The premises now occupied by the Aroma Coffee Bar have been home to three café incarnations already in 2013, which is quite something. The year started with Café Viana, then there was a brief tenure from The Drop, then Aroma took over, just recently.
Exterior
With The Drop, they were just starting to get the place looking and feeling how they wanted it, when they left the building. Aroma is still somewhat in the process of dismantling and re-assembling things to their own tastes, so it definitely still feels like it’s in a transition phase.
The service felt a little strange and unstructured, too, but my order, yellow split pea soup and a hummus falafel wrap, was promptly taken and swiftly delivered, so they have the fundamentals working well.
Soup
Having toddled back to the office with my items, I was soon tucking in. The soup was really good, with a lovely velvety texture packed with hearty flavour. The lightly toasted wrap was really good, too, with a pleasing level of moisture to the falafel, a nice range of textures from the hummus and salad, all wrapped up in a nicely thin shell.
So overall, I think this is probably the best incarnation yet, in terms of quality of the food on offer. Both the soup and the wrap were very good indeed. They have some way to go to improve the look and feel of the place, but it’s a work in progress, so that’s to be expected. I’d be happy to recommend that you pop in here, next time you’re looking for a soup and wrap lunch.
Wrap
Scores
Blythe scores Aroma Coffee Bar
4/5 for food
3/5 for presentation
3/5 for setting
3/5 for service
giving an overall 13/20
Today’s quester was: Blythe
I ate: yellow split pea soup; hummus falafel wrap
I drank: nowt
I wore: pink shirt
Total bill: £5
