Cottage Cafe — Restaurant in Canterbury

During our Golf safari sojourn through enchanting Ellesmere I was compelled by Leestonian 'patriots' to pilgrimage my way towards your pie-topia paradiso. Upon appearances, I indeed felt as if I had magically been teleported to some kind of culinary Xanadu. The premises was impeccable, the personnel sublimely and sportily suited and the garden was a cottage garden treat of visual awe and floral opulence. And then, your cafeterias dominos began to catastrophically tumble. The pretty, well groomed but incredibly naive and unworldy young mademoiselle at the counter seemed to have multiple issues with my partner who though née in Chile is quite proficient in English, French, Portuguese, Italian and Castellan. Do you not get many gringos out here in your neck of the woods? I myself, a born and bred New Zealander who has acquired a hint of a Pommie twang was also given that "oh your an outer towner"leering quizzical glance. As a foody savant and gregarious gourmand, I was not spellbound with the lacklustre, bland and stale country fair which we found to be painfully unpalatable. But then again,...

Pretty cold, the floor is very creaky in some places, but the people working here are very nice. Little to no variety in seating and furniture, just a mixture between 2-4 seats at tables. A pretty rough blue paint job throughout the ex-home. Nice music playing in the background though. Large menu which is good if you're picky, and yes, they do pancakes. Speaking of which, were served with warm, firm, and ripe blueberries (which is really nice on a cold day in a cold room). As well as pretty sweet whipped cream. Don't forget the maple syrup, the highlight of it all! Nice and sticky, with the classic sweetness of the typical maple syrup, and there's lots of it. Now for the cutlery, the fork is a fork and it does that part well. The knife is good and sharp, I love it. The pancakes themselves are cooked to perfection, and they taste loaded with sugar which is great for a sweet tooth like myself. Came pretty quick, the temperature was just right. Great...

We came in and were quickly told they close in 30 min. We decided it was plenty of time so opted for two coffees & two potatoe tops. We decided I'd pay for potatoe tops & I asked the girl to ring them up as i would get these & my friend the coffee. This was not done. When delivering them we were told again firmly that they close in 30 min. I replied that yes we've already had that discussion. Found her to be very rude & we felt unwelcomed. In addition potatoe tops were cold as & we ended up leaving them. The coffee guy was the best thing about this place. It's a shame his staff (assume he's owner) are letting him down. Terrible...