On the Portside in Ascot and Hamilton, a newly developed urban village sits there complete with apartments that get wonderful views of the city and river, alongside a well-planed ergonomic outlay for both customers and residents. This sits nicely between the airport, and the central area of the city, so it possibly has one of the most prime locations that can be bought. With this planning, one of the highest concentrations of eateries - easily the top ten from a suburb point of view - is available with a range of options. Some of these are so popular and lauded that the word gets out. This is only one of those ideas.
Just before heading off to the airport to pick some people up, my dining buddy and I took a wrong turn to bide some time until the plane touched down. Apparently, there was this one coffee place that he was looking out for and this may or may not have been it from memory - it is some time ago as of typing this review. Nevertheless, Deer Sir, we are here.
It definitely has a nice and appealing aesthetic inside. The coffee shop shares its shop space with a sister store, Co. Design. With the look of the place, there is a timeless feel to it that does not seem out of place nowadays - so I am not talking that it is old-fashioned, but could well be in place 20 years ago as it could be 20 years later.
This is definitely a new one on me; when going up to the counter to order, instead of taking a number to the table, the tables already have numbers on them. What happens is that you get to chose which free table you would like to sit at, and it all happens as usual from there. That kind of system is not such a bad idea inherently, if it starts getting used at more places than there is certainly something of note there. As per usual, the service is friendly enough, maybe I found it a bit slow at times, but overall relaxing. Circumstances just needed a bit of efficiency, so don't take this as a criticism on their part. With time, I am sure the service would well be lovely.
It has a pretty simple and straightforward menu. Think essentially cafe style fare and that is what they have. Most of the food is bread-based, and an all day breakfast with toast, toasties, and muesli. Also in there is a big range of sweets within the cabinet. When it comes to the drinks, there is a big range there. Coffee is the main one (plus it is available cold-pressed and iced), with tea not having too much of a precedent. For something cold, you get a bit spoiled for choice. A range of milkshakes flavours are offered, as are frappes and iced teas.
Being here just for a bit of coffee and sweet, that was it. The normal coffee order came my way - that is a doppio. The coffee that they use is courtesy of Allpress. This coffee can be nice, and it has a generally gentle and pleasant palate to go with it. As much as I can like the taste, it rarely ever is one of my personal favourites. That being said, there was nothing wrong at all with the coffee that I had. It is merely being said that I have a preference for coffees to be strong, and that was a little weak on my part - though the presentation and extraction were both well done. They were served in the takeout cups, which is always a bit of a downgrade to me - porcelain cups is where it is at.
Going with the coffee, both my dining buddy and I got a sweet each. I went with a pistachio and lemon friand, while my dining buddy went for a citrus tart. Now these were both pretty good. They were the right size, not the "snack size" variety and nothing too overwhelmingly big; this is the perfect size to compliment a mid-break coffee. The pastry in the tart was buttery, plus the filling was delicious and creamy. The cake was also good, and solid with actual bits of pistachio and dried lemon zest on top. This gave it flavour to a solid base. It is not often that the cake takes the credit over the coffee, but here we are with that.
For this place, I can definitely appreciate the look of the place and the whole aesthetic experience that they have going on. To me though, it was merely good since the coffee was not really a proper winner or anything. I can definitely see why there would be an appeal to quite a big audience, and that it already seems to be working. For me, it was just okay. On the objective side, what I do see is somewhere that is pleasant and aimed at those living nearby for a local coffee shop, and for that I can give the utmost kudos to them - from a resident's perspective, it would have it all right on their doorstep.
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