It was a Sunday afternoon, we were at the Trafford Centre, we’d just finished a few hours at Legoland Discovery Centre, and we were hungry. Fortunately, there was a place close by that we were here to try. I say it was close by’ it was actually Far Far Away. We were visiting the Shrek Far Far Away Café.
The Shrek Far Far Away Café
The Shrek Far Far Away Café is a pop-up café, set up by Immersive Cafe Co and located in several Primark stores across the UK. Now, don’t get excited and rush out to try it. It’s only a temporary event so won’t be there much longer, but our kids love Shrek, so we thought we’d best give it a whirl. There are 2 in Manchester, with one conveniently at the Trafford Centre Primark, so we thought we’d combine that with a morning at Legoland Discovery Centre. The videos and pictures we’d seen made it look like it might be fun.
Primark Trafford Centre
The Shrek Far Far Away Cafe at Primark in the Trafford Centre is only a small version of the one we’d seen, and the pictures made it look a lot bigger. Outside, it was just a lot of large postered walls and carboard facades featuring Shrek, Donkey, Princess Fiona and all your favourite Shrek characters. Inside was a large street scene from the kingdom of Far Far Away and some novelty newspapers from the kingdom referencing some of the films plot points. No decoration on the tables, but we did get some Shrek-eared carboard hats to wear. Not as ‘Shreky’ as we’d hoped, but still a bit of fun.
The menu was good. Most of the items were fun and sounded Shrek themed. It’s not a massive selection, but it is only a small Primark café, so we weren’t expecting a Michelin star restaurant selection.
They served: Kids lunchboxes at £4.95, toasted sandwiches at £4.95, plus mains like ‘Ooh, Mexican Food’ Tacos, Shrek Skewers, and ‘Swampchos’ Nachos covered in a slime green cheese sauce from £6.95. And of course, Donkey’s favourite: Waffles. Different types of waffle, priced from £5.95, served with ice creams and sauces, plus gummy worm sweets that Shrek would approve of.
Drinks
It had the usual selection of hot drinks (tea, coffee and hot chocolate) and a list of fun Potions and Bubble Teas. Fairy Godmother’s Lemonades at £3.95, Eyeball Martinis, Poison Apple Bubble Tea at £3.95 and ‘Swamp Juice’ iced lattes at £3.95.
How Was the Food?
We ordered the ‘Ooh, Mexican food’ – BBQ pork Tacos, ‘Shrek’s Roasted Chicken Skewers’ with tortilla wraps and garlic & chilli sauce, ‘Donkey’s Waffle Strips – Cinnamon Waffle fingers served with toffee and chocolate sauces, plus 2 ham and cheese toasties served with crisps but they were unavailable so the boys just had sandwiches. No fruit left either to go in the kids lunchboxes.
For drinks we tried the 2 Fairy Godmother’s Potions – The Happily Ever After – A blueberry lemonade with infused with glitter, and the Far, Far Away – a strawberry and lime flavoured lemonade served with Candy floss. As fun as they looked, served in a small plastic bottle with a stripy straw with a Fairy Godmother sticker, they weren’t worth £4. It was a small portion and the sort of cheap lemonade you could have bought a pack of 20 for £4. A bit disappointing.
The hot food, however, was nice. The Tacos were tasty with some good spice and a decent amount of filling. The skewers were the same. They tasted nice with some good chunks of chicken. Waffles tasted fine but were a bit dry. There was nothing special about the presentation tough, just disposable card trays.
Summary
A bit disappointing. The pictures we’d seen made it look much bigger and better themed, definitely not worth travelling for. If you are a fan of the Shrek films, try one of the other Shrek Cafes, as the Manchester city centre one must be a much bigger café.
Incidentally, this particular Primark Café is right in the window too, in full view of the sun, so it was like a sauna, with only one table in the shade, so be warned.
Foodwise, it was nice and not badly priced so if you are there anyway then grab a snack. Standard drink prices were fine, but the fancy lemonades were definitely a waste of £8.
Glad we came but wouldn’t rush back. I’ll save my money to spend at Dreamworks Land at Universal Studios Florida when we’re there in December and buy myself a Shrekzel!
