Happy Birthday.... to me!

In keeping with my French theme, we head back to Sheffield for my 28th birthday meal, yes 28, I'm in shock too! A recommendation from my French teacher, Cafe Ceres was the restaurant of choice, located at the end of popular Ecclesall Road at Hunters Bar.

Ceres at Hunters Bar - Sheffield

A little more on Cafe Ceres directly from the website:

"Ceres (or Café Ceres as it was known before we dropped the café bit) spent its first twelve years as a small, cosy café in squashed but charming premises on Sharrow Vale Road. We now occupy a much bigger (but still charming!) place on Hunter’s bar roundabout, only about 250 yards from our original base. Ceres has been run by us – Jean-Paul and Caroline Strappazzon – since the summer of 2000 when we moved to Sheffield from France to try our hand at the catering business. We serve good coffee, brunches and lunches, and open late for French bistro evenings 4 nights a week."



I picked this restaurant for a couple of reasons, 1. Because I have had ALOT of Italian's recently and fancied something other than pizza/pasta/risotto even though I love them all, 2. The recommendation from my teacher, who also mentioned you could speak French to the owner as well and 3. The price tag. Oh and because it was my Birthday of course!

We booked for a Wednesday evening, which also meant it was BYO, a great idea for a mid-week meal. We were seated up a spiral staircase on a table adorned with a checked table cloth and pretty flowers. The staff were incredibly friendly and attentive and the french bistro was nicely full with a great buzz to it.

Funky staircase

Now for the grub... For starters we ordered the sharing platter which had a combination of olives, feta, bread, salsa, humus, cheese and ham (for 2 people) and an extra humus and chickpea pate with crusty bread. This was a nice amount for the 4 of us.


The sharing platter

Chickpea Pate and Humus

For mains, I had seen the menu on the website previous and it was definitely a tough decision as they all sounded wonderful, but in the end I went for the Duck Breast a L'orange with dauphinoise potatoes and roasted vegetables, my Dad had the same, whilst my Mum opted for the Roast Thyme Chicken and my Sister had steak. The meat was unbelievably tender (I tasted everyones). Perfectly cooked across all of our meals and the potatoes were amazing too.

Roast Thyme Chicken

Dauphinoise Potatoes

Duck a L'orange

Pan Fried Sirloin Steak with Pepper Sauce

For dessert we all went "very french", three of us had crepes, two with lemon and sugar - mine with flambeed bananas and chocolate. My Dad went for the Plum Clafoutis - baked plums in batter. Everything was delicious and traditional.

Crepe with lemon and sugar

Plum Clafoutis

Crepe with flambeed banas and chocolate

 I loved the decor in the restaurant with prints of Paris on the duck egg blue walls and soft lighting, and would definitely re-visit. Starters were around £3-£7 and the mains were an absolute treat at around £10 each. They also offered specials of the day on the blackboard.

The bistro counter - Cake available during the day!

 Its a hidden gem if your ever in Sheffield and fancy "a bit of French"!

We ate: Meat! and beautiful meat it was!

We Drank: Prosecco, Malbec from Mendoza in Argentina, Pinot Grigio (BYO)
We Talked about: My birthday! Shopping, the food, deep and meaningful - full on for a birthday, but in a nice way!
Selling point: Incredible French food for reasonable prices, with a lovely relaxing buzz

References

http://www.cafeceres.com/

85 Junction Road
Hunter’s Bar
Sheffield
S11 8XA