Welcome to Colchester’s Level Best Café
From vegetable stir fry to hearty winter casseroles, homemade soups to quiches, and seasonal salad bowls to pasta bakes, our Colchester city centre café is never short of tasty meals for visitors to enjoy with friends and family.
All our meals are prepared using fresh fruits and vegetables and make use of our locally grown seasonal produce – so look out for our homemade chutneys and jams in our dishes and cakes.
Your Local Café in Colchester City Centre
Our café prides itself on offering a wide selection of fresh and homemade meals throughout the week. Every meal is prepared by our fantastic group of café trainees, who have all been trained to cook using locally sourced produce.
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Our Menus – Selected Daily by our Trainees. From the pick of our seasonal produce, grown at our local allotment.
Our café prides itself on offering a wide selection of fresh and homemade meals throughout the week. Every meal is prepared by our fantastic group of café trainees, who have all been trained to cook using locally sourced produce. A new menu is chosen by our trainees each day depending on what’s in season and what skills are being worked on, which brings with it new challenges for each trainee to throw themself into.
What’s cooking today?
Our menu combines a selection of regular favourites alongside sumptuous daily specials. The Level Best Instagram page showcases the kind of delicious meals you can expect to see on your visit, including what’s on offer today!
Opening times
Monday – Friday 8.30am – 4pm
Breakfast served 8.30am – 11.30am
Lunch served 12pm – 2.30pm
Cake and drinks served all day
Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays
Closed
Where to find us
Level Best, 26 St Johns Street, Colchester, Essex CO2 7HB
Freshly prepared food doesn’t only have to be enjoyed in our city centre cafe. We also offer food on the go with our outside catering service.
How do Trainees get involved in our Colchester café?
Level Best Café Trainees are encouraged to embrace their inner chef by experiencing different roles in the café, whether that be managing money on the till or shopping for stock with our on-line suppliers. An important but often forgotten part of working in a café is administration, which is why we also make sure that all our café trainees are taught about stock checking and re-ordering.
We host several specialised cookery workshops in our training cafe throughout the year, with past events including an Italian masterclass with Bib Gourmand-winning chef Cinzia Ghignoni and a Thai cooking workshop with our very own volunteer Kanravee Pongpanit (Pim). Café trainees are given the opportunity to cater for offsite events, which have previously included a wedding at Dedham Vale Vineyard and a Christmas Party for Pioneer Sailing Trust held at Brightlingsea University Sailing Club.
The cakes we bake in our Colchester kitchen
Our kitchen doesn’t stop at hot meals, however. In true Bake-Off style, our trainees are challenged to test out delicious new baking recipes to cater to all our visitors with a sweet tooth. The perfect addition to a cup of hot coffee, our cakes are freshly baked each day and include staples like Victoria Sponge and Carrot Cake.
When visiting our cafe…
Check out our seasonal items to take home, lovingly made with the help of our trainees
Don’t miss our art gallery showcasing work from Colchester’s thriving art scene
Frequently asked questions
Alongside our regular favourites, a daily menu is chosen by our trainees depending on a variety of factors, including what produce is in season. Check out our Instagram page to see what specials we have on offer today.
Yes! We’re very proud to say that our Colchester café is dog friendly. We look forward to meeting our local four-legged friends…and their owners!
Of course! We are able to process both cash and card transactions on the till, including contactless.
We are closed on bank holidays and between Christmas and New Year.
Yes! Both entrances are wheelchair accessible, and we have a wheelchair-accessible toilet.
Yes! Level Best Café is the new, purpose-built premises of Level Best Enterprises, and the home of the café formerly known as the Level Best Art Cafe.
Become a trainee
If the sound of joining our group of Level Best Café Trainees tickles your taste buds, click the button below to learn more and apply.
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