Plateful Cafe Blog

Iolanda’s Thoughts for October

Dear Readers At the start of a gloomy and rainy first week of October here we are reflecting on our achievements and looking forward to the celebrations  to mark the end of the year of the year and the festive season. As we speak we are busy packaging our Christmas products ready to be photographed and launched by second week

Read More »

Looking forward to September!

Dear readers! The summer is slowly giving way to autumn and what an August rich of activities we have had. We started new partnerships with St Magdalen Hall and Pistachio in Fields cafe and as we speak we are busy preparing the different dishes we will offer at  Pullens festival this weekend.     At St Magdalen Hall we catered

Read More »

Plateful Cafe – A Taste of Syrian Cuisine

Syrian cuisine is known for its diverse and flavourful taste reflecting the history and culture of the country. Examples of Syrian cuisine include: Hummus: A creamy dip made from blended chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, and garlic. Kofta Kabab: consisting of grilled meat, the lamb is mixed with garlic and parsley, grilled and served Falafel: made of cilantro, yellow onion, garlic

Read More »

Our Summer 2024 Update!

Good day everyone I hope you are enjoying your summer. At Plateful Café we are as busy as ever despite not having a permanent place yet. We are exploring different opportunities to secure at least a commercial kitchen to continue to cook for events and make our products. We are in consultation with Magdalen Hall in SE1 to cook for

Read More »
Refugee Week

Refugee Week

REFUGEE WEEK Refugee Week is the world’s largest arts and culture festival, celebrating the contributions and resilience of refugees. Plateful Cafe being a Charity, we are proud to participate in this significant event with special menus and activities, showcasing the talents and stories of our chefs who have come to the UK as refugees. Each dish they create is a

Read More »
Plateful Cafe - customers

Moving to the Star of Greenwich, the next chapter in our story

Southeast London’s favourite community café has had to leave its home in the Parkside Community Centre on Lewisham Road. Luckily though, our tireless volunteers have been able to team up with The Star of Greenwich, a community-owned pub with stacks of character and an international reputation. The Star was recently featured in an LA Times article about the survival of

Read More »
Plateful cafe founder and chef

Bistro dedicated to helping refugees offers Plateful of hope

Recently we had a piece about about the great work we’re doing at Plateful Cafe on South London News – South London Press & Mercury.  Read a summary below or full article here.     Plateful Café, located in Lewisham, celebrates its one-year anniversary with pride. Founded by Iolanda  Chirico, the café serves as a platform for refugees to display their

Read More »
Plateful Cafe in London.

Plateful Café’s refugee-run bistro nights

By Sam.   Very few festivals can say they have a history which stretches back over three millennia, but Nowruz, the Persian New Year, is one of them. The celebration happens every year on the spring equinox and symbolises the emergence of new life and the triumph of light over darkness. Hadis, one of the many talented Chefs who cook

Read More »

Week’s End: Happy birthday to me!

I recently turned 50, and marked it this weekend with a really special dinner in the company of some of my closest friends. The setup We turned our living room and garden into an intimate dining space for 23 guests. I spent a good part of the preceding week trying to figure out exactly how I’d seat everyone without it

Read More »