Want to feel revived in mind, body and spirit? One Whitstable business is aiming to do all that.

Revival cafe and ice cream parlour opened in August last year as a social enterprise run by Mind in Bexley & Kent with its aim of 'reviving' minds and bodies with good food, music and company.

It has a 1960s vibe with eclectic decor and staff uniforms but one thing is definitely not a throwback – its food offering is very much 21st century.

General manager Deborah Haylett said although the team had always envisaged a vegetarian menu, but since opening have been able to go on to develop much that is vegan too.

Initially opening as an ice cream parlour, selling sundaes and knickerbocker glories, a full menu soon followed – there are even tasty Sunday roasts available, which promise to tempt the tastebuds without harming any animals.

There are vegan pies, Revival’s own Mushroom and Stilton Wellington and Revival's own loaf accompanied by garlic roast potatoes, maple roasted parsnips, sprouts and onion with pecans, carrot and swede mash, steamed broccoli and peas and finished with a red wine and onion gravy. There’s also pudding: apple crumble and savoury tart and ice cream, shakes, crepes and waffles.

She said: “We always planned to have a veggie menu but needed to wait until we found the right chef for the job and our savoury crepes were really popular and allowed us to develop our skills.

“We are a young business with a predominantly young staff under the guidance of our manager Lynne Forester, herself a qualified chef. The professional development of our staff has been amazing and now that we have our brilliant chefs Caz Nerssessian and Hari Dasi on board our menu has exploded with delicious vegetarian dishes."

All eggs and dairy used are organic and ice cream syrups are sugar-free and do not contain sweeteners, colours or preservatives, and are soya and GM free.

She said: “Although we are not vegan we have an extensive range of vegan ice creams and sorbets to mirror our dairy ice creams. We sourced our dairy gelato from a company in London called Marine Ices. I remembered their name from my childhood visits with my uncle who lived in London and when we were researching suppliers I asked them to come along. They stood out from the crowd having a real wow factor.”

The veggie menu has been developed during the winter when there was less demand for ice cream.

The evening menu now has starters and sides, with the expanding menu now including the popular Buddha bowls, plus vegan ramen, creamy wild mushroom risotto with truffle oil, and potato and sweetcorn chowder with vegetable medley.

There is also a seasonal savoury tart, mushroom and mozzarella panzanella and creamy dill spaghetti with green peppercorns and a BBQ jackfruit burger.

FOOD WITH A BIG HEART

Because the business is linked to a mental health charity, working to challenge stigma and raise funds to develop local services, managers have launched a pay-it-forward scheme.

Customers can donate towards a meal for someone in need. Food poverty can have devastating effects on mental health and with welfare cuts and delays, zero hours contracts and wage stagnation, the scheme offers a hot drink or meal to anyone in need including families and children, the elderly, working poor or anyone in need. Those in need can pop in and ask for a pay-it-forward meal and will be treated as any other customer – but their meal has already been paid for. Local people have already responded well and lots of meals have been donated, and they are being used, but more awareness of the scheme is needed.

There are also regular DJ events – as music can also be good for the mind – and mental health information available on noticeboards, leaflets, posters and coasters, as well as hosting peer mentoring groups, and working in partnership with Canterbury Catering College to offer placements and work experience to students in need of support. Any profits, including from our fundraising events will be used to help fund a mental health worker at Revival to develop much-needed local services.

DETAILS

Find Revival at 27a Oxford Street, Whitstable. Revival is open noon to 6pm during the week (6pm to 8pm bookings only) and 10am to 10pm Fridays and Saturdays, and noon to 6pm on Sundays. There will be longer opening hours in the summer. More details at the Facebook page, facebook.com/RevivalWhitstable