This place reminds me so much of Black Books. Part bookstore, part art gallery and part Vinnies, I’m pretty sure the shop is the owner’s loungeroom, the cafe is his kitchenette and his stuff is for sale simply because there’s a lot of it and the front door happens to open onto the eclectic vintage retail stretch of south King St. Half the time it’s closed with a ranting handwritten explanation sticky taped to the front door, and half the time it’s just closed. When I first managed to find it open today, the first thing I noticed was the ring sticking, off-centre, out the middle of the owner/manager’s forehead. He was lovely and very welcoming, unlike the Bernard Black type I expected, and when he took my order, he told me the coffee would be free because it’s Wednesday (??). Apparently he has four kids of his own and understands how hard it can be to get into places that resemble cluttered loungerooms, so he chooses to honour these parents through “free coffee for parents with prams on Wednesdays”… with such an elaborate excuse he must’ve been hitting on me. The milk in the coffee was over-boiled and from what I could taste, the coffee itself wasn’t any good anyway, but hey, thanks Owner/Manager, I appreciate the gesture. The banana bread was good, though – small, brown and tasted like honey and spices. Despite how lovely the guy was, I still can’t shake those Black Books vibes: “Who are all these people? What do they want from me?” “They’re customers. They want to buy books.”
Coffee: -1
BB: 0