About Us
Since 2004, Star Anise Cafe has been at the hub of community in Stroud. It is born of this town, and so our mission remains simple: to serve and nourish Stroud’s thriving people.
The Beginning
London - Stroud
Star Anise was opened in 2004 by Milde Gydelyte, Alexandra Hoppe and Nicholas Allan. They all trained under the tutelage of Jean Torné at the Concord Institute in London.
It all began with a shared passion for Wholefoods cooking, now 22 years later, the cafe is still here. And while Milda and Alex have moved on to new adventures, our mission lives on through our amazing team.
The team
Since 2004, Nic has built a staff team that is nothing short of family. The Star Anise Team has been dedicated to serving the Stroud community a varied and seasonal menu of wholefoods dishes, alongside our in-house bakery.
As well as being conscious of the integrity of our ingredients, we also believe that food made in an environment of love and joy takes any dish to a whole new level of flavour and nourishment. As such, our staff endeavour to work together to create this environment; we are a family.
Wholefoods
We offer a changing menu of seasonal, fresh and innovative dishes, inspired by our macrobiotic and whole food training at Concord Institute. Where possible, our produce is sourced from local organic suppliers - Zerodig Earth, Stroud Community Agriculture, Stroud Slad Farm, Global Organic Markets and Good Small Farms. Local bakery suppliers are The Sunshine Bakery and The Artisan Baker. We often order dry stores from Infinity and Suma
Star anise bakery
After many years of kneading dough, the baton needed to be passed on, and our sourdough bread is now made using our recipe and starter by the wonderful team at Sunshine Organic Bakery.
We also offer gluten free bread, a recipe we are proud to have developed at Star Anise and offer as an alternative to sourdough on our menu. It is a recipe that relies heavily on nuts & seeds and has proved very popular.
You can even make an order for a whole loaf to take home!
The majority of our baked goods are vegan, one of these being our very own vegan croissants - baked fresh every Saturday morning alongside other delicious pastries. And from Sunday to Friday we use the wonderful Artisan Bakery.
We don’t use any refined sugar in our baked goods, with the exception of organic dark cooking chocolate.
Cakes are available to buy whole if you order in advance. We have a selection of vegan and gluten free raw cakes such as our Avocado Chocolate Torte, a special favourite, and our Raspberry Vegan Cheesecake.
We strive to be as accessible as possible to allow everyone to be able to enjoy tasty and nourishing food. A large majority of what we offer is easily adjusted to suit different dietary needs - just ask one of our team and we will be happy to help.
Our menu is predominantly vegetarian, with the exception of our Friday fish and chips, and we always have a daily vegan and gluten-free option.
Coffee
We are proud to serve artisan coffee from the speciality roasters Extract Coffee, who are based locally in Bristol. Extract help train our baristas to ensure you’re always getting a delicious and visually pleasing dose of caffeine to fuel your day.
Check out our blog about Why We Love Extract Coffee Roasters.
We love Extract Coffee not just for the quality of their roast, but the ethical traceability of all of their supplies.
We know that the Stroud community is what makes us. We open up our space in whatever way we can best serve: holding community-run events, providing work experience opportunities and simply being here for people to come in, have coffee and do their thing. Hello, and welcome!
Book a table
Give us a quick call to join us for Breakfast, Lunch, or Sunday Brunch
