Safran Cafe

Popped in here for a bit of lunch. The waitress was very friendly and immediately brought us the menus and some water.
We ordered the Paella and the Cajun Chicken. The paella was delicious, and was a very generous size. You would need to be very hungry to finish it all (which my boyfriend managed to do), or would be good to share. It came with chorizo sausage, mussels, and prawns. The flavours were really fresh and I was pretty jealous I hadnt ordered it for myself :-(.
The cajun chicken was a pretty huge serving also. It came with bread, hummus and a salad. The chicken was perfectly cooked with no dry pieces, and the bread was delicious. I will say that i didnt eat the salad. It was a bit wilted and there didnt seem to be any dressing on it. I ordered the chicken from the $ 15 lunch menu (which I thought was reasonable for the amount of chicken you get) and the paella was $ 22.50.
I think I would return here again. The food is good and the service is efficient and friendly.

So, thought this place needed an updated review as it’s been a while. Initial impressions were great, candlelit lightning, warm and cosy, nice atmosphere. Suitable for very small groups or perfect for just two people. To be honest, nothing stand out on the menu. A pretty classic Mediterranean menu, tapas, salads, and mains, a good wine list and again, standard dessert list. BUT! What I was really impressed with was the very attentive service we received, friendly serving staff, .you know. the kind where you don’t even know that your glass is being topped up, and very, very professional. If only the menu could step up a notch to be a bit more contemporary, then this place would be really hard to beat.

When I worked in Newmarket we came to Safran at least every 2 weeks, there were many other restaurants/​cafes in the area which we also tried, however we always preferred Safran.
When we first started going they had a $ 10 menu, then it was $ 12 and now its $ 14, oh inflation and rising prices. Anyway the lunch meals were always good and tasty, I think over the time I tried every lunch meal and they were all good and they had around 12 or so lunch specials. Probably the most popular one would be the Safran sandwich which is like a gourmet sandwich and very good. The food has a Spanish/​Mediterranean influence.
The service was always very good, somehow much better than all the other nearby places.

Genuinely, one of the greatest, and maybe most understated, gems in Newmarket. Be transported away from the bustle of traffic and pedestrians, behind the fountains and summer cicadas and small knolls of Lumsden Green, and enjoy a sample of the Mediterranean under a flock of bright red parasols.
Above the reasonable prices, the great food and the wine selection, the service is impeccable– testament to why Safran has been here for over 20 years. Staff comfortably approach you before you enter, without looking like the starving hyena that is often encountered walking past a restaurant. Even though I had only stopped in for a summery Pinot Gris this time around, I had a tall glass of ice water almost before I sat down with the wine, followed by a smile, not long after.
A positively enjoyable restaurant for their lunch time specials, a hot date or a small group of friends for dinner.