It’s a rainy day in Bournemouth in January. I’m not a fan of umbrellas, and the hood on my jacket serves more against wind than as a protection from water. As is frequently the case, I’ve got my iPhone clutched in my hand, and I’m following the HappyCow app to an interesting sounding vegan deli style restaurant with no menu to speak of. It’s 10:46am, I haven’t had breakfast yet, and this place is slightly off my beaten track, necessitating a bus journey, or the kind of walk I’m not prepared to do in the rain. I don’t have much of a clue what to expect, but I really need it to be good.
When I walk into Dane and Port it’s cosy and dry, which is the first plus box ticked. It’s also empty of both staff and customers, and I am met by a low wall of Middle Eastern music with the mild aroma of exotic spices to match. I can’t quite place either precisely, but it instantly makes me feel at home. There are plants everywhere. Standing. Hanging. And the decor is wooden, woven, and rustic. With no humans in sight, I am unsure at first as to whether if it’s even open and I drift over to the back of the restaurant, hoping to find someone. Yes, there is a menu of sorts up on the wall, but revealing no specifics; there are simply vague references to meals like a brunch bowl or a sandwich plate.
I call out and a waitress appears from behind a slight curtain at the back. She pops downstairs to fetch the owner who she assures me will be able to explain the system. This she does, and it basically amounts to there is a brunch bowl, and you say which of the feasible components appeal to you.
I choose an English breakfast tea to drink, which arrives in a heavy metal pot with enough contents for me to fill my beaker three times. My brunch plate consists of a dense chickpea flour tortilla, flavoured with turmeric, dill, and spinach, the beetroot humous, and a pickled red cabbage and broccoli salad. All of these smell and taste delicious, and, like everything served here, the foods are made from scratch on a daily basis.
Owner, Isabel, comes over to check that I am okay and that the food is to my taste. It most definitely is. She is Portuguese, and her co-owner husband is from Denmark, which, she tells me, explains the shop’s name. She adds that they opened four years ago, just after the first lockdown, originally planning to run a vegan deli, and slowly expanding into a restaurant. Their focus is on keeping food as unprocessed, ethically produced, flavoursome, and as organic as possible, but without any preaching. All of this appeals to me massively.
With many businesses in the café and restaurant trade closing down in the current economic climate, these are tough times; Dane and Port, which has never really advertised itself at all, has begun exploring ways to future proof itself as a business, Isabel explains. This might mean going back to its roots as a deli, and becoming more takeaway orientated, but whatever the case its ethics will remain the same.
And for those who like more than a doggy bag to take home, a wander downstairs reveals a range of organic veg on offer to buy.
For now, if you can do without the thrill of choosing your meal online before you get to a place, it’s well worth the trip. Fully licensed, and serving organic cocktails and wines, they also serve cold pressed juices and artisan coffee, as well as desserts.
Bardo Burner 