously we ordered pancakes! Correction – I basically forced Rhys to order the Pancakes because I wanted to review some pancakes but I had my eye on something else – whoops!
The Berry Pancakes are GF and £12, described as ‘buckwheat flour & buttermilk pancakes with amber maple syrup, berries, candied pistachios & coconut shavings’
I then decided to order the Açai bowl ( vegan) at £8 with additional topping options of Almond butter£1.50 and/or Granola £3. This bowl is described as organic Amazonian berries with banana & almondmilk topped with fruit, chia seeds & coconut shavings
Along-side those two dishes we had a Chai Latte and the Baby Pink smoothie. The smoothie was made up of coconut milk and flesh, rose water, aloe vera, chia, avocado and strawberries. ( I’m not sure what compelled me to order a smoothie to drink while eating a smoothie dish but – you gotta be a rebel sometimes!)
Food For Thought:
I loveeeee Açai bowls and always have. In fact, smoothie bowls of any kind are a firm favourite of mine. The thicker the better ( I mean caolories and sugar from fruit still feel better than from doughnuts – wink! ). This acai bowl certainly looks pretty and was thick and delicious with that yummy banana ‘nicecream’ texture and taste! Although possibly a bit too banana-y as the açai felt a little lost. I ended up adding an optional topping of granola to the bowl. Honestly though, I wish this was a part of the bowl anyway. It so perfectly complimented the dish but I’m not sure was worthy of a £3 price boost.
In comparison, my baby pink drinking smoothie fell a little by the wayside simply because the smoothie bowl made it taste almost bland in comparison. Overall I liked it but found it definitely lacking a little extra sweetness. But that is a personal smoothie preference.
The berry pancakes were enjoyed but, once again, there was an option for a paid additional topping of coconut yoghurt. Both R and I felt this probably should have been included on the dish anyway. Especially as the pancakes could feel quite dry in your mouth unless you had a hefty amount of toppings with them. Possibly a buckwheat issue? – Not something I can comment on as I can’t recall the last time I had buckwheat pancakes.
Final Thoughts:
Farm Girl, Chelsea serves up the perfect mix of food and drinks for a great brunch spot location.
The staff are friendly and the decor and ambience are friendly with that hint of ‘instagrammability’. This carries on not only in the decor, but with the food itself.
Quite high budget, which is in keeping with it’s Chelsea location but feels slightly too inflated for the items on offer.
Farm Girl offers plenty of vegan and GF/DF Options.
Not necessarily a place I would frequent but I’d be happy to go back to try their Vegan taco’s.
Rhys’s Final thoughts: In general Farm Girl feels a bit ‘hoty-toit’, especially with some of the customers seen entering/exiting the establishment. The pancakes needed the coconut yoghurt to pull the dish together. However, it felt a bit ‘healthy’ atleast with the generous serving of berries. ( it made me laugh when he discovered his edible pansy on the dish and wasn’t sure what to do with it). I had to explain that it WAS edible. Otherwise restaurants would be getting sued left, right and centre for poisoning people).
Cost: £38.54 (including the discretionary service charge) for drinks and mains for two people.