Bean by the River is located on the South Side of the embankment just next to the old band stand opposite the Suspension Bridge where you can cross over the River Trent from the Meadows to West Bridgford and vice versa.

I had been looking at this prime space for ages thinking it could make a great café with its location by the bridge and the river, so I was delighted when it opened up on a 7 day basis as a coffee shop.

I read a lovely article about it in the local West Bridgford Wire (they are reaching over the river a little bit 🙂 having said that I look at the shop across the Trent from my window, so I guess we both are reaching)

Anyway! They…. the Wire people….. in their article…..told us that it was being run on a daily basis by one of the Owners, Mr Shiraz Nawaz, and he really is hands on.  Every time I have been in, he has made my sandwich and Latte (I didn’t know that until I googled and read the article in West Bridgford Wire) and for what it is worth, he really makes the experience and nothing is too much trouble, he is a very friendly chap.

Ok so what about the food?, I hear you say; “come on man, get on with it!”

Sandwich filling wise, so far I have seen and tried ‘Ham salad, Egg mayo, Tuna Sweetcorn, Cheese Salad, Chicken Tikka, and Coronation Chicken’, basically a pantry shelf of classics.

I ate some of all this;

Chicken Tikka sandwich and Coronation Chicken sandwich

Two of the best things that I have eaten here so far are their Chicken Tikka sandwich and their Coronation Chicken sandwich. They usually have some on the counter as you walk in, but they will also make you one fresh to take away and they will pack it up to order.

That was what I did last week as we couldn’t decide which one to get, we had one of each so that we could share them. I am still not sure which one I like best. I loves me a bit of Coronation chicken, but that Chicken Tikka mix makes a great sarnie too.

You know what? just do what I did, get a buddy in tow and get both, jobs a guddun!

I know that on the face of it, Chicken Tikka just seems to be some kind of  spicy chicken mayo. I suppose to extent it is a little bit, but hey lets be honest it is so good! basically it is cooked chicken mixed with mayo, curry powder, paprika, cumin, and chilli (very simple).

Well how about that Coronation Chicken? I suppose that is also kind of the same thing; its also just mayo and cooked chicken, but this time mixed with mango chutney, lime, and don’t forget those sweet raisins mixed in there (or is it sultanas? I just don’t know for sure)

Who cares anyway? BOTH of these are in my TOP 5 fave sandwich fillings as they are hitting many core elements: creamy, spicy, meaty, and tangy!

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Lets take it back a notch

Cheese and Ham Panini

They also have a panini machine and I tried out one of their efforts, playing it simple, ordering one with ham and cheese. I liked it as a ‘warm’ sandwich, but it could have been cooked a little longer until the cheese really started to melt and that bread crisped up. Perhaps a little melted butter on the bread would have made my day?

It was good to eat something a little more simple though and I took mine outside to the small seating area with a bag of crisps and a can of diet coke (simples)

Now I am not a coffee expert as I am basically a mug in a tea kind of man, but I could see that they have a pretty good set up coffee wise.

The coffee is Nottingham’s Romano coffe and this is fairtrade apparently which sounds good to me. Even though I don’t really drink coffee I will say that I have had a couple of Lattes over the last couple of weeks and I kind of liked them.

They also sell homemade cakes, things like Lemon Drizzle cake, also Piper crisps (I like the chorizo ones), ice lollies from “The nice lolly company” and even though I cannot order one, you can stop in with your kid in tow (chasing and playing ‘pokemon go’ ) and pick up one of their Children’s picnic boxes containing a drink, sandwich, crisps and a toy for (at the time of writing) just £3.75 I like that!

Bean by the River is located on Victoria Embankment just a 100yds away from the Suspension Bridge. At the moment it is open 7 days a week, so please stop by to make sure that continues

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