Tramway Café Bar

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• What are these?

• House wine: £12.95 per bottle

• High point: Fresh, healthy options
• Low point: Busy and loud - for quiet contemplation head to the Hidden Garden outside
• Food served: Tue-Fri 10am-7pm; Sat 9am-7pm; Sun noon-5.30pm. Closed Mon.
• Bar open: Tue-Sat 10am-8pm; Sun noon-6pm (open later on performance nights). Closed Mon.
• Private dining: Up to 50 covers
• Open since: 2004
• Also offers: Vegetarian options (at least 25% of menu), Childrens portions, Childrens high chairs, Wheelchair access, Pre-theatre menu

The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 is now in the shops.

This review is from the 2007 edition.

Glitterballs can add a sense of humour to a room, and the ones hanging in the two-floored Tramway Café operate as a kitsch point of interest for the artists, young families and school groups that gather there. A mix of low, comfortable couches and basic canteen-style tables and chairs fill the mezzanine level and the ground floor down below. The corner of the ground floor is a cleverly conceived kids' play area - which can be necessary due to the often large numbers of children searching for occupation in the café. The menu is studded with healthy options; the Thai chicken burger's pita pocket is overflowing with crisp salad, and the blackened salmon sits atop a mass of leafy greens, surrounded by an ample spoonful of slightly over-coriandered mango salsa. The spice of the chorizo relates well to its accompanying peppery wild rocket and warm potato salad. An interest in health continues through the sandwiches and snacks - the tuna and green-bean flatbread comes with baked rather than 'fried' fries. For those who might want to eschew the 'you-are-what-you-eat' mantra, however, this place does a killer bacon roll.