We went to visit Laylas in Castlefield on a mild spring afternoon, flowers were blooming and there were lots of visitors in the area! We heard a choir practicing under the arches! We had yet to try the new place but had seen the queues to get in at weekends and had heard about the coffee weekend daytime raves!
We chose to sit outside and it was too nice not too! Choosing a drink was the first hurdle! So many lovely choices – from various coffees to choose from as well as the ever popular matchas made to order.
There was also an array of speciality cold brews, a range called coconut cloud and also a variety of cold foams! The iced espresso tonic sounded interesting! There was also wellness lattes as well as a delicious range of soft drinks to choose from. The drinks menu has been developed by the staff and really does have some delicious options as well as some slightly strange combinations that I’m sure are delicious!
I went for the espresso cloud – one of the cold foams and my partner chose to have the hot chocolate – one of her measures of a good brunch place!
Drinks decided we then moved to the food part! Lots of choice! Breakfast options ran until 12noon but as we were there later we wanted to try the brunch options and try some of their signature dishes.
I am a lover of all egg Benedict’s and there were three options to choose from but my taste buds totally tingled at the description of the Turkish Eggs with sourdough toast so this was my choice with an additional side of halloumi. My partner went for the chicken schnitzel as this has always been one of her favourites.
The drinks arrived and the foam on the espresso drink was amazing! A wonderful bubbly thick ice cream textured coffee blasting delight! The hot chocolate was just right – not too sweet. Nice and hot too.
The food arrived and portions were generous! The Turkish eggs were presented with swirls of coloured chilli and herb oils, with home made dukkah, pickled shallots, zatar feta and a generous dollop of creamy labneh to balance these flavours. The eggs were perfectly poached with bright yellow yolks and the sourdough toast was the perfect shade of toasty and the perfect thickness for a good crunch as well as a great mop for the plate. The halloumi slices additions were also grilled with dark edges to enhance the ‘squeak’ of the cheese!
Opposite me the schnitzel was being ooh’d and aah’d over! The outside was crispy and crunchy. The chicken was moist, juicy and was quite a size! This came with a portion of crispy chips and a lovely crunchy home made slaw.
We really enjoyed the food and we went inside to look at the pastries and cakes! These are home made by the pastry chefs from Don Giovannis further in to town and they really looked amazing. Picture perfect and shiny with piped filling adding to their gorgeousness. There were filled croissants, various muffins and buns – we had to take a couple to sample later!
This is a great addition to the area, the staff were all great, Laylas is doggie friendly and a blackboard listed the various events that the team also had planned in May – including a daytime gay social as well as other events such as morning running groups and plant pot painting in the evening.
A great space for the growing Castlefield community and a very welcome and comfortable chilled space for all.
Barca next door, also owned by the same team was also in the throes or being renovated so looking forward to see how that develops too.
As well as being a Canal St card partner (15% off with card ), Layla’s have a loyalty scheme which I will be using as we will return to work through the frothy drinks and great food.
A real excuse to visit this little part of our ever lovely Castlefield!
Sarah and Pam