Hartleys also happen to be a really friendly coffee shop with the loveliest of owners who go above and beyond to make sure customers are catered to, whether it be gluten free, dairy free, wheat free, meat free, anything!
The first time we went in, which is the day the photos are from was after Record Store Day, so all the way back in April (oops!) and we sat out in the sunshine and both got the all day breakfasts, one with Vitalite, the dairy free butter they offer, and the other normal butter, and a cup of tea with soya milk! I think even if i wasn't lactose intolerant and needed the different butter i would still adore their breakfasts because they are just ridiculously good and even include chopped tomatoes, my fav breakfast item!
My mum came down to visit me a couple of weeks ago so we went to Hartleys for breakfast and she's a vegetarian and a soya milk drinker so she was already impressed that they had "her" milk! Whilst we were waiting for our breakfasts the owner came over after having heard me order Vitalite on my toast to tell me about the new vegan cheese they have for their cheese toasties.
I should have mentioned already but Hartleys also has the most insanely extensive sandwich, toasties and salads menu and offer pretty much every sandwich as whichever dietary requirement you might have! But going back to the owner coming over, he showed me their Violife cheese and told me how it worked really well in the toasties as it melts and also went as far to tell me about how they wrap their toasties up in foil to stop contamination from the grill at all, which is just another little detail that i wouldn't always trust other cafes to think of and the fact he came over just to tell me about the cheese shows how friendly Hartleys is and kind of shows why it's my favourite breakfast place in Notts!
I definitely plan on going back to Hartleys and actually getting a toastie at some point because although a huge fan of their breakfasts, the idea of actually being able to have a cheese toastie out is so amazing to me! If you want to check out their website it's here: http://www.hartleyscoffeebar.co.uk/ and i cannot recommend it enough!
PS. It's worth adding that i'm a fan of Arla's Lactofree cheese because although i'm lactose intolerant, i'm not vegan at all but my sister is vegan and has since bought Violife cheese and i've tried it and it does taste really good, nothing like the Tesco vegan cheese which has to be the worst vegan alternative i've ever tried! Tesco's do sell Violife cheese but i've seen that they have a Violife Mozzarella in Holland & Barrett and i'm very tempted to get some to try it on pizza's and the like.
