Café Review: Reloved Tearooms (Dorchester, Dorset)

It feels like I’ve only just managed to sit down after one of the busiest weeks ever! I worked six days in a row, with three of those days being 10+ hour shifts, and I am shattered. Even after I finished yesterday afternoon, I immediately had to leave for a trip to visit my grandma (what a romantic start to Valentine’s Day, eh?!). 

So today’s post is just a quick review of a café my mum and I came across today in Dorchester. We’d left dad going through the list of odd jobs Granny’s always got stacked up for him, and took the dog for a wander through the town. When I was little I used to find Dorchester really boring and uneventful, but it’s sort of come into it’s own recently! Little independent shops and boutiques have sprung up, and their trusty department store Gould’s has had a much-needed facelift. It’s sometimes difficult having the dog with us, but a few places are happy to let him come in with us, or we take it in turns to browse whilst the other one waits outside!

Whilst we were in White Stuff, I thought I’d see if I could find any local coffee shops that were dog friendly. However, Yelp didn’t come up with much, and a place we’d stopped at before - as there are outdoor tables - was closed on Sundays, so I turned to Google Maps. This revealed a tearoom literally doors down, in the upstairs of a vintage shop. Luckily for us, they have a little room off the main cafe for dogs and their owners! It’s full of books (all available to buy), and although I felt a little banished from the hub of things, there’s no door in the frame - so the cafe is within view. We also still got table service, and the waitresses were very welcoming towards we humans and our canine! 

The menu was extensive and inclusive, offering light bites or full-out Sunday roasts. There were several cakes put temptingly out next to the till, and a big blackboard above an open fire that detailed even more choice! The decor was very in-keeping with the vintage shop downstairs - lots of shabby chic and mismatching furniture. It had a lovely atmosphere and people were coming and going the whole time we were there. I only wish I’d taken more photos! 

As my grandma’s idea of breakfast is three prunes and a bran flake each, I opted for ham and eggs - although if I’d spotted the description of the brownie (“triple chocolate goey brownie”) before I ordered I may have been persuaded to change - whilst mum had an enormous slab of date slice. Although it was gluten-and-sugar-free (the kind of people we are most certainly not!) she really enjoyed it. My breakfast was just as impressive - hot and fresh with gorgeously runny egg yolks. The ham was particularly scrummy (possibly local?), and it came with a two generous slices of white toast, as well as plenty of butter. Better still was the fact that the ketchup came in its original Heinz glass bottle - I’m an absolute ketchup fiend, so can’t stand it when places decant it into a single thimble for you! 

The coffee was also good - although I only had an Americano - and it was just so nice to be able to sit inside, out of the cold, with the dog. The whole place has done more than is needed to tempt me back; it might even be worth having to put up with Granny to return! 

Address: 2 Cornhill (upstairs in Reloved), Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 1BA

Food: 9
Service: 7
Price: ££ (£=cheap as chips, ££=good for everyday, £££=special occasion, ££££=this better come covered in gold)
Look: 9
Website: here