The Rookery, a name I find it impossible to utter without injecting a Monty Pythonesque W, passed the test within minutes of walking in.

The new cafe is situated below a hairdressers in Faringdon, a most unlikely location for Sarah & Robert Tudgey's

latest venture. But having taken on Coffeesmith in Witney and then The Cogges Kitchen with great success, they were obviously keen to spread the love elsewhere.

And Faringdon is a massively up-and-coming location, with some really special fooderies opening up. The tiny market town now boasts the award winning Restaurant 56, the wonderful gastro pub The Eagle in Little Coxwell, a top notch tapas bar La Bobina, some amazing Lebanese at The Faringdon Coffee House and now this.

Cornish in demeanour, its eclectic decor is relaxed and welcoming, a mish mash of chairs, colours, and textures. The counter beckons appealingly, loaded down with delicious looking cakes and biscuits, and a massive blackboard of available coffees and specials entices you to sit down.

As Sarah and Rob are coffee aficionados, enjoying a good latte here is a given. But what of the food? Would the coffee and cake mentality stretch to a good lunch? And if it did, would the vegetarian menu put people off?

Maybe it's vegetarian bent doesn't matter enormously any more. Not here anyway because it's already a predominantly healthy, inventive, zingy kind of place where plates are loaded with salads and flavour and colour, regardless of its meat content.

My son who rarely partakes of any kind of fruit or veg at all if he can possibly help it. He is a massive carnivore who studiously ignores the two bottom drawers of our fridge.

But did he notice that the Wookery (ok I'll stop now) menu lacked any meat whatsoever? No. He was far too busy choosing which smoothie to have, all given the same kookie twist; strawberry, banana and basil, blackcurrant with chia seeds or apple and rocket with lime and ginger. All delicious, different and yes, good for you.

The menu also seized all his attention, which spicy eggs to have? Or perhaps the chilli or a sandwich, jacket potato or soup, which all sounds like standard British cafe fare, but take it from me; nothing here is average.

This is all down to the wonderful Lucy, who they poached from Daylesford. Not only does she make all the cakes herself, as pictured on the recipe section, but her concoctions take the banal out of normal. The smokey bean chilli with corn tortillas, creme fraiche and grated cheddar (£5.90) for example was absolutely incredible. I might beg her to make it in bulk and take it home to be eaten slowly with a spoon.

The kerjiwal eggs (sourdough with cheese, green chilli and fried eggs, £5.90) which is homemade ever day, alongside a tomato, basil and mozzarella toastie toastie; no limp lettuce and tasteless tomatoes here, the garnish a aromatic carrot salad which accentuated all the vibrancy of the dish. A bit of salad dressing for the leaves wouldn't have gone amiss though. And the ardent carnivore had the special: the Eggs Menumen - sour dough toast with tomato, peppers, onion and fried eggs (£5.90).

It was only as a I watched Lucy preparing our meal that I realised that she makes a lot of it right there and then on a tiny stove behind the counter. And yet our feast was absolutely delicious. Each snatching a bite of the avocado with chipotle chilli and lime (£5.50) on toast.

The coffee was to die for and begged a slice of cake to accompany it afterwards. But what to have? Devils chocolate, carrot and walnut, shortbread, flapjacks, bramble, honey and orange? Some vegan, some veggie, some gluten free, some downright naughty. We sampled most of it, but the carrot and walnut was a particular favourite, Lucy' s icing so soft and light, the cake so moist, it was impossible to resist.

Wiping up the crumbs from his plate, and slurping down the last of his smoothie, my son was just getting ready to leave when we asked him if he'd enjoyed his veggie lunch. Swivelling his head like possessed child Regan in The Exorcist, he went pale and added: "You didn't tell me this place was veggie?!" "We didn't need to. And I see you've wiped your plate clean." After a lunch like that how could he complain?

The Rookery Coffee Shop, 35 Marlborough street, Faringdon