A new SE5 café aims to shake up attitudes to mental health – as well as serving a mean coffee
Great news – we have a brand new venue and café in Camberwell. The ORTUS opened on Grove Lane (near Denmark Hill train station) earlier this month and brings something completely different to the area.
It’s been four years in the making from the initial seed of an idea right through to planning, design and construction, but well worth the wait! There’s nothing else like this venue in south London and we’re extremely excited about the important role it will play in the local community.
But what’s so different about ORTUS? The venue is much more than just a café. It is a £7 million high-tech learning and events venue which has been funded by our shareholder, Maudsley Charity, one of the largest NHS charities which invests in innovative mental health projects.
As well as providing a welcoming and accessible community venue and café, our ultimate goal is to raise awareness and share skills about mental health and wellbeing. We want to do this firstly by creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels at home and can enjoy meeting friends and colleagues, as well as feel good food and great coffee in our café.
The cafe’s Healthy Brain Salad – with jerk-spiced salmon and Neal’s Yard goat’s cheese – raises awareness that eating the right foods can improve your mental health
There’s lots of space to study or relax in the ORTUS, and visitors can take advantage of free Wi-Fi access. We’ve ensured that the venue feels as welcoming as possible by having an open door policy.
There are always Maudsley Learning staff around to help and welcome visitors, but there is no formal receptionist or sign-in desk. Visitors simply enter the building and either use the café, the free breakout space or look at the large screens to find out where in the building their event is being held.
Our 1,500sqm event space can also be hired for learning events, meetings and conferences, with all profits going back to Maudsley Charity for further investment in mental health projects, and to develop a series of courses and community events which will be delivered at the ORTUS (so watch this space!). We’ve got five large function suites, which can be subdivided into smaller rooms. We even have a rooftop terrace with views over the city skyline.
Our café is run by specialist London catering company, Vacherin, which serves up a Mood Food menu – which they’ve created especially for the ORTUS – using locally sourced mood-boosting ingredients. The café menu includes freshly made sandwiches and baguettes, salads, deli items and cakes.
To celebrate our opening, the café developed a Healthy Brain Salad, a special limited edition dish to raise awareness of how eating the right sorts of foods can improve your mental health and make you feel good. The salad includes jerk-spiced salmon, Neal’s Yard goat’s cheese, pepper and broccoli salad with brown rice and peas.
Psychologists claim that foods such as fatty fish, wholegrains, leafy greens and yoghurt with active cultures keep the mind working at its best. Basic dietary changes can boost cognitive function and reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety and other mental health disorders.
All the food on our Mood Food menu is based on these principles. Our menu also reflects the flavours of south London, including our strong African and Caribbean influence, and our historical love of seafood.
Coffee is a personal passion of mine and when we were planning for the opening I realised that there weren’t many places for local coffee lovers to enjoy a quality cup. So I set myself the mission of serving the best coffee in Camberwell at Café at the ORTUS.
Choosing the right coffee was really important to me. I roamed coffee shows in search of the perfect bean and finally chose UK brand, Union Hand-Roasted Coffee, which is delicious. It’s a hard job but someone had to do it!
Words: Genevieve Glover, Managing Director of Maudsley Learning, the new community interest company set up to run the ORTUS venue in Camberwell.
