Glutton & Glee is a marvellous little coffee shop come café based at number 6 Tunsgate in prime location between the High Street and Guildford Castle. This fantastic independent business has been serving up gourmet coffee, rare tea, fresh salads, artisan bread, delicious cake, yummy jams and local goodies since opening in April 2011.
Owner, Julia Elkhadraoui moved to Guildford in 2009 and knew immediately this was the place to open up her first café after spending the previous seven years in event management. The aesthetical beauty and demographic of Our Town along with the need for a coffee shop that wasn’t simply a chain outlet was obvious. Therefore, Glutton & Glee was born from a passion for fresh, homemade food and quality service; a cornerstone to this successful independent business.
Julia says that “because the food you eat feeds your soul and genuinely makes you happy, it is our mission to provide you with the choice of high quality food and drink at great value for money”. And they do this by providing a combination of nutritional, wholesome foods whilst also locally sourcing a lot of their products/ingredients.
Glutton & Glee sources unpasteurised cheeses from local dairies such as Golden Cross Cheese in Lewes, handmade artisan chocolate bars from Ewhurst based company Kokoh, cupcakes from Butter & Cream Cakes (that has a regular stall on North Street Market) and fudge from Mummy Makes in Farnham. They also have some new hot chocolate ‘stirring sticks’ from Cocoa Antics which you just stir into a mug of hot milk to create an incredible hot chocolate experience. There are bags of popcorn from Old Woking based business Popcorn Kitchen who hand pop each kernel individually and the shop serves up a great loose-leaf tea from the Rare Tea Company of London, who source the finest tea they can find and ensure it is traded fairly, directly with the growers.
And if that hasn’t left you salivating already then the rest of the menu will do! There is the traditional combination of teas, coffees, hot chocolate, fresh juices and milkshakes on the drinks menu to begin with. If you arrive before 12pm (or 1pm Sunday) then you can treat yourself to the ever popular eggs Benedict or a classic favourite; boiled eggs and soldiers. If you are in for a lunchtime bite then you have a choice of award winning pies from the West Country, quality, homemade quiches, salads and tarts, sandwiches, jacket potatoes and the soup of the day. And let’s not forget the variety of homemade cakes available daily or the famous Glutton & Glee granola bar which is so popular it flies out the oven, with people even waiting patiently to buy them as they cool down!
The shop has a beautiful interior décor with a lovely homely feel where they can seat up to 20 people at a time and make each customer feel really welcome through their friendly customer service. If you don’t manage to get a seat or you are on the run then you can order to take away either at the counter or by calling in advance by ringing 01483 452934 and collecting. Glutton & Glee also offer an office catering service where they can supply sandwich platters and other things of the like if you are a local business looking to order in bulk. The shop is open from 8am to 5pm on week days, from 8am to 5.30pm on Saturdays and the slightly shorter hours of 9.30am to 5pm on Sundays.
James Martin
