Screaming Carrot Bakery (Nottingham)

If first impressions count, the Screaming Carrot Bakery's not off to a good start.

Metal grills over a shop's windows are never a good sign. The area didn't look overly nice when we drove up - I wasn't confident my car would still have hub caps when I returned.

Still, a vegan bakery is something pretty special. There aren't many on the planet - Babycakes in New York, Mrs Cupcake in London etc.

First impression when you go in through the door?

Well, first off, it's not a bakery. It's a health food store with a few slices of cake and pasties behind the counter. A pretty poor selection at that (Saturday lunchtime). OK, they're made on site, but the word bakery I think is taking things a little far.

Worried that the car's windscreen wipers were being stolen; we ordered a few things and made a dash for it.

The good news is: the pasties we bought were quite pleasant. Not worth a drive to Nottingham for, but above average. They were very cheap too.

The cakes were mediocre:

Carrot was OK (quite sponge like - not heavy), but the bakewell slice lacked flavour and had pastry approx 1mm thick.

If I lived down the road I'd definitely go back. That's unlikely to happen though!