Elldrew Eat-Out

Made by Bob, Cirencester

Made by Bob

The great British public has a reputation of forming orderly lines with no notice, but sometimes the clue is in the queue. On a recent drive to the Cotswolds we stumbled across The Telegraph’s online ‘insiders guide’ to the best places to eat in the area; from typical pub grub to fine dining restaurants. As we were staying near Cheltenham we searched a 30 min radius drive from our hotel so that we could stop for lunch before the usual 3pm check-in time.

We’d heard Cheltenham was a nice place to visit (we guessed it must have something to offer other than the famous steeplechase horse racing as it has the fourth-highest rate of multi-millionaires in the UK living there) but after looking through the restaurant list we weren’t overwhelmed…the closest venue we liked was Jamie’s Italian…so we decided to continue our search. We decided on the quaint village of Cirencester and deli-café-bistro ‘Made by Bob’.

With a no booking policy, “but we’re coming from London”, we arrived to be greeted by a small queue that seemed to be moving at a reasonable pace. Made by Bob has a great deli selling a selection of sweet and savoury products, including a range of homemade items direct from their kitchen (we purchased a few jars of pasta sauces on our way out). There is a lovely relaxed vibe about the place and the friendly staff soon had us seated, watered and taking us through the simple but perfectly balanced menu.

Made by Bob restaurant

We loved watching the chefs at work in the open plan kitchen, and since we were sitting near the serving area we eagerly viewed each dish as it passed, they all looked so appetising. It was also nice to see the chefs interacting with the customers who were sitting at the high-bench seating area that forms part of the kitchen…it must be great from both sides to be able to interact and soak up the energy.

Our food was DELICIOUS, we can’t rave enough about it and to be honest it’s a shame Made by Bob is a two hour drive from London or we would be rushing back, a lot. We shared bread, olives and salsa verde (to soak up the glass of wine, as we were driving) then we both had the superb loin of Venison with grilled leeks, butternut squash gnocchi with its red wine sauce, accompanied by a green salad on the side. In keeping with the sharing theme we ordered a slice of the coffee hazelnut cake that had been staring at us the entire meal, washed down with an invigorating espresso before heading back on the road for our final 15 min drive to the hotel.

We literally wanted to lick the plate! And we totally support the statement from their website where their guests have commented “it feels just like London – it has that buzz.” The queue outside was way longer then when we arrived so they are doing something right. If you’re near Cirencester you must drop in, even for some deli purchases (the pasta sauce was delicious), we can’t wait to tell our satnav to head to Made by Bob again.

Address: Unit 6, Corn Hall, 26 Market Place, Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 2NY

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