In my home town of Matlock in Derbyshire, there’s a big park. Hall Leys Park has swings and slides, a paddling pool, a pond with ducks, a bandstand, and a cafe.
We all grew up getting ice creams from the Cafe in the Park, which was just a green shed with an ice cream freezer and a till.
In recent years the cafe has transformed and has become a favourite lunch spot in Matlock. It’s now a lovely cafe which serves a wide range of great food.
They serve full English breakfasts, afternoon teas, jacket potatoes, salads, and other delicious homemade yummy-ness. It’s reasonably priced with the cutest setting, and on a sunny day, you can sit outside under the trees – perfect for a doggie walk lunch stop.
You can also pick up takeaway coffees here to stroll with if you’re passing through the town on a walk.
Bistro nights at Cafe in the Park
They’ve also started to do bistro nights once a month. Serving the cuisines of different nations, from Italian to American BBQ, they serve a set menu which I think is an excellent idea if you can never decide what you want from a menu!
Because I like everything, I sometimes find it difficult, but I guess this isn’t the place for you if you’re fussy.
Bearing that in mind, I went with two of my besties to their Caribbean night. To say the bistro nights are popular in Matlock is a bit of an understatement.
I booked this two months in advance, and we couldn’t get into the previous bistro nights as they were all fully booked. I’d heard such good things from so many people that I booked into the first one I could!
Inside, the Cafe in the Park is tiny and intimate. For drinks, you can bring your own bottles for a small corkage charge (£1 per person).
BYOB is pretty awesome as it saves money on overpriced restaurant drinks and means you can bring the wine you like instead of playing wine roulette and hoping you get the pale rose you were after. However, this did turn out to be a huge mistake for me as we brought a bottle each and went for cocktails afterward, which was a bit of a recipe for disaster once I got home.
The food was delicious. For starters, we had chickpea and spinach soup, crusty bread (I was strictly off the diet for this night), and jerk chicken wings with a tasty coleslaw.
The staff were super attentive, ensuring that everything was ok and that we were enjoying ourselves. It was relaxed, and we were there for a couple of hours – I love it at meals when you have plenty of time to chat between courses and don’t feel rushed or pressured to leave.
The main course was pork chops with a Caribbean sauce and sweet potato mash. I’m not usually a massive fan of pork, but this was cooked to perfection.
It was so tender that it just fell apart when I put my knife through it and melted in my mouth. For dessert, it was banana bread and butter pudding.
Honestly, this was the only bit of the whole meal I wasn’t too keen on. I’m not that keen on bananas.
The one thing I would have changed about the night was that not much was made of the Caribbean theme beyond the food. I would have loved to hear some steel drums and Caribbean decorations – not least because it would take me straight back to the Bahamas or Barbados!
It was a great night with delicious food, and fabulous to try somewhere different – we’ve already booked in for the Spanish tapas night in September!
Bistro nights at Cafe in the Park, Matlock, cost £21.95 per person with a £10 non-refundable deposit to secure your place.
If you’re looking for more places to eat in Matlock then check out my dog friendly restaurant guide.
