The Library
This Victorian architectural gem almost certainly didn't need gussying-up with big, bold designer wallpaper and stripy carpets, and I never want to listen to Lily Allen cover the Kaiser Chiefs while I eat. Nonetheless, it's an impressive space with food to match. Bargain hunters will lap up the lunch menu (one course £6.95, two courses £9.95) and between 6pm-7pm, the Library currently offers a burger deal: burger, chips, salad and drink for £9.50.
The burgers are as thick as the encyclopedias which still line the Library's shelves and the coarse-ground, still pink in the middle and beautifully charred on the kitchen's wood-fired grill. The meat-to-fat ratio wasn't perfect; the burger was juicy but could have done with a little more greasy lubrication. But overall (creditable skin-on chips, good sesame bun, reasonable onion rings etc) this was a fine meal. If you prefer Italian, the Library has a sister restaurant, Pinocchio's (pizza £7.95 takeaway, £8.25 eat-in, 11 St Benedict's Street, 01603 613318, pinocchiosrestaurant.net), whose pizza is well regarded locally.
• 4A Guildhall Hill, 01603 616606, thelibraryrestaurant.co.uk
Vine Thai
There are a lot pubs doing Thai food these days, and most of it is microwaved muck. The tiny Vine Thai, however, is the real deal. Thai chef-owner Phaowana Allen produces seriously good, zingy food, while the bar (the Vine is listed in Camra's 2011 Good Beer Guide) dispenses real ales across four pumps, with an emphasis on Norfolk brewers such as Winter's and Wolf. A sample half of Golden Triangle's City Gold (£1.50) was in fair condition, while a bowl of creamy, fragrant chicken, galangal and coconut milk soup (£4.95) was probably the single best thing that I ate in Norwich.
In that way of great Thai food, it was a double helix of sweet and sour, citrus and umami flavours. It was both delicious and pointless to try to decode exactly what was going on in this small bowl of big flavours. At night, you'll have to takeaway (10% discount) in order to eat here for under £10-a-head, but, at lunch, most mains are £5.95 to £6.95. "Real English pub, real Thai food," reads the board outside. Pub purists might quibble with the cafe-bar furniture and the tinplate paintings of Thai landscapes, but, in all other respects, the Vine Thai fulfils its brief. Highly recommended.
• Dishes from £4.95-£6.95. Dove Street, 01603 627362, vinethai.co.uk
Amaretto
There is a lot going on at this smart deli-kitchen. It's a handsome space, packed with high-quality British, Italian and Spanish artisan ingredients. But for the purposes of this feature let's concentrate on what you can take away and eat. Each lunchtime, there is a choice of hot and cold meals available (for instance, beef noodles, smoked haddock and potato bake, a vegetable curry), as well as fat gourmet sandwiches and large pizza slices. Said slices are authentically thin and foldable, the dough is clearly fresh, the tomato sauce well-seasoned. Personally, I would have preferred a little more char on the base, but, at £1.80 a slice, the pizza is decent value.
The baking is worth sampling, too. In particular, Amaretto bake a mean brownie (£1.60). The crisp exterior gave way to a moist centre, with an almost truffle-like consistency, its gooey richness cleverly offset by the inclusion of a few sour cranberries. It was a five-star bit of baking.
• Snacks and bakery goods 90p-£2, sandwiches and meals £2.25-£4.16. St Georges Street, 01603 767478, amarettodeli.co.uk
The Window Coffee and The Tea House
Around cobbled historic Elm Hill, you'll find numerous antique dealers, craft shops and boutiques, and a couple of notable places to eat and drink. At the cute, miniscule Window Coffee – it literally seats about five people at a low bench – barista Hayley Draper is bringing "third wave" coffee to Norwich. You know you're in a serious coffee shop when you have a choice of pour-over filter, Aeropress and cafetiere serves, and the shop is using five different bean varieties, at the same time. All of them are hand-roasted just a few days earlier. Here, a double espresso (from £1.40) is a revelation, its rusty crema almost as thick as the head on a pint, the Brazilian beans delivering a winey, sour cherry, chocolate jolt to the taste buds. Food-wise, the choice is limited but brilliant. Local baking whizz Ruth Bunnewell produces a range of savoury "baskets" (essentially, wonderfully fresh and flavoursome folded croissants) and seriously good cakes. Her gloriously thick and moist Bakewell tart, studded with fresh raspberries, is sensational.
Just around the corner, the new Tea House serves 27 loose leaf varieties from local blender, Wilkinson's, including a blend credited to an old Elm Hill flower seller, Mrs Kent. The Tea House itself is a simple, laid-back place (Phoenix and Hot Chip on the stereo; a bit of cool local art on the walls) with two outdoor seating areas. Food includes cheese scones and sausage butties at breakfast, wholesome soups, sandwiches made using good breads from local baker, the Breadwinner, and decent homemade cakes.
• Snacks £1.80-£2. The Window, 25 Wensum Street, 07913 672491, thewindowcoffee.com. Snacks and sandwiches £1-£3.95. The Tea House, 5 Wrights Court, Elm Hill, 01603 631888
Frank's Bar
Every city has one, and Frank's is Norwich's friendly, artsy late-night bar. The soundtrack is interesting, the bar well-stocked and the walls lined with idiosyncratic bric-a-brac, from old New Order record sleeves to a copy of the Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851. Frank's makes a similar effort to entertain with its food. It focuses firmly on local, seasonal produce, and the menu includes a number of vibrant vegan and vegetarian dishes.
The specials' board (naturally, contained within a gloriously OTT gilt frame) advertises an aioli platter with summer vegetables, new potatoes and quail's egg. Elsewhere on the menu you'll find items such as socca, a vegan chickpea pancake filled with olives and roasted tomatoes, and a simple platter of regional cheeses (Suffolk Gold, Binham Blue, Wissington and smoked Dapple). A salad of lemon-marinated char-grilled courgette, peas and a robust, dense smoked goat's cheese, was a colourful bowl full of summery flavours.
• Breakfast and brunch, £1.50-£6.95, sandwiches, platters and main meals £5.50-£9.50. 19 Bedford Street, 01603 618902, franksbar.co.uk
The Assembly House
This handsome Georgian mansion is many things to many people: wedding venue, an arts and music hub, home to several galleries. It's known for its food, too. The Cake Shop and cafe (cakes £1-£3.75) is a platform for patissier Julia Hetherton, while the restaurant is now overseen by Richard Hughes, celebrated chef-owner of the Lavender House. Such secondary operations can often be a bit slack, but Hughes is no mere consultant here, he co-owns the hospitality side of the Assembly House (while a charitable trust manages its arts programme).
That level of engagement is evident on the plate. Not all the dishes come in sub-£10, but depending on what time of the day you visit, you'll be able to enjoy tapas sharing plates, eggs Benedict, attractive sandwiches or a baked chicken and ham pancake. The cheese on toast is advertised as "posh", perhaps a better description would be, "done properly". This is one of many simple, potentially magnificent dishes which British cafes routinely abuse, but, at the Assembly House, the kitchen clearly cares about even its humblest output. The bread is a good quality doorstep, it comes with a simply dressed leaf salad, pickled onions and a fine apple and raisin chutney. Crucially, the topping is a properly mixed "paste" of good cheese (Norfolk Dapple), beer (Woodforde's Wherry) and Colman's mustard. At £5.95, you're paying £1 for the setting, but still, it's top nosh.
• Sandwiches and light meals £4.95-£7.95. Theatre Street, 01603 626402, assemblyhousenorwich.co.uk
Mackintosh's Canteen
At first sight, you would struggle to distinguish Mackintosh's from its competitors at the Chapelfield shopping development. Like Giraffe or Carluccio's, it is a modern, minimalist flat-pack canteen. Bright, slick, a little bland. The food, however, is a class apart. Owned by Henry Watt, whose Animal Inns deliver sharp Norfolk-sourced food at several local venues, Mackintosh Canteen is an all-day, do-as-you-please kind of offer. You can eat ham, egg and chips, a steak sandwich or a parmesan, orange and fennel salad, midday until midnight.
A large baguette of local pork loin (£5.95) was fantastic. The pork was tasty, thick-cut, properly fatty and despite it being roasted to a caramelised stickiness on its exterior, still moist. It came topped with a minced pork, sage and onion stuffing and scattered with superb pieces of crackling shrapnel, the baguette slathered in a good homemade apple sauce. Add in the natural, personable service, and this operation is a palpable cut-above.
• Sandwiches, salads and main meals £5.95-£9.95 on the Downstairs menu. Unit 410, Chaplefield Plain, 01603 305280, mackintoshscanteen.co.uk
Clark & Ravenscroft
This deli-cafe has a few tables and a tiny courtyard out back, but real ale enthusiasts may prefer to take their haul, and head down St Benedict's Street to the Plough (58 St Benedict's Street, 01603 661384, theploughnorwich.co.uk). A tastefully modernised boozer, owned by excellent local micro, Grain Brewery, it doesn't do food, but it does allow people to bring their own. Its beer is so fresh (from £2.60 a pint) that even a pint of their best bitter – that most boring of beer styles – sings with flavour.
For its part, Clark & Ravenscroft prides itself on home-baking and making, using fine local artisan ingredients. Its gourmet sandwiches and salads (say, pesto, prawn, pasta and flat leaf parsley, or Puy lentil and garlic roasted tomatoes) are recommended, as are the next-level pork pies (£2.80) from Norfolk's Bray's Cottage.
• Sandwiches and salad boxes £3.10-£4.30. 6 St Gregory's Alley, 01603 230027, clarkandravenscroft.com
Iron House Brasserie
Bakery, pub, now restaurant: in one form or another the atmospheric Iron House has been feeding and watering Norwich for nearly 200 years. In its latest incarnation, it is has been modishly renovated (pale grey walls, partially glazed roof, pretty courtyard) to create an attractive all-day brasserie. Before 6pm, budget travellers have their pick from a crowd-pleasing menu of breakfast, brunch and light meals, such as eggs Benedict, potted Cromer crab with soda bread and a watermelon salad, Italian bread salad and grilled halloumi. A sample plate of corned beef with a fried egg (£5.75) made for a very pleasant start to the day. The hash itself was a little too smoothly mixed for my tastes, but it had been jazzed-up with the addition of a good dollop of grain mustard, and the accompanying gravy had a proper depth of flavour. Sound stuff.
•Breakfast £1.95-£8.95, light meals £5.50-£8.95. 1 St John Maddermarket, 01603 763388, theironhouse.co.uk
Baby Buddha Chinese Teahouse
Buddha's menu contains a wide variety of rice and stir-fry dishes as well as big noodle soups, at well under £10 a head. But it's the lunchtime dim sum menu that has put the Ngai family's restaurant on the local foodie map. To describe these dim sum as handmade delicacies might suggest they're dainty little things. They're not. Two or three make for a substantial lunch.
It's something of a culinary adventure, as you pick between chicken claws, tripe in chilli and ginger, and fried, almost gelatinous "cakes" of turnip and pork served with chilli sauce. Like a lot of east Asian meatballs, the beef and chive dumplings are dense and tightly compact. If the dipping sauce tastes tantalisingly familiar, that will be because it's not as you might expect soy sauce, but its distant cousin, Worcestershire, which has been a feature of Cantonese menus since the mid 19th century.
• Dim sum £2.40-£3.50, most main meals £6.50-£9.80. 139 Ber Street, 01603 490889, babybuddha-teahouse.co.uk
Tony travelled with East Midlands Trains (eastmidlandstrains.co.uk), visit the website for the cheapest fares to Norwich from Manchester, Sheffield and Nottingham. The centrally located Wedgewood House B&B (01603 625730, wedgewoodhouse.co.uk) has neat modern doubles available, from £70. For more information, see the Visit Norwich website (visitnorwich.co.uk)
