Urban Pantry Cafe For Devonshire Road

The former Classic Image Gallery premises will remain a coffee shop

A visit to Australia and New Zealand has inspired Kate Frobisher to set up Urban Pantry, which opens its doors in the former Classic Image Gallery premises in about two weeks time.

Urban Pantry will serve breakfasts, lunches, cakes, salads, soups and coffees and hopes to be open on December 14th.

Kate, who is from Twickenham, trained at Leith's School of Food and Wine, and then set off to live in Sydney, Australia, where she fell in love with the breakfast culture. After finishing her degree at Birmingham University, she returned to work in the hospitality sector in New Zealand, and was again inspired by the fresh food and the coffee culture there.

A sample of Urban Pantry food, from the Devonshire Road Street Party

She travelled the country and picked up ideas for opening an Aussi/Kiwi style cafe back home in London.

"In around June, after what felt like hundreds of visits to various shops to rent, I found myself on the wonderful Devonshire Road. As soon as I stood outside the Classic Image Cafe Gallery I knew that it was the perfect place for Urban Pantry and did everything I could to secure an offer," she says.

Urban Pantry was involved in the last Devonshire Road Street Party, selling sandwiches, cakes, and sausage rolls, and Kate said she was delighted to meet friendly locals and help donate the proceeds to the W4 youth charity.

In the meantime she has been finding local suppliers for food and drinks, using local Chiswick green-grocers and the Ginger Pig on Askew Road for meat. She has been working with a family business coffee roastery, who have roasted a special blend for Urban Pantry, and speciality teas come from a social enterprise company who import all their loose leaf tea from India and Sri Lanka and send all the proceeds back to local charities in Darjeeling.

"Urban Pantry will offer a wide range of delicious brekkies, lots of avocado, sourdough bread and poached eggs- what more could you want?! We will also do daily salads, changing around according to seasonality, sandwiches and wraps as well warming soups for the winter. There is a great range of cakes, traybakes and breakfast pastries as well- for when salad just isn't enough!

"Everyone on Devonshire Road has been so welcoming and I feel really honoured to be part of such a special road. I am from Twickenham but have been in love with Chiswick for a long time, so I am so happy that I found the perfect place for Urban Pantry in Chiswick. "

November 27, 2015