Roots & Seeds

Roots + Seeds Café and Kitchen is located in a prime spot right in the heart of the bustling Gloucester Quays Food Dock. The restaurant features charming outdoor seating and patio doors that can be swung open wide to create a Mediterranean ‘inside-out’ vibe. On a sunny, hot day in June, as we settled into our seats, we both agreed it felt like being transported to a relaxing holiday on some distant shore.

Roots + Seeds Café and Kitchen was founded in 2020 by Toby Baggott and Sam Lawson-King with a concept called ‘The Scenic Supper Club’, offering a unique, socially distanced dining experience. This idea eventually evolved into ‘Roots + Seeds Café and Kitchen’, which opened at the Bathurst Estate in Cirencester in April 2023 and another location at Gloucester Quays Food Dock in April of this year.

Toby and Sam aim to engage with the environment and community around them, placing sustainability at the centre of everything they do. Toby has developed a quarter-acre kitchen garden at Cirencester Park, growing flowers, herbs, fruit, and vegetables for the restaurants. The area is also used to share knowledge about growing produce with the wider community as they reintroduce a working kitchen garden to Cirencester Park—once a common sustainable concept for many houses.

I sipped my Blackberry, Rosemary, and citrus mocktail (particularly refreshing
on a hot day) and waited for my food. I admired the décor, enjoying the clean, crisp design in natural colours that reflected Toby and Sam’s desire to engage with the environment. It has a wholesome but unfussy feel. The fresh pink flowers on the table were my favourite touch, quite clearly from their kitchen garden, contrasting simply but stylishly in an eye-catching green vase.

For our starter, we shared Braised Beef Cheek with Potato Hash, Onion Ring, and Poached Egg. It was outstanding. The beef was melt-in-the-mouth and complemented everything on the plate well— I particularly enjoyed the combination of the lush, runny egg with the soft meat. For the main course, I ordered the Kitchen Garden Superfood with added chicken, which was adapted to be gluten-free. There is a noticeable and significant difference between vegetables that have travelled a short distance, having been harvested recently, and those in a supermarket that have probably been transported many miles and stored in various locations, losing their flavour (and nutrients). In this dish, the vegetables did the talking. A generous portion and a good mix of freshly picked veg from their kitchen garden. They were crisp and full of flavour. A pleasing dish that leaves you feeling satisfied that you’ve had your five a day. My companion ordered the Reuben Salt Beef, Homemade Mustard, Sauerkraut & Pickles, and Double Gloucester Sandwich. He enjoyed it, most notably the sauerkraut, which had a good, punchy flavour and added depth to the sandwich, complementing the beef nicely.

Roots + Seeds is a good restaurant with a thoughtful menu. Especially lovely on a sunny day. Toby and Sam deserve praise for practising what they preach about sustainability. Their dedication to growing some of their own food and sharing that knowledge is truly inspiring. For me, it seems community lies at the heart of sustainability, and they have the vision and courage to recognise this and act accordingly.

Visit their website here to learn more and explore their menu: https://rootsandseedskitchengarden.co.uk

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