Madeleine's Kitchen — Restaurant in East Hampshire

I can only wonder how many times they must’ve been asked about where to find the menu, how to order, where to queue, where to get the cutlery, what is the meaning of life, do shadows have atoms?

Really, was just expecting anything but this. A bizarre way of ordering that must have an alternative, surely.

Once in you are greeted with a beautiful deli/dry goods shop that looks hipsterish, is buzzing and well staffed which is great to see.

Then you don’t know where to go- in the middle of the thoughtfully decorated space stands a sign that looks temporary but must definitely been there long enough. You are told to queue one way between some shelves with goods ranging from quirky olive oils that must cost a fortune (tough times) and £6.50 cans of tuna that have a pinteresty designed wrapper which justify their existence - to your left a line up of fridges with precooked meals. You are then in front of the deli counter and wondering if you can have breakfast to which you are told by the very kind and helpful staff that yes, they serve breakfast and you must now choose from this menu taped on the fridge glass. Under a bit of pressure you make the final decision to which, after paying, you are rewarded with a beeping machine and a numbered wooden spoon.

After that it goes like this: hope there is a table available (because you didn’t know you should get one ahead, but rest assured there’s only so many wooden spoons), sit down, wait for the beeper and get your hot drink yourself when it beeps (but not your partners cold drink), wait for the staff to bring the food (and the cold drink) you ordered and then get told to get up and get your own cutlery.

The food wasn’t that bad if a bit pricey, but honestly, this system has been in my head ever since. I understand it is mainly a deli of sorts and it may be a challenge to find the right system- but it is not this. I am haunted by Madeleine’s self-service/table-service/deli hybrid.

However, will probably be coming back to try the actual deli meats...

I was extremely pleased with this place and I am so glad that I decided to venture inside this shop.

The members of staff were absolutely wonderful and helpful. They were all keen to assist. They were exceptionally enthusiastic and friendly.

There are also smoothies available. The Green Goddess was lovely.

The freshly-made items behind the counter were labelled clearly as "vegetarian" or "vegan," which was helpful. Everything looked so delicious and healthy.

I recommend Madeleine's Kitchen 100% and many thanks to the lovely members of staff who made our visit so pleasant.

We attended this place again in February 2022. It was extremely crowded and once again, there were many delicious and fresh items from which to choose. I took some photographs of these items. Once again, the members of staff took lots of pride in their work and were able to make good...

We nearly didn’t eat here simply because of poor ventilation (the air was very hot and stuffy inside), however after looking at other not so appealing cafes we returned and so glad we did. The service was wonderful, it was quite busy but there was a sense of total patience with us when we ordered at the counter even though a few people stood behind.

The food was better than expected (as you can see from our empty plates!) We had sausage rolls, sweet potato falafels, Thai salad, potato salad and beetroot and horseradish soup.

If we’re in Petersfield again we’d certainly return, such a surprisingly...