If you are after a spot by the water that does not try too hard, Cafe Foy is hard to beat. It sits at 2 Quayside, looking straight across the River Cam at the colleges and the punts drifting past, and it has been running since 2018. The place was set up by Cambridge-born siblings Matt and Sophie, who have built it around a simple enough brief: good food, good wine and good conversation. It is an independent cafe bar that works as many ways as you need it to, from a morning coffee and a toastie to brunch, lunch, cocktails and small plates in the evening.
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The food is where it has made its name. The toasties are the headline act, known for being generous in size and flavour, and the cheese pull is something people come back for. Alongside them you will find Welsh rarebits, a Jambon-beurre on rustic sourdough with chiles, pickles and onions, asparagus soup served on a wooden board with bread, butter and toasted croutons, and homemade sausage rolls. For brunch there is shakshuka, avocado on toast, a three-cheese toastie and a Reuben with pastrami, salt beef, pickles and cheese. Everything is cooked from scratch using local suppliers, with Radmore Farm Shop and Stir Bakery among them, and there is a daily specials board that keeps things moving. For something sweet, the cakes and treats come from Biscotti di Debora, where the salted caramel and the orange and polenta cakes are the ones to look out for.
Drink is treated with equal care. The wine list comes from the well-known Cambridge Wine Merchants, and the bar runs cocktails alongside the coffee. In the evenings the place turns into something more, with supper clubs and private hire for weddings, birthdays and dinner parties, taking up to 25 inside or 60 if you use the outside space. The price range sits roughly between £25 and £50, and a review from Simon Tompkins at Cambridge Foodies, written in April 2025, called it his favourite cafe in Cambridge, noting that £7 was a reasonable price for the area. It has picked up more than 300 Google reviews, sitting at 4.6 out of 5 stars across 451 ratings.
There is a bit of history behind the name too. Cafe Foy takes its cue from the Cafe de Foy in the Palais Royal in Paris, where Camille Desmoulins gave the signal for the insurrection that led to the taking of the Bastille on 12 July 1789. Foy is also part of Magdalene College's motto, meaning 'keep the faith', and in old French it referred to a feast or drink given before or after a journey. It is a fitting nod for a place that is as much about the occasion as the menu.
Opening hours are worth checking before you head down, as they shift across the week. It opens at 10.30am on Mondays and closes at 4.30pm, it is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and then runs from 10.30am to 9pm on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with a shorter Sunday session from 10.30am to 6pm. A few sources list slightly different closing times at the weekend, so it is worth a quick look at the official site if you are planning an evening visit.
