I was catching up with a few friends at The Cutters Inn this evening, so I decided to pop across to a favourite of mine, Urban Fresh.

For those of you who still remember, Urban Fresh used to be an American restaurant called Grand Central. It has since turned into a truly unique dining experience not found anywhere else locally, with an exciting take on South American cuisine. Even in Cambridge you won’t find many places that offer this sort of food, making it a real credit to our local restaurant scene.

My first visit to Urban Fresh made a great impression on me, particularly with its sticky pork tacos. I was disappointed to learn that Urban Fresh has now stopped doing them and I haven’t been able to get them out of my mind ever since. I’ve looked elsewhere for something similar to fill the void but have only found a rather lackluster equivalent at Cuba Libre.

I was looking to revisit and discover something equally inspiring on the menu. After all, the menu had a good selection, including a list of 6 vegetarian and vegan options. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see my beloved sticky pork tacos but after speaking to the waitress she directed me to a similar dish called “sticky pork belly”. This is essentially the same dish but with potatoes rather than wraps. Needless to say, I was delighted!

The sticky pork belly was beautifully presented with a lot of its vibrant colour coming from the accompanying Asian style slaw and roasted pepper. This really added some visual excitement to the dish.

The pork fell to pieces and had a really sweet and sticky sauce that was improved with the crunchy texture from the nuts(?) and seeds on top. It was everything I remembered and more!

The main difference between this dish and the one I fell in love with was that it now comes with pico potatoes rather than taco wraps. I must admit, it was significantly easier to eat and tasted just as good. I think it works!

I would like to see the option to have both wraps and potatoes, as we lack quality tacos in Cambridgeshire.

Next on the list was their ‘Paella Mixta’ which is a dish we decided to share between the two of us. This was made from arbario rice, chicken breast, chorizo, king prawns, and monkfish.

It’s worth noting that the meat quality at Urban Fresh is really good. The team put a real emphasis on ethical standards from having their own butcher with the ‘Royal Seal Of Approval’ to using free range chicken and British suckler breeds of beef.

We both found the paella to be well cooked and pleasant enough. I particularly enjoyed the monkfish but the other meat failed to stand out, which was surprising for chorizo. The texture of everything in the paella was juicy and succulent, and added an almost soft creamy texture to the paella. This is an easy going dish that is accessible to everyone but may fail to excite sticklers for flavour.

Lastly, was the aptly named ‘La Plancha Ardiente’ which translates into ‘the burning iron,’. As you would expect, this is a hot skillet serving a selection of meats that have been marinated in aji & chimichurri sauce. This is then accompanied with onions, bell peppers, pico de gallo (salsa) and guacamole.

My friend ordered the chicken but there was also beef and prawns available. He had anticipated that it was going to be a spicy dish but he found it was relatively mild. That didn’t take anything away from the flavour and he said it tasted nice and was cooked very well. He did however, find the portions a little small. Overall, he would  recommend the dish as long as someone was looking at having a side dish to accompany it. Luckily for us, this was the case.

Urban Fresh always has some good beers on tap. Tonight there was a lovely New England IPA called ‘Huckaback’ from ‘Salt Brewery’. This is fruity and incredibly refreshing beer that complimented the food really well. I was surprised at the bold flavour they managed to pack into this for a sessionable 5.5%. There was also a beer on tap called ABA and the option for a Mexican beer called Modello in a bottle. All good choices in my opinion. 👍

The staff here are extremely good at what they did. We had a young lady serving us who was really chatty, fun, and full of positive energy. She couldn’t do enough for us and really brought the evening to life. Everything you would expect from a lively South American restaurant.

Overall, it was another successful evening at Urban Fresh. I was delighted to find my long lost sticky pork belly dish and even found a new and improved version of it. We both enjoyed our food and loved the beer on offer. The staff are fantastic (as always) and it is always nice to be by the Ely riverside.

Urban Fresh remins a credit to Ely’s ever growing foodies scene!

Thanks for reading!