Gaard Coffee Hide: Plant-based perfection offered by five-star Kelham Cafe

Gaard Coffee Hide is the kind of place where you walk out of the door and are already planning your next visit.

On the corner of Burton Road in Kelham, it appears to be a fairly unassuming establishment, but inside its grey exterior, visitors will find oodles of charm and colour.

While speaking of colour, there is no better place to start than the Gaard Salad. With plant-based chicken, hummus, cherry tomatoes, garlic dressing, pickled cabbage and leafy greens, it gave the healthiest, heartiest start to the day that I could hope for.

The best feel-good foods are the ones that you eat because you enjoy them and, as a by-product, happen to be packed full of nutrients, and that’s exactly what this was. 

For those less inclined to go for a veg-heavy dish, I can vouch that the chicken replacement was delicious, and realistic. My partner did not realise the whole cafe was vegan until after eating the sausage breakfast muffin (with extra sausage).

As such, I have no doubt that the hot dogs, sausage breakfast muffins, and reubens would all hit the spot for non-veggies.

The coffee was also perfect, with latte art on the top always being a bonus. They do have the option of “normal” dairy milk, but I figured I’d go for oat and commit to the plant-based theme. 

For an independent cafe, in somewhere like Kelham Island, packed full of houseplants and various oat milks, I was half-bracing myself to pay a lot more than a very reasonable £8.90 meal and £3.40 latte.

After getting what felt like a good deal, I naturally went ahead and negated any feeling of achievement by purchasing several more takeaway items (for sharing, of course): a chocolate brownie, PB&J blondie, green smoothie, and mac and cheese. 

The green smoothie was one of three flavour options and contained mango, lemon grass, and kale (although you would never notice that third ingredient). It was a perfect balance of sweet and tangy, and it’s almost neon colour makes it perfect for any of their Instagram-inclined customers.

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Yet again, the mac and cheese being vegan was a surprise, as I had made my way through half of it before thinking, “how does this have no dairy?”.

It only cost £6.90, so would make a perfect lunch choice for anyone working or living in Kelham, or near the city centre, where Gaard has a relatively little-known second location on Cavendish Street. Both locations have a 4.7 star rating on Google.

I have to say, I had a moment of hesitation before deciding to review Gaard, as the queues were out of the door from around 11am on a Saturday - hangovers or not, people were getting down for their breakfast - and I did not want to make my own visits any more competitive.

That said, they deserve every new customer they might get, with kind service, a comfortable atmosphere, reasonable prices and delicious food. I can only imagine their second location will become a not-so-hidden gem as time goes on.