Tri Prana cafe on philip Lane. Photo by André Ainsworth
It was a grey, autumn morning. The kind of morning when you don’t know whether to go out in a T-shirt or your winter coat (so I decided to wear my rain mac). Having hustled the kids to school I trudged down Phillip Lane to Tri Prana café for a bite to eat.
It wasn’t the first time I had been to Tri Prana café; I had popped in there briefly to buy a cappuccino months back when it had just opened. But there wasn’t much in the way of food on the menu back then.
The interior of Tri Cafe. Photo by André Ainsworth
Shanti Connolly, who runs the café along with Marcia Connolly, explained to me that they had been slowly building up their menu and suppliers since the café first opened in February.
A few reasons to come to Tri. Photo by André Ainsworth
Tri Pana offers pretty much everything a café-loving local could want: sourdough bread, artisan coffee, brunch classics with a Tri-Prana spin such as scrambled eggs with a hint of spice as well as the essential Wi-Fi and even yoga classes.
There is a real emphasis on quality ingredients and at £3.80, the selection of raw vegan smoothies are very reasonably priced.
Particularly appealing is the Tri Cleanser made from beetroot, orange, lemon, ginger, apple, cinnamon and chia seeds or the Tri breakfast with banana, medjool, dates, walnuts, booster chia seeds and coconut almond milk.
It’s not clear how the Beauty Booster with lychee, rosewater, raspberries and coco water works its magic, but it is top of my list to try on my next visit.
On this occasion I had a simple americano coffee and the scrambled eggs. Initially I was rather intrigued about the eggs being cooked in the microwave but they were delicious, served with some fresh sourdough bread and with a subtle hint of aromatic spices.
In addition to the cafe, Tri Prana holds evening yoga classes on Monday, Wednesday and Sunday evenings and a Mindfulness course starting this month.
Shanti with her colleague. Photo by André Ainsworth
You can now also buy fresh organic sourdough bread and baguettes daily to take away which are sourced from The Celtic bakers in Wood Green. These are all lovely and well worth a try.
As I left, one of the customers described Tri Prana as “a little gem”, which – cliché aside – sounds about right. It’s small, but it certainly packs a punch – and anywhere that plays Jimi Hendrix, Prince and The Doors within the space of 20 mins gets the thumbs up from me.
Words: Ebony Riddell Bamber
Photos: André Ainsworth