We went to Cambridge Street Collective, Sheffield’s new food hall, a couple of weeks after it opened. Whilst we did manage to find some gluten free food options, the experience overall wasn’t that great, so I chose not to write about it at the time, as I didn’t want to be negative. (Spoiler – we went back a few weeks ago and had a much better time, so I’m writing about it now.)

We arrived just after 7pm on a Saturday, having played a few games of pool at Boom Battle Bar with the teenagers. The place was absolutely heaving. We waited in a queue for one of the bars for a very long time while the (not quite enough) staff were somewhat inefficiently serving people. We then struggled to find anywhere to sit and almost ended up on the roof terrace, which really wasn’t warm enough for me! Eventually, we found a small space at the end of a communal table in the cool Japanese bar on the second floor.

Thankfully, I’d popped in earlier whilst on my own, so I’d already scoped out a couple of places that served gluten free food. Both places were on the first floor, so we made a bee line for them, through the crowds.

One of the concessions was an Indian called Hungry Buddha, which served Dosas and curries. A very short menu but all gluten free, which was reassuring. I ordered a paneer dosa from there and my son ordered a loaded fries with spicy chicken from House of Habesha, an Eritrean and Ethiopian concession. (My husband and other son explored other cuisines on the lower floor.)

There was obviously very high demand so we settled into the bar with our buzzers expecting quite a long wait. After the bar queue and waiting for the food, we weren’t hugely impressed with the portion sizes but the food was nice enough. It would have been better if we’d had cutlery though – I went round asking several stalls for forks, but all I could find was a spoon, which isn’t the best implement for soggy chips.

We felt a little flat when we left but it seemed like a lot of the problems were probably teething issues, and arriving at the busiest time was a mistake, so we resolved to come back in a few weeks.

An opportunity for a return visit came up a few weeks ago, when we met with some good friends, and we had a much better experience. We arrived about 5pm and, whilst the place was buzzing, we didn’t have any problem finding a table. We got served quickly at the downstairs bar and it was much easier to chat to the vendors about whether they could safely cook gluten free food. Not every place has GF clearly marked on the menu and it’s definitely worth asking about cross contamination and cooking oil.

It was a warm day and I didn’t want a curry, so I was pleased to find there were a few really good options at Asia Thai Street Food on the lower floor. We ordered a pad Thai and a nasi goreng to share, and I also popped to the Mexican, El Chappo, for some halloumi sticks as a side (quite the fusion). Here, items on the menu were labelled as GF, but they seemed to mostly be the side dishes.

We didn’t have to wait too long and the halloumi sticks came first, so they made a welcome starter. They’re difficult to spot in the photo under all the sauce, but they were really good – still soft on the inside. As were the nasi goreng and pad Thai, which is one of my favourites. Big, hearty portions and plenty of flavour. And as you can see, there wasn’t a shortage of forks this time.

All in all, a much better experience the second time around. It’s quite a spectacular building and it was great to see people embracing Sheffield’s newest venue, creating a great vibe in the city centre.

Cambridge Street Collective
11 Backfields, Sheffield City Centre, S1 4HP