Aromi - Review

It's time for another review and today it's Aromi's turn.  Aromi is a lovely Sicilian cafe right in the heart of Cambridge and has been open for about a year now.  I've been there a lot this year and it has never disappointed, whether you go there for coffee with a friend,W or to grab a bite to eat on your way home.

When they say they offer a slice of Sicilian life they really do mean it.  All of their food from their bread to their desserts are home-made in the traditional Sicilian style and all their authentic ingredients are imported from Sicily where they have a sister cafe!

As you enter you are greeted by a counter containing their wonderful array of focaccias, arancini and pastries.  Every day their window display is piled high with freshly made paninis and you can even watch them make their fantastic pizzas.

Aromi tends to get very busy around 12  during the lunch rush which means finding a seat can be tricky.  However, if you're planning on eating in I recommend doing what we did and going at 11:30 when most of their lunch stuff is out and there are still free seats!

As we walked in we were greeted by their friendly staff who quickly took our order (a double macchiato, latte, ham focaccia, schiacciatella cipriani and a mushroom arancini).  We then headed downstairs to sit down.

Macchiato

The food and drinks arrived quickly and everything looked so tempting I didn't know where to start.  As I'd never tried one of their arancini before I decided to start there.

Focaccia, Schiacciatella and Arancini

The mushroom arancini was delicious, with a crisp outer coating which revealed the cheesy rice and mushrooms when you cut into it.  The texture was creamy and the cheese wasn't overpowering, meaning you could still taste the mushrooms.

Mushroom Arancini

We then moved on to the ham focaccia.  I've had their focaccias before as they are perfect to take-away on those busy days.  This one was as good as ever - warm but not dry thanks to the tomatoes.

Ham Focaccia

The schiacciatella cipriani is one of my favourite things to get at aromi.  It's a flatbread containing smoked provola cheese, caramelized onions, mushrooms and parsley and I would definitely recommend getting it toasted (you don't want to miss out on the melted cheese).

Schiacciatella Cipriani

Aromi is a great place to go if you're vegetarian as they've got lots of different veggie options to choose from, from pizzas to focaccias.

Of course no visit to a Sicilian cafe would be complete without trying their cannoli, which are traditional Sicilian pastry desserts.  Aromi always have lots of these with a variety of different fillings arranged enticingly on their counter.  I had previously tried a pistachio one, so today I was excited to try a couple of different flavours - one was chocolate and the other was ricotta with chocolate chips.

Ricotta and Chocolate Cannoli

Of the two the ricotta and chocolate chip was my favourite but the chocolate was also delicious.  This rich dessert will definitely leave you wanting more.  If you're going for coffee then cannoli would make an excellent accompaniment!

I will leave you with the exciting news that Aromi will soon be serving gelato from a new shop just around the corner which should open come the summer!

If you want to find out more about Aromi then you can visit their website, follow them on Twitter or like them on Facebook.

If you want to visit them you'll find them at: 1 Benet Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB2 3QN
They're open from 09:00 until 17:00 from Monday to Thursday and from 09:00 until 20:00 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.