Cafe brings healthy and tasty food to shop parade

Cinnamon Cafe opened its doors along the parade of shops in Winter Road last month.

It was born out of a desire to provide a health-oriented menu with unique options to help people make better choices without losing any of the pleasure of food.

Business owners Dev and Nishar Patel, whose skin care shop Perfect Skin Solutions is also in Winter Road, met personal trainer Ben Brades at gym Fitness First five years ago.

In searching for a place to go for good coffee and healthy food, they identified a need in the area they knew they could sate.

Combining the business experience and savvy of the Patels and the talents of Ben who had a passion for coffee, the trio began to plan.

Their brainchild quickly grew from inspiration to a full-fledged project – which now employs seven people.

The parade had historically been primarily dominated by shops and the cafe took over a former wedding shop when it relocated.

However, Ben, 32, believes the location is perfect as it is near two schools and five gyms.

Dev added: ‘There’s been a real buzz and energy and we have been getting really positive feedback.

‘There’s a real community here in Winter Road. We have started off well and we are now hoping to grow and attract people into Southsea to visit us.’

Cinnamon Cafe’s burgers replace beef with chickpeas and courgette spaghetti takes the place of gluten, and its front counter boasts an array of homemade cookies and cakes.

It prides itself on quality and individuality, and, apart from the bags of crisps by the till, staff make everything themselves.

Cinnamon Cafe buys its coffee from Coffee Soul, a local corporation, instead of a bigger company.

It also stocks top quality Bullet Proof coffee, which aids weight loss, and hot chocolate, made from 70 per cent, globally-sourced dark chocolate tabs.

Despite only opening a month ago, the quality of their menu is already receiving acclaim.

The blog ‘In Pursuit of Life’ recently named the cafe the best coffee in Portsmouth.

For more search ‘Cinnamon Cafe’ on Facebook.