The board carries four marks: v for vegetarian, ve for vegan or vegan on request, gf for gluten free available, and df for dairy free available. They sit next to a dish's price, and the same legend is printed underneath every board on the site and on the wall. This page explains what each one honestly means, kitchen by kitchen, rather than just pointing at the symbols.

Coffee

Every milk drink on the machine is available in oat, soy, lactose free or full cream at no extra charge. That is the whole policy: no surcharge, no smaller size for the alternative, no asking twice. The batch filter and pour over are made without milk at all and count as vegan by default.

Breakfast

Gluten free bread is available on request on any dish that comes on sourdough, at no extra cost. Eggs your way, avocado on sourdough and mushrooms on sourdough are all gluten free capable and can be made dairy free by dropping the butter finish, which our kitchen does as a matter of course when asked, not as a special request that slows the pass. The house granola is vegetarian and dairy free as it stands. The big plate carries bacon and pork sausage and is not made vegetarian; ask about the eggs and mushrooms on their own instead.

Lunch

The seasonal grain bowl is built to be vegan, vegetarian and gluten free at once and is the most reliable order across every dietary at the table. The soup of the day is usually vegetarian; ask on the day, since it changes. The toasted sandwiches are not made gluten free, since our bread does not have a gluten free version that toasts properly; the grain bowl or a breakfast plate are the better fit if that matters.

The counter and the bakery

Everything Ines laminates from four in the morning is vegetarian. None of it is gluten free or dairy free: butter, flour and time are the entire method, and a substitute pastry made the same way in the same kitchen is not something we can promise without a real risk of cross contact. The sourdough loaf is vegan and dairy free as baked.

Cross contact, said plainly

This is a small kitchen with one pan, one grill and one bench, not a dedicated allergen free facility. We can build a dish around most dietaries and we take coeliac and severe allergy requests seriously when you tell the person taking your order, but we cannot promise a zero trace environment. If a reaction would be dangerous rather than uncomfortable, say so clearly and we will tell you honestly what we can and cannot manage that morning.

Catering

Every catering order carries dietaries labelled on the lid, based on the numbers you give us when you book: see the catering guide for how to count that properly. It is easier to build the right trays from the start than to fix a short one on the morning.

If you are not sure whether a dish works for you, ask. Nobody here will make it a performance, and getting it right the first time is faster for both of us than working it out at the table.

Eating here with dietaries