pale yellow and orange walls, range of prints and postcards from exotic locales inside.

Open since 1992, Trockel, Ulmann & Freunde specializes in good-quality, good-value lunches, and judging by the constant stream of customers heading inside during our lunchtime visit, they do it well. Proud of the fact they source as many products as they can locally, buying their fruit and vegetables wherever possible from the Cambridge market and local wholesalers, for example, their real specialities lie in their cakes, which are baked by the owners three times a week. The range of cakes, baked to German recipes includes apple, cherry, chocolate and poppy seed, and according to partner Vera Simon, "It's one of our most popular items, along with the soup". Hungry customers have the choice of not one, but three 'soups of the day', which on our visit included a choice of chilli, coconut and carrot, asparagus, and lentil - the former a fantastically spicy, filling, healthy soup, certainly enough to keep us satisfied until dinner time, and one of Vera's particular favourites. All soups, like their baguettes, are served to the table with butter and two hunks of wholemeal bread.

The baguettes on offer range from tried and tested favourites, such as cheese and salad, to more unusual options such as smoked cheddar and pickled cucumber and gruyere with tomatoes and parsley. They also have a range of fruit juices, coffees and herbal teas, and the hot chocolate, according to Vera Simon, is particularly popular. All coffees are served with a chocolate chip cookie on the side, and there's also a range of newspapers if you fancy sitting for a while.

Not just small, busy and friendly, the owners also clearly run a pretty tight ship, with no less than five busy staff on duty during our visit who worked hard to serve the hungry lunchers and clear up after them too. Prices would reassure anyone, particularly local students, and the take-away special, consisting of a small soup and a filled baguette, for less than the price of a pint of beer, is particularly good value to anyone on a budget.

Especially nice here are the obvious personal touches - the range of prints on the wall, the mirrored alcove, the brightly coloured mobile and the unusual clock in the shape of a spider's web. Even the name of the cafe shows this, which is named after their friends' shop in Germany, a partner store from when the owners ran a cheese and wine shop in London. And whilst this cafe might be a well-kept secret from some people, there's many others definitely in the know, so be prepared for it to become very busy - you might have to make do with one of their bargain take-away specials.