A Slow-paced Brunch Place in NQ – Federal Cafe Bar

No gimmicks, just an unpretentious and amazing cafe!

Federal Cafe is located at the edge of Northern Quarter which is quite close to the Arndale. The outside of the cafe is not conspicuous that you can easily walk past and not notice the specialty of it. S wouldn’t notice this place if her friend hadn’t recommended it to her, and S was really glad she did!

The inside of cafe is not big, but not too crowded even it’s full. The theme of the colour and the plants in the cafe make people relaxed, and the super friendly staff here definitely can make your day by their hospitality and smiles! You’ll be lead to a seat and provided water once you are set. The menu is simple but they also have a different special menu everyday which will be written on the blackboard or the orange memo with the menu.

Halloumi & Shrooms (£8) add chorizo (£2) and a regular latte (£2.6) were the first items S tried there. The portion of the dish here was good in that you definitely will feel satisfied and comfortably full after the meal. S loves the fried mushrooms there which were just juicy and the flavour of garlic and thyme was just great!

As you can see that the ingredients of this dish were stacked and it looked really neat. After S separated the dish you can see it more clearly for the ingredient and the size of the dish. Here has different atmosphere compared to Fress Restaurant which also is a nice brunch place in Northern Quarter, the staff and the food here just give people a genuine and relaxing feeling.

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Since S had a really good experience from the last visit, S went there again for the Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict (£9) with extra mushrooms (£1.5) and a regular cappuccino (£2.6). The food was really fresh and tasty as expected, especially the mushrooms which S had last time and has loved it since! Furthermore, the portion of smoked salmon was quite generous.

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S chose Smashed Avocado & Poached Eggs with smoked salmon(£11) since S loves salmon in general. The house pickle definitely gave this dish a nice touch, and S would love to add some extra if she could. The dish was freshly made and you also can tell the owner has paid attention to the detail of the plating.

The French Toasts from Federal really amazed S! It was not sickly sweet at all but with a strong caramel flavour. However, S couldn’t really taste the salted part. S usually feels a bit sickly when she has a sweet dish, yet the French Toasts from Federal didn’t give her that kind of feeling at all. S can’t recommend this dish more if you have a sweet tooth, you’ll definitely love the French Toasts as well!

This is the place that S will definitely recommend you to come if you just want to have a nice and fresh brunch. The staff here are super nice and pay attention to the details about the customers even when the place was busy! Just a little note before you visit, they don’t take bookings so you might want to visit early during the weekend to avoid the queue.