One Saturday morning I find myself wandering down Stanford’s main street to try out a new café; a rare bit of excitement for this sleepy town.

Next to the Stanford Trading Store – a quaint shop selling antiques and collectables – I spy Graze Café’s sign. Inside there are framed pictures of owners Catch and Jero’s garden, where they grow the vegetables for the café. Happily, there’s also a huge blackboard on which the day’s menu is written.

A few shelves display products: dried foodstuffs, glass bottles of a foreign orange drink, and I even spot a pig’sleg dangling from the ceiling. I also spy hundreds of strands of spaghetti hanging out to dry.

It’s a far cry from the teahouse complete with local tannie I was expecting.

As it turns out, Catch Revett, co-owner and head chef of the café, is far from a tannie and her Italian heritage is to thank for the spaghetti.

While we’re chatting, Catch puts the finishing touches to a pavlova, layering a meringue slab with thick cream and piling on juicy red strawberries.

‘We are primarily a café, but we also sell meat, make our own pasta and are trying to stock local specialised goods,’ she explains. The bakery offers home-baked bread with a salty twist ­– Jero’s secret ingredient is seawater.

Originally, the couple just wanted to open a deli, which would have also had a chef’s table, solely open for dinner, but friends encouraged them to go the whole hog.

‘Our focus is on natural, unprocessed, local food, hence the term “slow food”.’

Catch goes on to explain how Graze Café’s food is made from 100% seasonal ingredients – and organic as far as possible. Whatever they can’t grow at their Stanford home, they buy from friends and local farms. They also recycle compost and give away any leftovers to soup kitchens.

‘We hope to appeal to tourists, but many don’t seem to make it into Stanford,’ she laughs. ‘Maybe we can help bring them here.’

Graze Slow Food café is open on Saturdays and long weekends. It also offers catering services and can be booked for private functions.

By Rachel Briant